Starship Troopers 3

[Megalith]

I agree slug, it is in my top 5 sci-fi films of all time. I cant understand why it got put down so much by the critics at the time. Well i can really critics often put sci-fi down. the brain sucking buttock lookalike bug at the end makes it worth watching if nothing else ;)

[Amnot Borg]

the brain bug always reminded me more of a giant tick than anything else, huge and bloated, yuck....

the proboscis to suck liquified brains was sort of a mosquito adaption I guess.... still very parasitic...

[Tenebrae]

The film and the book are pretty much coming from pretty much opposite directions... but they're both enjoyable in their own way. Anyone seen the Starship Troopers anime? I hear it's a fairly faithful adaptation of the book... If the film had used power suits, I'd probably have enjoyed it more - because it wouldn't have been quite as nonsensical and ridiculous, although I suppose that was one of the charms of it. Hero of the Federation was stupid as sin though, it was just invasion of the body snatchers.

 

The brain bug did look like a tick - kind of shoddy CGI. Roughnecks actually did a better job of explaining the way the bugs worked... apparently they were the main inspiration for the ZERG!

[Chiggy]

Ive got a Starship Troopers promo CD somewhere that explains why there is no power armour.............I think on the most part its budget.

 

I know that the bugs are CGI but there sure were a hell of a lot of extras used in that film. I dont believe that when the drop ships land all the troopers that come rushing out are real........no CGI. Must double check that.

 

With anything these days politics is always an issue and the troopers film was no exception. The films director grew up in a Nazi occupied European country so many of the critics use this as an explanation as to why the controversial politics of the book are not covered in the film. Some even say he was not the man to make this film because of this bias.

[Tenebrae]

Well, there were CLEAR parallels to Nazis - not least the Gestapo type uniforms and propaganda but as I said, he had originally intended it to be a different film... I assume that take a side-swipe at fascism was just a bonus, there isn't actually any out and out criticism of the regime. Clearly it's made fun of... but it also seems to work but yes, in terms of an adaptation? He wasn't the man for the job... but then, when you start out with another idea and then just hammer another name to it, not quite the same.

 

To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if they'd use a load of extras. It would probably be cheaper, they give them peanuts (if anything) to run. Although there are some relatively simple ways of making a small number of people look like they are many.

[slug]

I would not think they could have done particularly convincing CGI humans when the film was made, although I think there were a few in Titanic, roughly the same time, but they were probably less mobile. More likely they made composite shots with the same extras in different places. They have been doing that for donkeys years.

[Tenebrae]

Titantic had a budget as its name suggested... but I don't think they really used CGI humans for much more than falling off when the boat sinks (oops - guess I should have tagged this as a spoiler), they probably used some camera magic for various crowd scenes but that's actually relatively inexpensive. So, yes - composite shots... I think Stargate actually used an absolutely massive number of extras...

[Chiggy]

Heres something I didnt know and probably everyone else does! Phil Tippet designed the bugs for the film.....you know that guy who worked on Empire Strikes Back.

 

Another great thing I like about Troopers is the sound track which most people tend to forget. The Troopers in the film do have their own themes, so open your ears next time you watch the film, each planet also has a theme. The music is very well done and in my opinion easily matches Trek or anything written for the new Star Wars films. The best way I can describe it is as a military theme mixed with strings which brings everything together, it appears to of been very well thought out.

[Megalith]

Troopers sound track thats something to look for :) i'm gonna have to dig up my old copy of the original because of this thread :) 'I'm doing my part'

[Chiggy]

Paul Verhoeven was on UK TV last night pimping his latest film Black Book.

 

Its funny because when the film reviewer who introduced him was talking about him to the shows host.......he didnt mention Robocop, he didnt mention Total Recall......he mentioned Troopers as being his own personal favourite of Verhoevens.

 

I think the problem was that movie came out at a time when critics were becoming complacent. They thought all big sc-fi effects movies that would come after would bury that film and it would be forgotten quickly. Now those same sorry asses who were being so critical of it are praising it and wanting Vehoeven to come back and do more of his SC-Fi action big budget films because there is now a gap in the market. However Vehoevens not to stupid, hes making those critics who tried to shoot troopers down pay by staying well away from Hollywood

[Tenebrae]

Yeah, I think that a lot of pretentious critics (redundant, I know) - will slam these kind of films but I think that Starship Troopers was the kind of all out action romp that really hasn't been surpassed.

 

To be honest, I'm not sure they really make films like Starship Troopers... and in many respects, I think that perhaps it would have had better company in the 80s with the likes of Predator, Aliens and such. Troopers was unapologetically - shamelessly - gory and tongue in cheek... It's rather surprising that no one has tried to replicate it, even more so that the sequel was pissed away on a generic "body snatcher".