Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation
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| Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation | |
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| Directed by | Phil Tippett |
| Produced by | Jon Davison Glenn S. Gainor Edward Neumeier Phil Tippett |
| Written by | Edward Neumeier |
| Starring | Richard Burgi Ed Lauter Kelly Carlson Sandrine Holt Lawrence Monoson Brenda Strong |
| Music by | John W. Morgan William T. Stromberg |
| Cinematography | Christian Sebaldt |
| Editing by | Louise Rubacky |
| Distributed by | Columbia TriStar |
| Release date(s) | June 1, 2004 |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,000,000 |
| Preceded by | Starship Troopers |
| Followed by | Starship Troopers 3 |
| IMDb profile | |
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is the 2004 direct-to-video sequel to the feature film Starship Troopers. It had a $7 million dollar budget as opposed to the $100 million of the original. Like the first Starship Troopers movie, it has no relationship to the novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. None of the characters from the original movie were in this sequel (except for in recycled footage), although Brenda Strong appears in both movies (albeit as different characters). It also features mind control bugs and has scenes of explicit gore. The movie was directed by Phil Tippett, who is also the founder of Tippett Studio, the visual effects company that created the creature and miniature effects for the original film. In the documentary of the making of Starship Troopers 2, it was mentioned that Starship Troopers 3 was seriously being considered.
[edit] Plot summary
Set on a planet inhabited by the Arachnids, a squad of soldiers find themselves pinned down and surrounded on all sides by Arachnid forces. Eventually they break the assault utilising their new laser gun technology and battlefield psy-soldiers, though losing many of their numbers. The remaining refugees find themselves sheltering within Outpost Niels, an old and abandoned structure containing Captain V. J. Dax, a disgraced soldier sealed in a furnace who becomes the male protagonist. As a deadly dust storm kicks up, they find themselves without communications or back-up for a lengthy period of time and protect themselves through the use of electric pulse fences with limited batteries.
As time passes however, a certain refugee begins to act very strangely and whomever he interacts with follows suit. Eventually the female protagonist, Private Sahara, and the male ex-hero of the federation find themselves facing a new breed of Arachnid, a bug that infests the human body by forcing open the mouth and propagating inside the brain.
Eventually a dropship arrives but all of the troopers are infected including a high ranking General, who, if returned to Earth, may infect the leaders of the Federation. The female and male protagonist make it to the roof of the structure to confront the General just as the pulse fences give way. To hold off the infested humans and Arachnid warriors, the brave Captain Dax fights with rifles akimbo. His life ends in a blaze of glory, allowing news of the new bug and its capabilities to return to Earth with Sahara.
Although Dax is labeled as a Hero of the Federation, Dax's death is shrouded in propaganda and corruption as the federation forces utilize his end as a means of recruitment, symbolised by the final line of the recruiting officer: "More meat for the grinder".
[edit] Response
Although this movie has obtained cult status among some viewers, it was largely panned by both reviews and fans of the original movie and the book upon which they are based.
Among the most common complaints are the low production values and the lack of any returning characters from the book or movie (Clancy Brown was originally set to return as Zim, his character from the first film, but the actor was unavailable, having already committed to Carnivàle; the part was thus heavily rewritten and became 'Dax'). This is even more evident when this movie is compared to the original Heinlein book. Instead of showing the Mobile Infantry as a cohesive force, they are shown to be a politically motivated group where officers send soldiers to their death for their own advancement.
In addition, the movie had more of a horror feel than the original, which was more of an action film. This change seems to have divided and alienated fans of the original movie, some of whom see the sequel as a ripoff of Aliens. This is ironic as the film's makers consider the first film to be the Aliens and the second to be Alien.
