Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation (1997) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation (1997) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Sunday, May 01, 2005 @ 00:00:00 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

We’ve talked a lot in the past couple of issues about remakes, but not as much about the remakes almost as insidious cousin, the sequel. This fiend takes everything we loved in a movie and corrupts it. It takes characters, plotlines and twists them to it’s own ends. And usually those ends are to merely line the pockets of some ‘suit’, not to continue the story or tell us more about these characters that we loved. Yes, the sequel is our enemy my friend. And don’t let a good sequel fool you, because for every Spiderman 2 or X Men 2, there’s a Blair Witch 2 or a Miss Congeniality 2! That’s right and even worse, to take a great movie like Hellraiser and then make Hellraiser 2!!! This is worse than Communism!

And what started me on this rant? Well, a little piece of…well, a movie called Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation. Made in 2004, merely to capitalize on the mild success of Starship Troopers, the only thing this has in common with the original is that they apparently bought the computer program that makes those cool bugs. Other than that, there’s really nothing here.

This is the story of one group of Troopers who are trapped on a planet full of bugs. They’re only hope is to hole up in a fort and try to fix the radio and call for help. In the process of their distress call, we find that the last group of Troopers who were here were all killed by one of their own, who’s still in a locked cell inside. We have all the stereotypical characters here, there’s the tough chick sergeant, the trooper who’s more interested in sex than fighting, the a-hole lieutenant, and more. If you’ve ever seen a military thriller and enjoyed one of the stereotypes, you’ll probably find it here.

The only original part of the story is the introduction of a new bug. A bug that crawls into your mouth and takes over your body, thereby allowing the bugs to infiltrate the command structure of the humans and destroy them from the inside. Wasn’t that done in Star Trek 2? No, the bugs went into the ears there, it was completely different!!! You see what I mean, the only thing this has in common with the original is the title. If you’re looking for a great sequel, why not rent Spiderman 2 again or even Evil Dead 2, but when you see Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation on the shelf, please, make sure to give it a wide berth!!!