Review of Starship Troopers: Invasion (Direct-To-DVD)

'Starship Troopers: Invasion' is a 2012 computer animated science fiction film directed by Shinji Aramaki. It is the fourth film in the series, and will be released on 27th August 2012 as a direct-to-DVD title. A distant Federation outpost Fort Casey comes under attack by bugs. The Team on the fast attack ship Alesia is assigned to help the Starship John A. Warden stationed in Fort Casey evacuate along with the survivors and bring military intelligence safely back to Earth. Carl Jenkins, now head of the Ministry of Paranormal Warfare, takes the starship on a clandestine mission before its rendezvous with the Alesia and goes missing in the nebula. The film stars Luci Christian, Justin Doran, David Matranga and David Wald.

We haven't had very much luck when it comes to 'Starship Troopers' sequels. None of them have been seen as good enough to make it to the big screen. From how I see it, they gradually got worse until this one. This one I actually quite enjoyed. It the first CGI film in the series and depending on how well it is received, others may be on the way in the future. Which would be good because then we'd have the series we love running alongside the remake which I have a feeling will be terrible.

I'm going to start with what is good about the film, for starters the animation is pretty good. The bugs look incredible, so does the troopers armer and the fight scenes are brilliant. I think they put all of their effort and concentration into making the action/fight sequences look awesome. I will admit that certain aspects don't look very good, but you can't have everything. Since I've already mentioned it I might as well continue talking about it: the action, it isn't as big a scale as 'Starship Troopers' or 'Starship Troopers 3: Marauder', but when the troopers start shooting bugs, it's brutal. Bullets are flying everywhere, bugs are exploding, troopers are getting hacked to pieces, it's what we watch the films for. Another good aspect is that although many many aspects of the film are cheesy, it carries with it some of the gems from the original movie that made it so good, e.g. violence, nudity, cheesy one liners and the main characters. At one point the film even makes fun of the series, which I quite like ("Would you like to know more?"). Three of the original characters do return in this film, but they are not voiced by the original actors. Casper Van Dien, who played Rico in the first and third movie, is attached as executive producer.

Now onto what isn't so good about this film. It is paced pretty poorly, you feel like you're waiting ages for the action sequences and the down time scenes just aren't interesting enough for you to pay attention. That takes me onto the story, yeah the story for the original isn't great, but it is filled with very little down time, and lots of action which makes a good balance. Whereas this story is very weak, the whole thing feels very small. Also troopers seem to pop up out of no where. We don't really see any character development apart from a small group of troopers, but when they're rescuing the lost ship, somehow there are a dozen more troopers than I though, and with there new armer (which I think was inspired by the novel, and used in the film to set it apart from the other movies), you can't tell whose who. The only way you can tell one trooper from another is by the name printed on their chest plate, but in amongst the action you never have time to read it. Also it's cheesy, I like my cheesy movies, but I think it's time for them to take 'Starship Troopers' to a new level, which this film was supposed to do. On a final note, the Marauder programme does make an appearance, but I really don't like the new Marauders, they looked awesome in the third movie, in this one they just look stupid, which is a shame because they have potential. At the end of the third movie you feel like they could make things bigger and better with the Marauder programme providing the troopers with enhanced protection and a vast array of weapons.

So all in all, the film is enjoyable, but they haven't quite made that special sequel that competes with the original yet. I'd recommend giving it a watch, because it has some good violent action sequences and some good nostalgia moments. I'd say it's better than third movie, and on par with the second (personally I think the second had a decent story, but that's all it had going for it) and still no where near a good as the first film. I wouldn't complain if they made more of these, it has potential. This film feels like a cross between 'Starship Troopers', 'Gears of War' and 'Aliens', which isn't a bad combination if done right. I know I've kind of ripped into this film, but if you are a fan of the series then definitely give it a try, but if you are new to the films, don't start with this one. I am going to give 'Starship Troopers: Invasion' a 6.5/10. Sadly quite a low score.

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