Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008)

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder explodes with mind-blowing man-on-bug combat! Col. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) is back to lead his team on a secret mission to rescue a small crew of troopers stranded on the remote planet of OM-1. Battling bugs, both new and old, the new "Marauder" advanced weapons technology may be their only hope against a treasonous element operating within the Federation itself. As Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and the rest of the starship crew fight to survive in the harsh conditions, it begins to dawn on them that something on OM-1 is very, very wrong. This time the bugs have a secret weapon that could destroy humanity. Join the Mobile Infantry in this intergalactic action-packed adventure. Product Description

Campy good and bad

I thought Marauder had more of the spirit of the first movie, but suffers from budget restraints like the second movie. Like the second movie it does introduce a few new bugs to keep things interesting. It was also fun to have the return of Casper. Jolene Blalock is really stunning and most of the women in uniform are real lookers. The story really has high aspirations, but never really flows as well as it should. A mix of betrayals, god and new technology has the story zig zagging along. The bug battles are decent, but sometimes look very fake. It is nice to see a new installment in the series, but this is far off from the original in terms of quality. September 2, 2008

M'yeah... Too much half-hearted romantic melodrama. Not enough "war-is-hell"!

So, okay, the long and short of it is: can the romantic melodrama and campiness, and let's see an all-out WAR movie...

I wanted to like this one. I really did. I loved the original. I liked the second one well enough. This one just didn't quite sell itself to me. The contrived "romantic" relationships / tension really felt forced. There was nothing there, no force of conviction.

Now, sure, there was some pretty decent action going on in parts of the movie. But in other parts there really wasn't, and the movie dragged on a bit. The bit at the end about "finding God" REALLY felt contrived.

I hope they make a part 4, but do a much better job of it. Make Johnny Rico a general or a sky marshall. Let the bugs find / destroy Sanctuary, and put the humans on the defensive. See to what lengths we'll go to wipe out the bugs and whether we can somehow keep out humanity while doing it... But, that's not this movie.

In all, I enjoyed the action, hated the melodrama and contrivances. Rent it first. If you loved the first one and liked the second you'll probably like this one too. If you didn't like any of the prior entries, I'm not sure you'd want to watch this anyway.

This is probably mostly for the hardcore fans. I actually enjoyed some of the special featurettes as much as or more than some parts of the movie. A good set of looks behind the scenes. September 2, 2008

This is okay, but the first Starship Troopers remains the best

One thing I will admit though is that this movie has a lot of gorgeous girls in uniform. It's like a professional looking, smart babefest. Check out these actresses: Joline Blalock as Captain Lola Beck, Marnette Patterson as Holly Little, Cecile Breccia as Lt. Link Manion, Tanya Van Graan as Sgt. Sunday, and Nicole Tupper as Sgt. Kirby.
I'd like to see all these girls together in another kind of movie. Like a genuinely tasteless, sex comedy "babefest."

I definately liked Joline. She's hot!!
September 1, 2008

Nice Try

The print quality and the visual effects were very good. The acting was of good quality also. However, the plot was less to be desired. The political slant is in direct conflict with what Robert A. Heinlein was trying to get across in his book. Associating this movie to his book is almost disgraceful to the memory of Mr. Heinlein.
I provide the following quote from Wikipedia on Starship Troopers: "According to Heinlein, his desire to write Starship Troopers was sparked by the publication of a newspaper advertisement placed by the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy on April 5 1958 calling for a unilateral suspension of nuclear weapon testing by the United States. In response, Robert and Virginia Heinlein created the small "Patrick Henry League" in an attempt to create support for the U.S. nuclear testing program. During the unsuccessful campaign, Heinlein found himself under attack both from within and outside of the science fiction community for his views. Starship Troopers may therefore be viewed as Heinlein both clarifying and defending his military and political views of the time." "Through Rico's eyes, Heinlein examines moral and philosophical aspects of suffrage, civic virtue the necessities of war and capital punishment, and the nature of juvenile delinquency.
The writers, director, and producers could have achieved the same goal of showing that good will overcome evil by staying closer to the novel. For those of us who are fans of the book, this movie falls short in its delivery. For those of us that are fans of the movies, this one is much better than the second and is an ok movie, but not a great one.
September 1, 2008

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is not as good as the original but much better than the 2nd one.

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is not as good as the original but much better than the 2nd movie. I loved the book, and enjoyed the first movie but didn't enjoy the 2nd. The third one wasn't all that good, but wasn't a waste of time. August 28, 2008

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