Well, I just watched it.
The first film, it ain't.
Hell, the first 15 minutes make Lexx look like a masterpiece of modern sci-fi. And dear God, Tippett should never be let near the directors chair ever, ever, ever again. Can you say 'long shot'? C'z I'm pretty ****ing sure Tippett can't. Would it really have been so goddamn hard (or expensive) to drag the actors out into the desert for a few decent night-shots?
And the guns.....Sure, they look pretty,
better than most reviews would have you believe, but the friggin light they were using for a muzzle-flash didn't even rapid-pulse. It pulsed once every half-second. Would it really have been that hard to make them flash faster?
With the exception of Richard Burgi who kicks almost as much ass as Rico does in the first film, the acting was pretty poor. Most of the supporting cast couldn't even make it as street mimes. But the few half-decent actors, such as Kelly Carlson (who gets naked a coupla times) drag it up just enough to be watchable. One of the biggest annoyances was that there was not a single ****ing person on the entire cast list who was capable of shouting. They all just raise their voices and talk gruff, but I suppose this might be due to budget-microphones. Oh and they look nothing like the elite military unit of the book and previous film, and exactly like a bunch of under paid extras trying not to fall over on camera.
The special-effects (props not withstanding) are good enough. The storm isn't great, but the bugs and the compositing certainly are. The only exception being one scene in blue-light where the bug is crisper than everything else. But even the first film had odd moments like that (watch the shuttle fly-over scenes). My only real problem here is that most of the technology and building-work don't really gel with what we've already seen of the Federation. The bug-zappers for instance.
The story isn't half bad but personally I think it gives the bugs too much intelligence. It turns them from barely-sentient killing machines into calculating enemies. Basically what happened to the Borg and the Replicators.
The sound-effects have ****ty balance.
of things that should be a constant, deafening background noise (gunfire for example) are far too dull and after a while near the beginning, the silence starts to grate on you. And by God, does this film need some ****ing music. Even if they'd just used stock-music I'd've been happy, but instead (again) they go for silence.
The one things that really nags at me though, is the ending. I won't spoil it, but all the way through Dax (Richard Burgi) has been kinda relaxed but hopeful. If he'd shown a little more battle weariness or even just been little less quick to get all pally with tele-woman then the ending woulda made
more sense. As it is, it's only acceptable.
Overall, I'd say it's a watchable film, if you ignore the first 15 minutes (the General barking orders just annoys the piss outta me). I wanna say it sucked ass and no-one should watch it, but that's because I'm fixating on the details and comparing it to the first film in my head. On it's own, it's not that bad.
Then there's the budget to consider. They suffered horribly from "can't afford it" syndrome, but still I think if they'd looked a little harder for some unknown, talented actors/actresses instead of going for vaguely known D-listers who were willing to get naked on camera, then they'd have been able to spend the extra cash just polishing up one of two little things which (combined with the better actors) would've made the film a ****load better.
To sum it all up: Paying £18 for Troopers is a great deal. Paying £20 for the Troopers 1 + 2 box set is well worth it. Paying £18 for Troopers 2 is a ****ing rip-off. If it's on TV and there's nothing better on, watch it.
Overall, I give it two thumbs up (outta five).
