Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
US DVD cover
Directed by	Ed Neumeier
Written by	Ed Neumeier
Produced by	David Lancaster
Starring	Casper Van Dien Jolene Blalock Boris Kodjoe Stephen Hogan
Cinematography	Lorenzo Senatore
Edited by	Michael Bateman
Music by	Klaus Badelt
Distributed by	Stage 6 Films
Release dates	Japan: July 19, 2008 United States: August 5, 2008 United Kingdom: September 29, 2008
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is a science fiction film, written and directed by Ed Neumeier and starring Casper Van Dien from the original movie. The film is a sequel to Starship Troopers and Starship Troopers 2. The film was released directly to DVD in the US on August 5, 2008. Production started in May 2007, with principal photography commencing in South Africa.

Plot

In the past eleven years of "The Second Bug War", the Mobile Infantry has improved their weapons and tactics. However, as they adapt, so do the Bugs, and many new Arachnid variants have developed. The United Citizen Federation now finds itself engaged in trench warfare on the frontier planets. The Federation puts a positive spin on this in the media while using its judicial and military authority to suppress peace protesters and religious fanatics as seditionists.

Colonel John Rico (Casper Van Dien) is stationed on the agrarian planet Roku San when the popular Sky Marshal Omar Anoke (Stephen Hogan) pays a visit. Off-duty, Rico's old friend General Dix Hauser (Boris Kodjoe) gets into a bar-fight with farmers protesting the war. During the fight, Rico stops Dix from shooting one of the farmers. Dix tries to have Rico arrested, but the base defenses suddenly fail. Rico knocks Dix out and leaves to help fight the Arachnids. When Roku San falls, Rico is blamed by the Federal Media and set for execution for insubordination and striking a superior officer.

On their way back to Sanctuary, the Fleet's secret HQ, Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) is marooned on a classified planet known as Planet OM-1 with Sky Marshal Anoke, and Admiral Enolo Phid (Amanda Donohoe) suppresses this information. Dix finds out thanks to an officer who thinks this is wrong and recruits Rico to rescue the Sky Marshal and Lola, the latter being one of the few in possession of the coordinates to Sanctuary, which would cripple the military if the Arachnids learned of its location.

A supposed earthquake takes the life of Dr. Wiggs (Danny Keough) while the Sky Marshal views a giant eye staring back at him from below. Cynical cook Jingo Ryan (Jon Falkow) is next to die after he takes shelter within a cluster of supposed rock outcroppings, which are actually Arachnid limbs which pull him below. Engineer Bull Brittles (Stelio Savante) asks the very religious flight attendant, Holly Little (Marnette Patterson), to marry him, but dies shortly after.

On Earth, General Hauser confronts Admiral Phid about why she is abandoning the Sky Marshal, only to be arrested. Later, Phid reveals to him that Sky Marshal Anoke is responsible for the downfall of Roku San, having been in communication with the "Brain of Brains," also known as "Behemecoatyl," through the original brain bug captured in Starship Troopers as he has psychic powers. The Sky Marshal adopted their religion, hoping he could save humanity from the bugs if he could make peace with them. It is revealed that he turned off the electric barrier surrounding the base on Roku San to show his willingness to make peace between the two species. The Federation now believes the Brain Bug allowed itself to be captured in the first place on Planet P in order to pass on intelligence from inside The Federation. The Federation makes the decision to kill and dissect the captured brain but it overhears them and unleashes a telepathic scream, killing a few soldiers before Hauser kills it. It is revealed that Admiral Phid ignored the distress calls of those abandoned on OM-1 so she could become the new Sky Marshal; however, she failed to take into account that Lola, who is one of the few pilots of the Federation that knows the location of Sanctuary, was with Anoke.

Back on OM-1, the stranded make contact with The Brain of Brains, who communicates with them through the corpses of their fallen comrades and soon kills Anoke for his knowledge; Lola and Holly, the last two left alive, begin to pray that they will be saved.

Rico leads the Marauders, an elite team of troopers composed of his command staff from Roku San, on a rescue mission, using the Federation's new battle-suits. They defeat the Arachnid warriors on OM-1, suffer no casualties, and rescue the two survivors. OM-1 is revealed to be the home of the Bug Hive, the Arachnid's ruling body, and Fleet destroys it from orbit with a planet-destroying "Q Bomb."

Rico is subsequently awarded a promotion to the rank of General, and given permanent command of the Marauder program. Anoke is reported to have died in a terrorist attack (staged by the government earlier to explain his disappearance) and given a hero's funeral. Dix and Lola are married, Admiral Phid is appointed the new Sky Marshal with Dix as her second-in command, and Holly becomes a Federal chaplain. Dozens of peace protesters are hanged in connection to the terrorist attack and a Christian-esque religion is embraced by the Federation (seemingly for morale and propaganda purposes).

Cast

• Casper Van Dien as Colonel/General Johnny Rico
• Jolene Blalock as Captain Lola Beck
• Boris Kodjoe as General Dix Hauser
• Stephen Hogan as Sky Marshal Omar Anoke
• Marne Patterson as Holly Little
• Stelio Savante as Bull Brittles
• Cecile Breccia as Link Manion
• Jon Falkow as Jingo Ryan
• Danny Keough as Dr. Wiggs
• Amanda Donohoe as Admiral Enolo Phid

Relation to Starship Troopers novel

There are a number of ties made to the original novel Starship Troopers in the third film that were non-existent in the first two. In those films, the Mobile Infantrymen used body armor to protect themselves, with a large portion of the bodies exposed; not that the armor was in any way effective: in the opening scene of the film, a trooper is killed when a shovel impales him right through the armor. The suits which were worn towards the end of the film were reminiscent of the powered armor used in the novel. In fact, the name of the project in the new film, "Marauder Project", uses the same name as the common type of powered armor used for the Mobile Infantry in the novel: Marauder-class powered armor. The suits covered the trooper's whole body and were made in such a way that they would imitate exactly what motions a trooper was making with more powerful hydraulic-like systems, whereas the suits in the film are more Mecha like, in that they are piloted rather than worn.

Moreover, the manner in which Rico and his squad land on OM-1 is more similar to the novel than in the previous films. Each trooper's suit is its own planetary entry vessel, which disperses debris as a diversion on the way down from orbit. Rico also uses the phrase "on the bounce", which was used often in the novel, relating to the powered armor's ability to bounce over terrain using jump jets.

The Q Bomb is similar to the Nova Bomb from the novel, which was a weapon capable of destroying a planet. It was described in the novel as cracking open a planet, which phrase the Sky Marshal at the end of the film uses as well.

A further tie with the novel is the home base of the fleet, a secret planet called Sanctuary. In the novel, this is where Rico undergoes his officer training.

Reception

There have been mixed reviews for Marauder. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a 60% "fresh" rating from five professional reviews, two rotten and three fresh, which is the smallest number of reviews any film can receive on Rotten Tomatoes' "tomatometer".

Joe Leydon of Variety stated that "Die-hard fans of Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven's notorious 1997 cult-fave sci-fi spectacle, will be pleased to note that its second made-for-vid sequel gamely attempts to replicate the original pic's over-the-top style and self-satirical tone. Unlike 2004's negligible Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, a relatively straightforward actioner, the latest episode reprises Verhoeven's love-it-or-hate-it mix of gruesome mayhem, overstated melodrama, peek-a-boo nudity and tongue-in-cheek fascist aesthetics."

Alex Dorn of UGO.com stated that "fans of the original movie should be pretty happy with this venture" but that those "expecting the whiz-bang big budget wonder of the original will be disappointed." He gave the film an overall rating of a B minus.

John J. Puccio of DVDTown gave the film a rotten rating, stating that Marauder "is a bad movie by any account, bereft of most of the first film's fun and frolic." He also said that the "movie ends up looking clumsy and amateurish." Scott Weinberg of FEARnet gave the film a fresh review, stating that the film is "probably a rental moreso than a must-own, but certainly worth a look if you dug the first film."

Critics from IFMagazine liked the film very much: "The sets and locations are good, the acting is surprisingly good, the storyline is decent and there is enough of the political and social commentary (from oppression of religious freedoms, to no right of assembly, to the execution of those that speak out against the war, to propaganda used to hide the truth, to using sex either gay or straight to get people to sign up for the military) that it harkens back to the original."

In March 2009, Marauder was nominated for a 2009 Saturn Award in the Best DVD Release Category.

External links

• Starship Troopers 3: Marauder at IMDb
• Starship Troopers 3: Marauder trailer at Sony Pictures