"I always get the shakes before a drop. I've had the injections, of course, and hypnotic preparation, and it stands to reason that I can't really be afraid. The ship's psychiatrist has checked my brain waves and asked me silly questions while I was asleep and he tells me that it isn't fear, it isn't anything important - it's just like the trembling of an eager race horse in the starting gate... ...I couldn't say about that; I've never been a race horse. But the fact is: I'm scared silly, every time" - Juan "Johnnie" Rico, first lines, Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers"
I don't pretend to know everything that late sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein intended to put forth in his controversial landmark 1959 military science fiction novel "Starship Troopers." I do know that it's been hugely influential in science fiction literature and film ever since its publication 53 years ago. It was adapted into Paul Verhoeven's wildly prescient 1997 feature-length movie (which appeared to be more of a pro-/anti-war satire of Heinlein's novel), and more importantly (to me, anyway) the cast members of James Cameron's "Aliens" (1986) - my #5 movie, by the way - were required to read the book as part of their "basic training" for the film.
Regardless of what you think of Heinlein's points in the book, it's first-rate sci-fi entertainment and pro-war military propaganda of the first degree. I saw Verhoeven's 1997 film adaptation first, and to this day I still absolutely love that movie. I read the book some time afterward; I completed it in a single day - that's how immersed I was in Heinlein's insanely in-depth futuristic universe. Two sequels to Verhoeven's original film have been produced, and one animated sequel from "Appleseed" (2004) director Shinji Aramaki - 2012's "Starship Troopers: Invasion" (which was ultimately supported by an ultimately flawed script by screenwriter Flint Dille).
"Starship Troopers: Invasion" is the most worthwhile sequel so far to Verhoeven's 1997 cinematic offering of Heinlein's most celebrated work (for me, that is). Like the not-so-freakin'-bad "Starship Troopers: Marauder" (2008), "Invasion" takes a little bit more inspiration directly from the pages of Heinlein's original novel, even though "Invasion" is, in fact, a direct sequel - more or less - to Verhoeven's first live-action movie.
What connects this particular feature to its predecessors - despite being animated - is that three central characters from Verhoeven's 1997 film reappear here: Johnny Rico, Carmen Ibanez, and Carl Jenkins (who were played, respectively, by Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Neil Patrick Harris in Verhoeven's first film). Van Dien and "Starship Troopers" screenwriter/long-time Verhoeven collaborator Ed Neumeier serve as producers on "Invasion." "Starship Troopers: Invasion" is a nicely animated feature with a largely Japanese Anime' production team behind it, with American actors voicing the parts.
The film begins with the mysterious disappearance of the Federation Starship "John A. Warden," which was apparently conducting clandestine experiments involving the Arachnids, which was under the supervision of Carl Jenkins, now the head of the Ministry of Paranormal Warfare. A group of M.I. (Mobile Infantry) troopers, along with Captain Carmen Ibanez, are sent to investigate, only to discover a Bug plot that threatens the very fate of everything on Earth. And Johnny Rico, now a general, is forced to join the fray in order to save his friends and the galaxy from a full-scale Bug infestation.
Unlike its predecessors, the plot to "Starship Troopers: Invasion" is pretty straight-forward science fiction warfare and lacks the vicious humor aimed at satirizing wartime values and military propaganda that marked its three predecessors. Despite that, there is some slight humor to be found here (of the tough-guy military variety and not satirical), and some decidedly course language (and some gratuitous nudity). Instead, "Invasion" seems more closely tied to "Aliens" in its presentation and characterizations. You also see a more prominent display of the "powered suits" made famous in the pages of Heinlein's original novel.
Characters are pretty thin and it's hard to separate some of them from one another, but it's true here that both prominent and stock characters alike get slaughtered viciously in some particularly gruesome ways (even though it's also true that the Bugs appear to suffer a much heavier body count than the humans do). (It's quite remarkable that the presentation and overall appearance of the Bugs here is still quite faithful to their presentation in Verhoeven's original - where they were first designed by special effects artist Phil Tippett - though they're more for cannon-fodder here, rather than a misunderstood indigenous species defending their home from hostile foreign invaders.)
Shinji Aramaki created a lean, mean, and focused Japanese-style animated feature with "Starship Troopers: Invasion." The film takes a little more inspiration from Robert A. Heinlein's original book (which is quite good, in my opinion, for the film, at least), but it's still very much in line with the legacy put forth by Paul Verhoeven's 1997 film adaptation. It's an ultra-violent, action-packed blast - nothing more, nothing less.
7/10
