starship troopers: invasion

Invasion is actually the fourth film in the Starship Troopers series.

It is a "canon" in the sense that it follows on from the events of the previous films and even includes some of the characters; however, there's a notable difference in that it is a CG film.

When I started watching I wasn't sure it was canon.  It used the costumes and equipment from the previous films, as well as the bug designs, but that didn't necessarily mean it fit properly into that same universe.  It also even included the Marauder suits, which appeared in the third film (one of the weird things with me getting so far behind with reviews is that I have watched this, but it was on TV, so it is a lower priority for me to write about, and there are now about 20 things I've rented and not blogged about!).

The marauder suits are the films finally incorporating the proper mobile infantry concept that is actually key to the original books.  Indeed, the concept of powered suits was actually invented by Heinlein for the original book and it was always a bit odd that it wasn't included in the original film.

I mean, I understand why they took all the troopers out of the suits - expense, difficulty identified with people covered up in suits, reduced threat from the bugs - but they could have had them in it a little bit, like at the end or in a lab or something.

Anyway, this CG film is actually Japanese.  I actually think it was made by the same group that put together the Appleseed CG films, but I'm not totally certain on that.  It looks about similar to the second of the Appleseed films, so certainly better than the first of those, but not quite in the realms of so real you can't tell it from reality.

It's also a bit odd in that it was filmed in English.  I mean, it was filmed in Japan by a Japanese Director, but many of the actors were American and spoke English and the VAs spoke English.  This works okay, but felt a little odd if I'm totally honest, but I'm not sure why.

The film itself is okay.  It continues quite a lot of the tongue in cheek over the top aspects, but manages to stay this side of pastiche.  The plot is a bit hokey, though, and twists itself in a couple of knots.

The real question though is whether being filmed in CG really adds anything.  I'm not sure it does, tbh.  I mean, I guess it means they were able to produce a bigger film than they otherwise might be able to?  However, it also makes it more of a niche product, which limits the degree to which they can distribute it.