Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

Ten years after the events of Starship Troopers, where Beverley Hills 90210 first merged with Aliens, humanity is still at war with an alien species (the "Bugs”) that are their own weapons. Starship Troopers 3: Marauder improves upon the previous sequel by bringing original star Casper Van Dien back as Colonel Johnny Rico, who’s eventually tasked with rescuing pop singing Sky Marshall Anoke from behind enemy lines. In the first film, Johnny quickly rose through the ranks to lieutenant via a series of battlefield promotions. Granted, there’s little room for upper mobility after that but ten years later and it’s unbelievable that Rico has only risen to the rank of colonel. It’s also unbelievable that the fascist human government and its military complex have made so few advances in military equipment and procedure. The Bugs, on the other hand, have evolved into bigger and better biological weapons, thus gaining ground in this galactic war. Dissatisfied with the progress of the war, humanity turns to religion — specifically Christianity — which plays a significant and ultimately cheesy role in Marauder. While the movie takes a while to reveal its plot, a number of twists and turns make the story a little more enjoyable. Unfortunately, aside from Rico, none of the characters are in any way sympathetic, and Rico is only an exception thanks to the familiarity with the character from the first movie. Despite these myriad downfalls, it’s good to see another installment in the Starship Trooper series, especially one that’s much better than part two thanks to a return to the roots of the original, and a much bigger budget (though nowhere near the first, which shows). The DVD also contains two informative commentary tracks, as well as a decent featurette on the creation of the Bugs and an "extended” video for Sky Marshall Anoke’s hit song "It’s a Good Day to Die.” The latter feature is the DVD’s best window into the fascist culture of humanity in the Starship Troopers universe.