The first film in this series, 'Starship Troopers', is an excellent big budget, lots-of-effects space fiction film with much irony and satire on a future society. It was directed in 1997 by Paul Verhoeven who had previously directed 'RoboCop' and the original 'Total Recall'.
After a gap of 7 years came this low budget direct-to-video so-called 'sequel', this time directed by Phil Tippett, who has a decent pedigree since he supervised the creature effects on the original film and won an Oscar for the effects in 'Jurassic Park'. And to be fair, the creature effects here - although on a much more modest scale - are quite reasonable.
As a 'sequel' it's only the creatures that are anything like the original film. Only one actor from the earlier film is here (confusingly playing a different role) and the story has nothing in common - it's like an old-fashioned western, with a (sort of) cavalry detachment holed up in a fort while surrounded by marauding Indians and awaiting rescue. Here, it's a detachment of Mobile Infantry holed up in an abandoned outpost surrounded by arachnid aliens and awaiting rescue.
The film is essentially in three acts: (1) infantry under attack in pitched battle followed by retreat, (2) survivors secure position in abandoned outpost, (3) attack from within by aliens. This third act is more of a horror film rather than sci-fi in nature as the infantry are infested by aliens who take them over one by one.
The film has received some extremely poor reviews - but I think that's a little harsh. It really suffers in comparison to the original, but put that from your mind and it's a pretty run-of-the-mill creature feature with added horror and a bit of nudity thrown in for good measure. I've seen an awful lot worse and I didn't hate it too much so I'll give it an over generous 3/5 stars.
Find answers to frequently asked questions and contact us should you need to
See prices and levels and find out how Cinema Paradiso service works
Invite your friends to join and get free subscription each month