Johnny Rico faces off against the murderous bugs once more as he leads his team on a secret mission to rescue a crew of troopers stranded on the remote planet of OM-1. Battling bugs both new and old, the team’s new ‘Marauder’ weapons technology may be their only hope against a treasonous element operating within the Federation itself. As Captain Lola Beck and the rest of the crew fight to survive in harsh conditions, it begins to dawn on them that something on OM-1 is very, very wrong - and this time the bugs have a secret weapon that could destroy humanity...

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is a bit of let down. While it's certainly an improvement on the second movie in the franchise, it still never comes close to capturing the magic of the original. The original Starship Troopers movie was a one off. It worked because it was tongue-in-cheek, the CGI was pretty impressive for its day, and the level of gore was enough to constantly shock you - who can forget the accidental shooting scene?

Sadly the sequels have not been up to the standard of the original - or even close. Marauder attempts to capture some of the excitement and cheesy humour of the first movie, and it almost succeeds. Sadly though it looks and feels a little dated and some of the intentionally over the top humour actually start to blur into bad movie territory - especially the rather silly praying to God scene. These aren't funny, just very embarrassing. And while this may be intentional, the preachy message does come across as worryingly sincere.

The acting ranges from poor to average and the CGI effects suffer from the same mediocre issues - some shots look a little unfinished, while others are passable.

Casper Van Dien returns to play Colonel Johnny Rico, Jolene Blalock is pretty wooden as Captain Lola Beck, Boris Kodjoe is memorable as the by-the-book General Dix Hauser and Amanda Donohoe makes an appearance as Admiral Enolo Phid. But by far and away the best performance is Stephen Hogan as the cheesy Sky Marshall Omar Anoke.

Extras include Filmmakers Commentary; Director and Cast Commentary; On the Bounce: The Making of Marauder (23 min, 13 sec); Evolution: The Bugs of Starship Trooper 3: Marauder (11 min, 05 sec); Enlist: Marauder's Mobile Infantry (13 min, 22 sec); Music Video "It's a Good Day to Die" (Extended Version) (2 min, 34 sec) and trailers for other releases.

A pretty average movie that could have, and should have, been a lot better.

5

Nick Smithson