Movie Info:
Writer: Edward Neumeier
Director: Edward Neumeier
Cast: Casper Van Dien, Jolene Blalock, Stephen Hogan, Boris Kodjoe, Amanada Donohoe, Marnette Patterson
Rating: R
Studio: Sony Home Entertainment
Release Info:
Theatrical Release: N/a
DVD Release Date: August 5, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon: $16.99
Watching a direct to video movie when you haven’t seen the first two movies that came before it in the franchise can be interesting to say the least. Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is one of those movies that I would have never thought to pick up without the coercion of being a movie reviewer. How much you like this version of Starship Troopers 3 will depend largely on how much you like the franchise as a whole.
In most cases, the direct to DVD movie that is part of a franchise is a quick buck film. People that liked the first film are likely to watch it, which is ready made money for the studio that doesn’t have to spend a lot of time or money making the film. Generally, this means that the film is of a lesser quality, but if the first film was well made, this could lead to people watching the others regardless of the quality in hopes that they will live up to the first movie. Unfortunately, I cannot say how this Starship Troopers rates in comparison with the others that came before it, though I can say that in most cases the sequels are a poor representation of the first film.
The Starship Troopers 3: Marauder Plot
Colonel John Rico (Casper Van Dien) supervises the planetary outpost that holds the large bugs off with automatic fences. Soon Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and Dix Hauser (Boris Kodjoe) join him along with Sky Marshall Anoke who is somewhat like the celebrity of the group. Once everyone has met up the power goes out and things get a little crazy. In the midst of everything going out of whack, Lola, Anoke, and some others manage to escape, but when all is not well they have to perform a crash landing on a planet that is anything but friendly.
Holly Little (Marnette Patterson) and her tribe manage to get on Lola’s nerves a bit. Holly has a tendency to pray and sing too loud. Anoke knows how to play the game though and proclaims that this is the place of the one true God. Lola doesn’t care about God either way at this point, though she does notice that the bug attackers aren’t where they normally are and there is an unusually large, unspecified breed of insect in the desert area
After Dix saves Rico from the trouble he is in back where everything started. It is left up to them and a few others to go on what could be an impossible rescue mission. Using the Marauder weapons technology may be the only thing that will work against new and old races of giant bugs.
I don’t know what the first two movies were like, but this one didn’t impress me much. The acting was basic, if not annoyingly stale. The effects were borderline kindergarten, the director couldn’t direct his way out of a Happy Meal box. If that wasn’t enough, I’d have to say he couldn’t write (he wrote all three movies) a well received greeting on a card. This was an all around sad production and it leaves me scratching my head as to why Sony would even put their name on such loathsome garbage.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
Let’s ignore for a minute that the special effects were cookie cutter and that hurt the visual enjoyment significantly. All in all, the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen looked just fine. As a newer movie, there should be little compression errors, a color palette that pleases the eye, and no grain. All of these things were present or not as should have been the case. Like I said, it was the special effects that would have hurt the visual quality because the CGI was just downright pathetic and there is no nice way to put that.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 comes in both English and French languages. I have to admit, the visual quality worked out a lot better than the audio. Many of the special sound effects transferred ridiculously and you were unable to hear various sounds and dialogue as effectively as you should have. I heard people speaking, but I couldn’t tell what words were coming out of their mouths. In addition to the two basic languages, viewers can also take advantage of Closed Captioning and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.
Visual: 
Audio:
Bonus Features:
There are a few special features here, though in most cases they are nothing that I would bother writing home about. You can take your pick of commentaries from the filmmaker’s commentary and the commentary with Ed Neumeier and actors, Jolene Blalock and Casper Van Dien. The commentaries tell you some about the motivation for the movie though these are not incredibly informative for the most part. In some spots, the commentaries were actually better than the movie.
Starship Troopers 3 also offers two featurettes, “Evolution: The Bugs of Starship Troopers 3: Marauder” and “Enlist: Marauder’s Mobile Infantry.” Finally there is an extended version of the music video “It’s a Good Day to Die.” I am only thankful that there were so few considering the bad quality of this film. I honestly don’t think I could have sat through any more of them.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
I did not see the first two Starship Troopers movies and now I can say, if they were anything like this I never will. Only the hugest fan of this series is going to find this worth watching. I like Sci-Fi, but this was just a lower budget waste of film. The writing was poor, the effects were useless, and nothing came together like it should have. You’d be best to skip this one altogether.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Casper Van Dien, Jolene Blalock, Stephen Hogan, Boris Kodjoe, Amanada Donohoe, Marnette Patterson, Edward Neumeier, DVD, DVD Review, Sci-Fi, Giant Bugs, Starship Troopers, Marauder
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Written by Shayne - Visit Website
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I am the proud Papa of a son, Dylan Michael Keller. Other than spending time with my son, I have two main obsessions in life; video games & movies. Often, the two accompany time spent with Dylan.
I’ve been married to Andrea for 13 years this December. One thing I’ve learned about married life is to always expect the unexpected. After nearly eleven years with just the three of us, and our Golden Retriever, Braeden, I’ve just found out I’m going to be a dad again.
In my professional life, I’m a bit of a cyber geek. I enjoy D&D, writing stories, role-playing, computer games, working on websites, and just hanging out. I work for a computer firm doing computer-tech type work and that’s all I can really say about my job.
In my fantasy life, I escape to the world of film. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve seen The Return of the King at least 37 times. I signed up to review movies, and you can guarantee I’ll do the job right. I hope you enjoy my reviews and always remember kids…Make Love, Not Warcraft.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Movie Info:
Movie Info:
