Heh ... anybody remember when people actually thought Casper Van Dien had a shot at becoming a legitimate movie star. Good times, good times. Obviously that didn't happen and Van Dien is now locked into the direct to video world. His latest? The thrid installment in the Starship Troopers franchise, which is being treated as remarkably legitimate in Japan and the Japanese now have a slam-bang new trailer for it. Campy? Hell, yes. But fun. It's largely the same as the previously released US version of the trailer but somehow it's more fun with Japanese narration ... you'll find it in the Twitch Player below the break.
Eh. Looks much better then Phil Tippet's sequel. Surprisingly even the effects look better (considering the straight to DVD budget).
Amused by the recycling of old effects shots from the previous films.
These are not scenes from the first film. These are just similar scenes. The FX are much worse as you can see.
The quality of this looks like its a Sci-Fi channel movie of the week.
(and Yie! from an effects point of view Starship Troopers 3 looks atrocious)
One thing that stuck me about SST1 is how tactile the bugs look in the shorts and how seemlessly they blend with the props. Here, in SST3, not so much.
The use of footage from the first movie (and yes, it is the Rodger Young being blown in two) reminds me of back when the spaceships from Battle Beyond the Stars kept being reused in crappy no-budget space horror movies, like Titan Find.
Having said that, I'm all in favour for this movie. The first sequel was actually not bad but as the majority of it was set indoors and away from the big bugs (the threat came from a new type of bug which could take over your mind, thereby saving on a lot of big fx), it could easily have been made without the Starship Trooper trappings and called something else. This new movie seems to have a better budget, more ideas and more scope, and has the look and feel of the original. I agree the bugs look a bit ropey (and appear to be moving like daleks)and most of it seems to be filmed on a soundstage but there's a lot of neat stuff in there - the appearance of a brain bug, the tripod-like bug and the bug-grenade. There's also the return of the propaganda ads, and hopefully it'll have a few "do you want to know more?" moments. And of course, Van Dien chewing the scenery like there's no tomorrow.
And, finaly, the armored suits from the book arrive!
Oh and that trailer was cool. Finally they get the exoskeleton's! Yayy! XD