Film Review: Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004)

Starship Troopers is one of the grand classics of science fiction cinema and arguably the most prophetic films to come from Hollywood. However, it was originally intended to be just another typical summer blockbuster and potential start of lucrative major film franchise. Initial fiasco at box office and panning at by the critics quashed such hopes and only the small but dedicated group of fans created and maintained its cult status, that would gradually grow through decades. In the meantime, all those wanting saga to continue had to settle with low-budget direct-to-video sequels that looked predictably underwhelming in comparison with the original. The first of those was Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, 2004 film directed by Phil Tippet.

The plot, like the original, is set during the war between humanity, organised in Federation, and deadly alien race of insect-like Arachnids. While Federation has technological advantage, Arachnids have superior numbers and, like in many such instances, the latter prove decisive when small Mobile Infantry force on a distant planet gets overwhelmed by enemy. General Jack Shepherd (played by Ed Lauter) and four of his best soldiers sacrifice themselves and make the last stand, allowing other survivors, including Sergeant Dede Rake (played by Brenda Strong), to escape and try seeking shelter in abandoned structure, from where they would request evacuation. In the structure they find V. J. Dax (played by Richard Burgi), former Captain who has been demoted and imprisoned after killing superior officer. A dust storm delays evacuation and in the meantime, survivors must find the way to fend off Arachnids that might come. Much to their surprise, General Shepherd arrives with number of other soldiers, after miraculously surviving the onslaught. But survivors soon begin to act strangely and Dax, who has taken over command from emotionally unstable Lieutenant Dill (played by Lawrence Monoson), begins to suspect that new breed of “bugs” – parasites able to infect victim’s bodies and take over their minds – came into the compound.

Budget for Hero of the Federation was only 7 million US$ and it shows in the film, even to those who won’t compare it to the original. The setting is very limited, all action takes place at night and is often not displayed in full detail, thus allowing producers to save on special effects. Comparisons with Starship Troopers are also damning for this film when it comes to content. Characters are one-dimensional and stereotypical and played by relatively unknown actors, with only possible exception being Brenda Strong, who enthusiastically played tough female soldier despite playing completely different character of Captain Deladier in Starship Troopers. Same enthusiasm can be seen in Richard Burgi, television actor with strong Eastwood-like macho presence who uses one of the rare opportunities to play the lead in feature film. Phil Tippet, renowned mechanical visual effects expert, does decent job in one of his rare works as director, maintains fast tempo, keeps plot wrap within hour and half and delivers just enough gore, violence and nudity the exploitation film of such nature will require. Hero of the Federation, due to its limited resources, switches genre more towards territory covered by B-westerns or horror films, although it could hardly match Aliens, a gold standards for all films with similar plots. Taken as stand alone film, Hero of the Federation provides solid entertainment, but as fan service for those who enjoyed previous film it utterly fails. One of the reasons is complete lack of satirical social commentary that worked so well in Starship Troopers. In 2008 a new sequel, closer in content and style to the original, was released under title Starship Troopers 3: Marauder.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax y
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7

Posted using CineTV