So far Starship Trooper: Invasion has kept off my radar, but a second trailer (this one loaded with Japanese titles) has caused it to blip and made me consider letting it pass right on by. The first trailer was merely an announcement teaser, so I’m glad I got a better look with this new trailer that actually gives you glimpses of Carl, Carmen, and the no battled-scarred General Rico. Take a look…
You can find more at the production blog (run by a very enthusiastic producer) where there’s plenty of concept art and behind-the-scenes images, including the teaser poster I genuinely like above.
The film is directed by Shinji Aramaki, known for the Appleseed digital animes, and Halo Legends. It will reunite the three main characters when General Rico must order a rescue of a lost ship captained by Carmen and taken over by Carl for deep-space experiments. Then bugs happen, as they should.
I’m not really feeling the plot, voice work, or animation style all that much- if you’d told me this was a trailer for a quickie Starship Troopers video game, I’d have believed you. Clearly there’s love for Verhoeven’s classic satire here, but I’m not seeing any suggestion this will be much more than elaborately produced fan fiction. There’s a fixation on the super-mega-badass weapons and armor and shit, with none of the mindless joy of warfare from the original.
Really though, the biggest problem is the bug violence doesn’t look splashy and gooey enough! They need to let that shit loose.