Title: Starship Troopers II: Heroe of the Federation
Director: Phill Tippet
Stars:Bill Brown, Richard Burgi, Kelly Carlson, Cy Carter
Tagline: They are coming back to swipe us out!
Review: I love it when I have exceedingly low expectations for a movie then it just ends up being so good that it just takes me by surprise just how much I am enjoying the movie that I'm watching....this is exactly what happened to me with Starship Troopers II. From the moment that they started to shoot this film I thought that it had that "cheap movie aura" all over it from the very beginning. And since the first one was such a grand spectacle of monsters and fx...well hell, how could a straight to video, low budget sequel of it ever come close to pleasing us? Well..I was proved wrong.
This story focuses on a bunch of troopers who dive down to planet P to squash some more bugs...only thing is they end up stranded on an abandoned outpost in the middle of nowhere with thousands of hungry bugs just waiting to attack. The movie started with a bang! Good intense moments...and then the crew has to shack up in a claustrophobic environment and wait for a rescue. Will the bugs make it past the barricades? I loved this movie because of all that it accomplished with so little. This movie didn't have the mega budget production that Paul Verhovens first film had. That one was a huge summer movie and it showed, there were hundreds of extras and fx shots, galactic battles and spaceships blowing up and what have you. But now with Hero of the federation, the budget has been sliced, the situation isn't as grand and the production values have gone way down...still the movie managed to maintain a level of quality that is very astounding.
Phill Tippets a visual effects genius having worked on such films as Jurassic Park, The Star Wars trilogy and many others, so he puts all that knowledge to good use here. From a fx standpoint the movie is great! It has some decent looking bugs that looked just as good as a big budget picture. I was amazed at some of the sequences and the level of quality that they had for a film with such a small budget. Even the shots of exteriors done in CGI were impressive. Also Tippet did a few nudges to Paul Verhovens version by keeping a lot of the visual gags that appeared on the first film like for example the military news flashes. All in all Id say this is a very well directed flick, there was nothing that got in the way of the storytelling and it had some pretty cool camera shots.
The trick they used to bring down production costs was, basically the same trick that all small budget horror movies use. Trap you characters in a confined space (or the woods) and make the power go off at some point and use the advantage that the darkness and shadows give you. This was done on this movie, and very effectively. But you know what, even the sets where great! The lighting was perfect.
Another thing which I highly enjoyed about this flick: the acting. It had some good actors which were obviously committed to giving their best for the movie. Of special notice was Brenda Strong as Sgt. Dede Rake. She's always playing strong female characters and here she does it with a little extra gusto. Shes a kick ass chick...yet shes extremely likable. Also the conflict and the unease between some of the characters was very palpable. Good stuff.
The story will really grab you, I liked the twist the film takes and it goes into Invaders from Mars and Invasion of the Body Snatchers territory with the introduction of a new bug which makes from some really intense and gory sequences! I was amazed at the really gory scenes on this one! Its more of a horror film then the first one ever was. In fact the first one is not a horror film, it could be considered more of a straight sci/fi flick. But with this sequel a more intense horror element has been introduced and I dug it lots! I mean the blood really pours near the end and you my horror-loving gore-searching friend will love it.
All in all, I was very impressed with this film, I loved it from beginning to end and was surprised to see that it was done so well. I was really expecting a royal piece of bug crap. Instead I got a really gory and enjoyable flick.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Director: Phill Tippet
Stars:Bill Brown, Richard Burgi, Kelly Carlson, Cy Carter
Tagline: They are coming back to swipe us out!
Review: I love it when I have exceedingly low expectations for a movie then it just ends up being so good that it just takes me by surprise just how much I am enjoying the movie that I'm watching....this is exactly what happened to me with Starship Troopers II. From the moment that they started to shoot this film I thought that it had that "cheap movie aura" all over it from the very beginning. And since the first one was such a grand spectacle of monsters and fx...well hell, how could a straight to video, low budget sequel of it ever come close to pleasing us? Well..I was proved wrong.
This story focuses on a bunch of troopers who dive down to planet P to squash some more bugs...only thing is they end up stranded on an abandoned outpost in the middle of nowhere with thousands of hungry bugs just waiting to attack. The movie started with a bang! Good intense moments...and then the crew has to shack up in a claustrophobic environment and wait for a rescue. Will the bugs make it past the barricades? I loved this movie because of all that it accomplished with so little. This movie didn't have the mega budget production that Paul Verhovens first film had. That one was a huge summer movie and it showed, there were hundreds of extras and fx shots, galactic battles and spaceships blowing up and what have you. But now with Hero of the federation, the budget has been sliced, the situation isn't as grand and the production values have gone way down...still the movie managed to maintain a level of quality that is very astounding.
Phill Tippets a visual effects genius having worked on such films as Jurassic Park, The Star Wars trilogy and many others, so he puts all that knowledge to good use here. From a fx standpoint the movie is great! It has some decent looking bugs that looked just as good as a big budget picture. I was amazed at some of the sequences and the level of quality that they had for a film with such a small budget. Even the shots of exteriors done in CGI were impressive. Also Tippet did a few nudges to Paul Verhovens version by keeping a lot of the visual gags that appeared on the first film like for example the military news flashes. All in all Id say this is a very well directed flick, there was nothing that got in the way of the storytelling and it had some pretty cool camera shots.
The trick they used to bring down production costs was, basically the same trick that all small budget horror movies use. Trap you characters in a confined space (or the woods) and make the power go off at some point and use the advantage that the darkness and shadows give you. This was done on this movie, and very effectively. But you know what, even the sets where great! The lighting was perfect.
Another thing which I highly enjoyed about this flick: the acting. It had some good actors which were obviously committed to giving their best for the movie. Of special notice was Brenda Strong as Sgt. Dede Rake. She's always playing strong female characters and here she does it with a little extra gusto. Shes a kick ass chick...yet shes extremely likable. Also the conflict and the unease between some of the characters was very palpable. Good stuff.
The story will really grab you, I liked the twist the film takes and it goes into Invaders from Mars and Invasion of the Body Snatchers territory with the introduction of a new bug which makes from some really intense and gory sequences! I was amazed at the really gory scenes on this one! Its more of a horror film then the first one ever was. In fact the first one is not a horror film, it could be considered more of a straight sci/fi flick. But with this sequel a more intense horror element has been introduced and I dug it lots! I mean the blood really pours near the end and you my horror-loving gore-searching friend will love it.
All in all, I was very impressed with this film, I loved it from beginning to end and was surprised to see that it was done so well. I was really expecting a royal piece of bug crap. Instead I got a really gory and enjoyable flick.
Rating: 4 out of 5