Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars - Critic who wants to know more
The more time passes and the more it confirms what we thought 20 years ago: Starship Troopers, in addition to being a monument of warrior SF, is a film that is blatantly prophetic. Except that he had planted himself on one thing: his own sequels.
And so it is 5 years after Starship Troopers: Invasion, already an animated film, that Shinji Aramaki gives the cover to offer us this Traitor of Mars. Except for this time, it's different, because the project was planned as a worthy continuation of Paul Verhoeven's film, even as he summoned all the main characters.
This is how we find Johnny Rico, with a look at the Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid, which is unfortunately demoted because he let insects reach the Earth. Sent into the orbit of Mars to take care of young recruits, it misses the Federation attack on the planet Klendathu and has a little bad, which can be understood.
Except that here, the attack is, in fact, a diversion of an unscrupulous admiral who, to establish his power, leaves Mars in the hands of the enemy, who does not take long to attack. Sent to the red planet with his squad, Rico will have to screw up the arachnid again if he wants to see the new day get up.
AS A BUG IN THE SYSTEM
Let's say it right now, it is not with Traitor of Mars that the Starship Troopers franchise will regain its nobility, already tarnished by several DTV who kept the edgy pamphlet of Verhoeven as its warrior aspect and first degree. And that's good, again, the whole problem. Traitor of Mars, in his will of exacerbated heroism, wallows completely in the stupid battle, wishing to plunge us into the heart of a horrible war but never exceeding its status of entertainment.
Yet the means have been put in place to achieve this. Already technically: if it is not perfect, we are still in front of the product of very good invoice. The art direction is inspired, though a bit flat, and visually it's punchy and properly animated. Although we immediately see that only the main characters of the story have benefited from the greatest care on the part of the artists.
Conferencing Casper Van Dien and Dina Meyer to take over 20 years after the roles of Rico and Dizzy was also a great idea but illustrates the enormous paradox of the film, which he has great difficulty recovering.
.
NO ONE IS IMMORTAL
Indeed, and this is a big problem, the film was announced as the sequel to the first opus and yet, we can not find at any time the personality of our heroes. Of course, time has passed, trials have occurred, but at no time is there that grotesque patriotic fiber that made the salt of the original film.
No, here everything is desperately first degree, as if the director, as a good fan of the film, did not understand that it was above all an acid criticism of American patriotism.
The other concern is that the scenario does not really originality for who is customary genre and clutter well-clichéd characters, like the comic sidekick, which plummets the whole. And it's a shame because we feel behind all these imposed figures coming directly from the most commercial productions of Japanimation, a real desire and a strong desire to reclaim this universe and pay its tribute to Verhoeven.
As it stands, Traitor of Mars is a tasteless and uninteresting entertainment, which is still a shame.
SUMMARY
The effort was good but the result is clearly not up to par. Traitor of Mars, trapped by his own clichés, never manages to fascinate and find his identity. Next time maybe.
Available on video since January 3, 2018.
THANKS FOR READING