Starship Troopers 2

[Myriad]

It comes out Tuesday. Straight to video......... Anyone grabbed it early? Seen a bunch on Ebay the last few weeks. There probably won't be any Mechs...... Maybe some skinnies.......

Someone please put the Anime version out...................

[UN Spacy]

No Verhoven

No ILM CGI

No Dina Meyer

No Denise Richards

Straight to video?

Nah.....I'll pass.

[Isamu Atreides 86]

on one hand, i don't know if it could be worse than the first one. on the other, it is possible.

[MSW]

No Verhoven

No ILM CGI

No Dina Meyer

No Denise Richards

Straight to video?

Nah.....I'll pass.

The bugs from the first film (the vast majority of all the CG) were done by Tippett Studios ( http://www.tippett.com ) not ILM.

Tippett again did the CG effects for this sequel, in fact Phil Tippett makes his directoral debut with this film...and he has been rather quick to publicly point out it's many flaws, due in no small part to it's pathetic $7 million budget and dominering studio executives.

[Myriad]

The first one was rough. Maybe the bugs will be people in Mothra suits this time around.... I will check it out. I am a fan of the book. The Anime version seems like it may be the closest to the book....

[glane21]

Saw it on Cinemax a couple weeks back. Not nearly as good as the first one. The lack of budget forces them to use dark, destroyed sets, stock footage, and a single locale. Kind of a let down.

[Graham]

No Verhoven

You say that like it's a bad thing

Graham

[areaseven]

They actually made a sequel?

[NSJ23]

Saw it on Cinemax a couple weeks back. Not nearly as good as the first one. The lack of budget forces them to use dark, destroyed sets, stock footage, and a single locale. Kind of a let down.

Saw it on Cable a few weeks ago. It was Crap.

[Radd]

Saw it on Cinemax a couple weeks back.  Not nearly as good as the first one.  The lack of budget forces them to use dark, destroyed sets, stock footage, and a single locale.  Kind of a let down.

Saw it on Cable a few weeks ago. It was Crap.

So they are straying true to the first movie, eh?

[Gaijin]

Though I liked the first one for it's campiness (I never liked the book when I first read it, and when I saw the movie, I thought I'd hate it too but since it was so unlike it, I guess I liked it), I don't think this sequel will be occupying my DVD shelf.

[bsu legato]

I've seen it get a couple of half decent reviews on the net. It might at least be worth a rental.

[JELEINEN]

straying true

I don't know if this was a typo or intentional, but this phrase is absolutely brilliant.

[KingNor]

i liked the CG tv show better than the movie.

[Myriad]

http://www.trooperpx.com/Internat/Inteinfo/JmangaF.html

[jwinges]

seen it and it reeks of crap. definitely not worth even paying PPV for it. Wait till it comes on Cinemax. Horrible action and horrible effects.

[Vostok 7]

i liked the CG tv show better than the movie.

Yep. 'twas WAY better.

Vostok 7

[areaseven]

i liked the CG tv show better than the movie.

I liked the book better than both.

[Ladic]

i liked the CG tv show better than the movie.

but it also came out like what? 7 years later?

[buddhafabio]

it is already out in torrents i saw it 2 weeks ago. it ok. not any thing to get excited about

[buddhafabio]

i liked the CG tv show better than the movie.

I liked the book better than both.

same with me. this holds true to most scifi books. even star trek 4 was a better book

Edited May 31, 2004 by buddhafabio

[Noriko Takaya]

I saw this movie and agree with almost everyone who saw it. It's crap! Let me reiterate in all caps: CRAP!!

[That NOS Guy]

Hey, at least we're not seeing...

umm....

Alright, so it's bad. I mean "Plan Nine From Outer Space" bad, but at least we can reveal in it's failure that there won't be a third one.

-NOS

And you thought going back to the hood was bad.

[JsARCLIGHT]

The last time an effects house and an effects person where in charge of a movie we ended up with that pile of crap called Spawn. ST2 is just more proof that in hollyweird you need a royal straight flush of tallent: good actors under a good director using a good script with a good crew to make a good movie. Just having one part of the puzzle is usually course for disaster.

And did anyone catch the write up of ST2 in the latest Cinefex mag?

[Godzilla]

The way it sounds, good thing I will not picking it up.

[Effect]

I say don't bother with the movie. I saw it on Starz a week or two ago. Waste of time really. I had it on mostly as background noise. The first movie was MUCH better then the sequel. With the CG series being leaps above the second movie. Don't waste your money on it.

I finally got the book but haven't read it yet.

[1st Border Red Devil]

I'd buy it to burn it and piss on the ashes.

Personally Im waiting for the anime version to come to our shores as it is much truer to the novel than that piece of crap that Verhoeven pawned off on the world. As for the sequel.....um.....JUST SAY NO TO CRACK!

[MSW]

The last time an effects house and an effects person where in charge of a movie we ended up with that pile of crap called Spawn. ST2 is just more proof that in hollyweird you need a royal straight flush of tallent: good actors under a good director using a good script with a good crew to make a good movie. Just having one part of the puzzle is usually course for disaster.

And did anyone catch the write up of ST2 in the latest Cinefex mag?

Erm....

We also ended up with Titanic, True Lies, Terminator I & II, Aliens, and the Abyss...James Cameron was himself an effects man for a number of Roger Corman's flicks (most noteably Battle Beyond the Stars) as well as one of the founders of effects studio Digital Domain.

Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings movie fame, also helped do effects on his early films (Brainsmasher, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles) as well as helped found the Weta Workshop effects house.

Tom Savini and Tim Burton are two others that have both done effects and directed some respectable films.

[Bloodcat]

The CGI Starship Troopers show rocked. Not as good as the book, but the book really isnt filmable.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Erm....

We also ended up with Titanic, True Lies, Terminator I & II, Aliens, and the Abyss...James Cameron was himself an effects man for a number of Roger Corman's flicks (most noteably Battle Beyond the Stars) as well as one of the founders of effects studio Digital Domain.

Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings movie fame, also helped do effects on his early films (Brainsmasher, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles) as well as helped found the Weta Workshop effects house.

Tom Savini and Tim Burton are two others that have both done effects and directed some respectable films.

Titanic, True Lies and the Abyss are all terrible movies and James Cameron is a hack. Just because he had one of the highest grossing teen cryfest summer shlock movies of all time under his belt and the academy awards popularity does not make him a good director. What has he done since? Jack. Terminator 1, 2 and Aliens can be seen the same way, they are attrocious movies but everone loves them because of all the guns 'a blazin' and special effects. Same goes for Peter Jackson, He was not much more than a third-teir New Zealander gore movie hack until he landed LotR... and Jackson got lucky that he did not totally destroy the LotR trilogy as he had the bonus of good story material, good actors and a good crew behind him. Plus "Founding" an effects shop in this day and age is no big thing as it is just a matter of money and headhunting the right talent. As for Savini and Burton they also have one or two box office successes, more due to their cast and story talent. But the element all these people have that Phil Tippett does not is experience. Their "good" movies came at number 4, 5 or 6 in their careers. ST2 is Tippett's first film in the chair and it shows bigtime. Just as the movie Spawn was a first time shot for most of it's leading crew, ST2 shows itself as a very shallow, immature film. Budget is just an excuse, mainly being an effects person Tippett is used to having about a 100 million in breathing room to fire up his flints and maya seats. I think King George has proved the point that good effects are no match for a poor story and lousy acting and now Tippett has proved that a bad story, budget effects and an inexperienced director can do the same. But seeing as the budget was so low ST2 will most likely will make money in the first week (like the Spykids franchise) and will convince him he should make more movies. Don't you just love hollywood?

[EXO]

Erm....

We also ended up with Titanic, True Lies, Terminator I & II, Aliens, and the Abyss...James Cameron was himself an effects man for a number of Roger Corman's flicks (most noteably Battle Beyond the Stars) as well as one of the founders of effects studio Digital Domain.

Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings movie fame, also helped do effects on his early films (Brainsmasher, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles) as well as helped found the Weta Workshop effects house.

Tom Savini and Tim Burton are two others that have both done effects and directed some respectable films.

Titanic, True Lies and the Abyss are all terrible movies and James Cameron is a hack. Just because he had one of the highest grossing teen cryfest summer shlock movies of all time under his belt and the academy awards popularity does not make him a good director. What has he done since? Jack. Terminator 1, 2 and Aliens can be seen the same way, they are attrocious movies but everone loves them because of all the guns 'a blazin' and special effects. Same goes for Peter Jackson, He was not much more than a third-teir New Zealander gore movie hack until he landed LotR... and Jackson got lucky that he did not totally destroy the LotR trilogy as he had the bonus of good story material, good actors and a good crew behind him. Plus "Founding" an effects shop in this day and age is no big thing as it is just a matter of money and headhunting the right talent. As for Savini and Burton they also have one or two box office successes, more due to their cast and story talent. But the element all these people have that Phil Tippett does not is experience. Their "good" movies came at number 4, 5 or 6 in their careers. ST2 is Tippett's first film in the chair and it shows bigtime. Just as the movie Spawn was a first time shot for most of it's leading crew, ST2 shows itself as a very shallow, immature film. Budget is just an excuse, mainly being an effects person Tippett is used to having about a 100 million in breathing room to fire up his flints and maya seats. I think King George has proved the point that good effects are no match for a poor story and lousy acting and now Tippett has proved that a bad story, budget effects and an inexperienced director can do the same. But seeing as the budget was so low ST2 will most likely will make money in the first week (like the Spykids franchise) and will convince him he should make more movies. Don't you just love hollywood?

I fargin loved the Abyss and even more when the special edition came out. It seemed that the story was lacking with the original release, but it was the fault of the studios that made him cut the meat of the story. Maybe Cameron isn't the best director out there but I wouldn't go as far as to call him a hack. I'd say he's one of the best action directors and should have stayed within the genre instead of trying to spread out. He's able to mix the gun ablazing with an interesting enough story to keep you entertained for a few hours, not to mention make the details believeable as a good "action" director should. I'd take Cameron over most of the directors out there making action films like Michael Bay, Simon West, Jan De Bont, Robert Rodriguez, all the MTV escapees and after Kill Bill, I'd most likely prefer watching a Cameron film. But I rather he stopped making movies if he's going to try outside the field.

It seems to me that there are a lot of these ILM alumnis that are branching out to directing as it should be their natural route, but I noticed how bad they are at it. Phil Tippet and Joe Johnston are a couple. They sure know how to make space ships fly or a Dinosaur walk, but they can't tell an actor how to act for crap.

I don't know if there's a formula for good directors. I mean look at Opi.. who knew that a child actor/teen geek idol could turn out to be such a good director?

I'll wait on my stand on Peter Jackson, but I think King Kong is gonna be the next big bomb as Emmerich's Godzilla.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Cameron is still a hack in my book. His talent seems to only go as far as his budget and when he is using someone else's ideas. I like the movie Aliens, but that was not "his baby" as everyone credits him with, he just took someone else's concept and characters and "Terminatorized" it.

I also agree that King Kong will be Jackson's undoing.

[bsu legato]

Aliens was actually written as an ALIEN ripoff back in Cameron's Roger Corman days, back in the late 70's and early 80's. Thank goodness he got the attention of Brandywine Prod. or it would have been something cheesy, like "Alien Infestation From Beyond The Stars." But regardless of the fact that he didn't create the franchise and its creatures, ALIENS is still a solid film. Ditto the original Terminator. In retrospect, I think Terminator 2 started to show his decline. As much as I love that film, it really drags in the middle. But that's all made up for in the final reels, with some textbook-rewriting action sequences and a lot of amazing practical FX ( I still can't believe that somebody was nuts enough to fly that helicopter under the overpass). True Lies suffers from his more neo touchy-feely filmmaking, but is again saved by the last reels action sequences. I can't begin to defend Titanic, but damn if that boat didn't sink all purty like.

Joe Johnston is decent enough, provided he sticks to the kind of films he's cut out to direct. Both Jumanji and Jurassic Park 3 were written to showcase a bunch of creatures chasing the human cast members. That's it. Neither of them are meant to be Citizen Kane, and if you look at them as straight popcorn fare, then I don't see any complaints.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I would have to say if you start forgiving one or two things for one person under the guise of a "summer popcorn movie" then you'd have to forgive more and more sooner or later... which is what we seem to be doing lately for summer movies... cough cough the core cough cough day after tomorrow cough cough vanhelsing cough... I also think something that should be remembered is that ST2 is a straight to video release and technically "cannot compete" with other first run theater movies. ST2 should technically be compared to it's brothers like American Ninja 4: The Dudikoff Factor and any of the ham-fisted movies you see on a sunday afternoon on SciFi Channel.

And to me the days of the classic shootem up summer movie are long gone... all we have now are thinly veiled message movies and audience abusing manufactured action hero pieces.

[bsu legato]

I would have to say if you start forgiving one or two things for one person under the guise of a "summer popcorn movie" then you'd have to forgive more and more sooner or later... which is what we seem to be doing lately for summer movies... cough cough the core cough cough day after tomorrow cough cough vanhelsing cough...

True enough. I'm just fighting my lone crusade against black and white e-opinions on everything. Not that it applies to anybody in this thread, but I get tired of seeing everybody rating everything as either "teh bestest thing evar" or "Omfg, dis movie is teh suxorz." There IS a middle ground, people.

However, there can be NO fogiveness for Van Helsing. It's like having Gary Busey yell in your face for 120 minutes. It's amusing at first, since he's so crazy, but it really starts to grate after a while.

Edited June 1, 2004 by bsu legato