The sequel to Paul Verhoeven's gloriously OTT sci-fi satire Starship Troopers begins with a squadron of the Federation's mobile infantry fighting off wave after wave of attacks from the enemy 'bugs'. Under relentless assault, they make a break for an abandoned outpost. When they reach it, they discover the incarcerated Captain V.J. Dax (Richard Burgi). While trying to secure extraction, can the troopers trust Dax, stay alive and even trust each other?What should be noted immediately about Starship Troopers 2, is that it's budget of $7,000,000 is not even anywhere close to the first instalment's, so anyone expecting the same kind of movie are going to be sorely disappointed. This is a sequel that has to be judged on it's own merits, while making little in the way of comparison to it's mega-budget predecessor.The movie wastes no time in getting to the action, opening with firefights and wasted bugs. Once inside the outpost and things settle down, things take a different hue. The claustrophobic confines of the outpost gives things more of the feel of a slightly camp horror movie, replete with nervous tension, dimly lit corridors and the psychics' terrifying but confused premonitions.Things are helped considerably by the engaging performances of the cast, particularly from Burgi, Brenda Strong and the ever dependable Ed Lauter. The script is certainly full of hammy lines and is quite predictable, but as proceedings rumble on, the schlock horror, bonkers story line and enjoyable performances provide quite an irresistible mix. Some of the satire of the first film makes it in there too, as well as a healthy sprinkling of irony.The main thing to remember with Starship Troopers 2 is that it's not meant to be taken too seriously. Certainly, it's cheesy fare at times, but it's competently made within the confines of it's budget and the enthusiasm of the cast and crew are evident. Although the sets are slightly repetitive and the cinematography is sometimes unimaginative, there's a satisfying blend of CGI effects and old school gore that makes up for that.A snappy, schlocky and enjoyably daft movie, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is well worth a look for B-movie enthusiasts and fans of the first instalment alike.

Starship Troopers is by no means a perfect movie. I personally enjoyed it, but it really wouldn't even come close to being Paul Verhoven's best film. Probably what it does best is the social satire. Those commercials throughout the film are absolutely hilarious to someone with a darker sense of humor (such as myself). It is a decent send-up to sci-fi action movies, embracing tropes of the genre more than inventing them, and succeeds pretty well at doing so. Cue this piece of trash. It is inherently obvious from the beginning that this film has a significantly lower budget. There are no big stars, the special effects border on laughable, and the writing is intellectually obscene. The first movie wasn't exactly a smart film, but this movie makes the writing in that one seem profound. Poorly written stereotypes flood the screen and stupidity ensues. Basically this movie is the plot to John Carpenter's The Thing (an absolutely fantastic and intelligently done sci-fi film, highly recommended) stuffed into a Starship Troopers movie. That could work if Paul Verhoven returned, or maybe if you got a director like David Cronenberg to somehow agree to it, but in this instance it is simply awful. Nothing about this movie seems sincere. I have very rarely come across a movie that was completely devoid of passion, or any other emotion for that matter. It just looked like no one was having fun (because they probably weren't) in a cheap made for TV movie that was shot quickly and economically to reduce costs. It's really quite a shame, as the first movie set up for sequels pretty well, but trust me and just stop after watching the first one.

The suits have basically taken the action adventure franchise and made a small horror movie out of it. The movie is inferior in every way. The CG is actually inferior after 7 years. The real effects are also inferior due to the smaller budget. The cast is also smaller. The first one had a budget around $100M but this one is listed at $7M. That accounts for most of the difference.The odd thing is that they got Brenda Strong to come back. Of course she died in the first one, but in this one, she's the Sergent leading the group. The cast is limited to around 15. Most of them are B-list or lower actors. This feels like a straight-to-video, oh wait it is.It's a big disappointment that they didn't attempt a big production big scale action sequel to the original. It's rare for Hollywood to not do sequels. Who knows what happened.The other big problem is that the lighting is all very dark. It was probably easier to cover up all the deficiencies. As a horror movie, it helped to have the darkness. But when the action gets going, the darkness obscures too much.As for the story, after an action start, it really grinds to a halt. The actors grumble their lines. They transition to a more horror oriented story. It takes a long while to make that transition. Once it transitioned, it became too chaotic to get a handle on who's who in the movie.

people always complain about sequels, one of the main complaints is sequels tend to be a rehashing of the same material or the same story except bigger and worse... like MIB2 Starship Troopers 2 feels like it is part of the same universe as part 1... but in a small, cramped, disgusting corner of that universe I think if this film was marketed differently if would have been better received.. it should have been titled "Starship Troopers: The Hero of the Republic" as it doesn't advance the story presented in the first outing.Starship Troopers 3 Marauder plays more like a true sequel Forget about the world that exists outside this film, and enjoy it on it's own merits... pretend it's called "Space Soldiers" and you'll discover it's a fantastic, tense, scary with amazing creature designs that will give you the creeps...