Should You Enlist For The 'Starship Troopers' DTV Sequels?

(Welcome to DTV Descent, a series that explores the weird and wild world of direct-to-video sequels to theatrically released movies. This week, we go to war... in space!)

Paul Verhoeven is a filmmaker whose career has seen highs and lows, hits and misses, blockbusters and quiet indies, but the one constant is that his best film will always be Robocop (1987). This is not an article about Robocop, but it is about the big, action/sci-fi movie he made a decade later that echoes some of the same satirical stylings.

1997's Starship Troopers is a loose adaptation of Robert Heinlein's novel – an unrelated script was the film's basis, and the studio simply bought the title rights from the novel before mashing the two together – but where the book is hardcore militaristic, Verhoeven's film takes a more cynical, darkly humorous, and dismissive tone. It wasn't quite the hit they hoped for, but its growth into a cult favorite helped spawn two live-action sequels that went straight to DVD/TV. So let's be good citizens and give 'em a spin!

An attack on a bug-infested planet has led to ruin leaving only a small squad left to fend off the creatures. The soldiers hold off the bugs for the most part, but unbeknownst to them the enemy has targeted them with a new variation of their weaponized bodies. A smaller species is now capable of entering human brains through their facial orifices – and it's a "gift" transmitted by the mouth of the already infected. The tide turns, and before you can even say Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the aliens are within inches of hopping a ride back to Earth where their body-takeover shenanigans could spell the end for humanity.

As mentioned in the intro, Starship Troopers was directed by the great Paul Verhoeven, and if you don't know his name you most likely know his movies which include Robocop, Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995), Hollow Man (2000), and Elle (2016). He's a formidable talent, and even when his films go off the rails they typically do so in entertaining fashion. It was written by Ed Neumeier (Robocop; Anaconda: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, 2004), features big name producers, and was budgeted at just over $100 million. None of that money went to securing a name cast, though, and instead we're gifted with newcomers and supporting veterans like Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Ironside, and Rue McClanahan. (Of course Paul Verhoeven secured the most promiscuous of the Golden Girls for his movie.)

The fall to Hero of the Federation was a mighty one as the budget dropped to $7m, but at least the director's name was recognizable to genre fans as visual effects legend Phil Tippett took the helm for his sole feature directorial effort. Yes, the same Tippett whose work graces the screen in Star Wars (1977), Dragonslayer (1981), Howard the Duck (1986), Willow (1988), Jurassic Park (1993), Starship Troopers, and many, many more. He's an immensely talented artist, but it's good to know your limitations. Ed Neumeier returned as writer, but the best it could do cast-wise was a roster highlighted by Sandrine Holt and Ed Lauter. You know their faces even if you don't recognize their names.

Marauder saw writer Ed Neumeier also take on director's duties, finally, but he wasn't the only returning player. Johnny Rico himself, Casper Van Dien, returned too and was joined by Jolene Blalock, Amanda Donohoe, and an uncredited Catherine Oxenberg.

It's rare for the DTV sequel field, but Marauder mostly escapes unscathed on this point. To be clear, it's still a low budget action/sci-fi film so it has its own issues, but as a sequel to Verhoeven's original it does good considering. There's action, commentary, and Johnny Rico, so what else do you need? Hero of the Federation, though... hoo boy is this movie a slight against the original, the genre, the fans, the idea that film is art, and the concept of sight itself.

Hero of the Federation owes more to the likes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Species (1995) than to Starship Troopers, and while that sounds in theory like a fun combination the result is anything but. Bugs are few and far between, an odd choice for a franchise built on fighting the fast-moving vermin, and instead the focus becomes "human" threats. It's far cheaper, understandably, but it's also terribly boring. One by one characters fall prey to someone else's mouth until it's down to just a handful of survivors, but while the fate of humanity rests in their resistance to rogue smooching you'll find it hard to care.

While the story, the lack of bugs, and the general absence of social/political commentary all result in a sad misfire, the film's visuals are equally to blame for its status as an intergalactic dud. The film is lit so poorly as to leave the bulk of it in dim darkness. We can see what's happening more often than not, but not a single damn beat jumps from the screen the way the other two films' bug action does on a regular basis. The visual dullness pairs well with the narrative boredom, and neither of those are claims you can suggest with a straight face against Verhoeven's original.