Product Details

• Actors: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Billy Brown, Richard Burgi, Kelly Carlson
• Directors: Paul Verhoeven, Phil Tippett
• Writers: Edward Neumeier, Robert A. Heinlein
• Producers: Alan Marshall, Edward Neumeier, Frances Doel, Glenn S. Gainor
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: June 1, 2004
• Run Time: 222 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001XAOQQ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,076 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Starship Troopers / Starship Troopers 2 - Hero Of The Federation (Special Edition Two Pack)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Starship Troopers
In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire--not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that functions on multiple levels of entertainment. The film might be called "Melrose Place in Space," with its youthful cast of handsome guys and gorgeous women who look like they've been recruited (and in some cases they were) from the cast of Beverly Hills 90210. Viewers might focus on the incredible, graphically intense action sequences (definitely not for children) in which heavily armed forces from Earth go to off-world battle against vast hordes of alien "bugs" bent on planetary conquest. The attacking bugs are marvels of state-of-the-art special-effects technology, and the space battles are nothing short of spectacular. But Starship Troopers is more than a showcase for high-tech hardware and gigantic, flesh-ripping insects. Recalling his childhood in Holland during the Nazi occupation, Verhoeven turns this epic adventure into a scathingly funny satire of fascist propaganda, emphasizing Heinlein's underlying warning against the hazards of military conformity and the sickening realities of war. It's an action-packed joy ride if that's all you're looking for, but Verhoeven has a provocative agenda that makes Starship Troopers as smart as it is exciting.

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation
Allowing for all the low-budget shortcomings that plague any straight-to-video production, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation serves up 92 minutes of passable sci-fi action. Parlaying his veteran status as an animator, special-effects wizard, and stalwart survivor of the CGI revolution, Phil Tippett (with returning screenwriter Ed Neumeier) makes a woefully uninspired directorial debut with this makeshift sequel to Paul Verhoeven's 1997 blockbuster, retaining the jarhead militarism of Robert Heinlein's original novel while serving up more bugs, an all-new cast of attractive young stars, and all-too-familiar plot elements borrowed from a dozen better movies. "Bigger is better" is out of the question under such meager budgetary circumstances, so Tippett and Neumeier compensate with gruesome bugfights and gross-out effects at regular intervals, some standard-issue nudity, and escalating paranoia (echoing Carpenter's The Thing) when a new breed of bugs use human hosts (à la The Hidden) to overtake a stranded platoon of Federation soldiers on a bug-infested planet. Relying on murky confinement to hide nondescript sets, Troopers 2 has three engaging leads in its favor: TV regular Richard Burgi is solidly cast as the titular hero (he's the military equivalent of Pitch Black's Riddick); Colleen Porch is engaging as the most sensible Federation survivor; and screen veteran Ed Lauter makes the most of his salty role as a battle-hardened general. Unfortunately, they're adrift in a knock-off sequel (shot on high-def digital video) that could never do justice to its energetic predecessor. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/28/2004

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vive la difference!, June 16, 2004

By	Cartimand (Hampshire, UK.) - See all my reviews

Some of the negative reviews of the second movie do strike me as rather unfair, as the reviewers are hung up on the fact that Troopers 2 is a very different type of movie to the original.

The original certainly took more than a few liberties with Heinlein's classic novel, but still conveyed a very powerful and enduring image. Truly awe-inspiring special effects, human interest - love rivalry, jealousy and courage, all interlaced with a hefty dollop of dark ironic humour made this a hugely enjoyable spectacularly epic experience. The DVD presentation is superb, with a genuinely interesting commentary and some fascinating deleted scenes. I love it!

Then, with a budget slashed to the bone, what could poor Phil Tippett do to satisfy the punters demanding a second installment? The answer is to do his very best.

If the original was similar in respect to the zap-em-away-with-machine-guns action of Aliens, Starship Troopers 2 is more of a conventional horror movie in similar vein to the gothic claustrophobia of the original Alien movie. I found something truly compelling in the few terrified human survivors holed up in this abandoned tower, surrounded by countless thousands of bugs. The tension builds with desperate attempts to secure the entrance and get the comms online. The perimeter forcefield (hat tip to Forbidden Planet?) was a nice touch too, subtly highlighting the isolation of our heroes. Without giving any spoilers, the main theme of this new form of bug attack is a very interesting one (if not 100% original) and provides a suitable framework for Tippett to give us some real gross-out gore. Adequate extras on the DVD too. I love it!

Troopers 1 was epic all-out war between two species. Troopers 2 appears on the surface to be merely a minor aside in the war on some isolated backwater of a planet, but the implications for a human victory are every bit as significant.

This is a good-value two-movie set. Just go with the flow and enjoy the contrast here.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars starship troopers 2 its not pretty, what a waste, April 26, 2005

By	Ross Carruthers "We're on an express elevator... (Hunters Moon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

troopers 1 is ok
troopers 2 is not.
do not buy troopers 2 rent it.

what a muppet i am for buying this rubbish,
must look on amazon first before purchasing !!!!

First the good points:
the digital effects are good,im pleased shots actually splatter the bugs a big improvement on the first movie that bit.
the actors have flashes of talent, i liked the hero tough guy.
the plot does kind of make sense, perimeter guard tower all good.

but

the camera framing, quality suck. The gore fest sucks. The production quality is just not there, how to totally screw up a good franchise. Forget trying to ape the horror movies. Try something original, and have clever solutions rather than arbitary deaths everywhere, its tired its been done and its not good enough.

The film careered around genres trying to grab anything it could, but taking the worst bits of those genres, so very sad.
third rate horror, third rate porn.

As for the second rate soft focus almost porn(there is no actual porn, before some sad case buys it for that), i was almost expecting some seventies funk music,
dont waste actors talents like that its criminal. It didnt quite plunge the depths but it came real close.

I cant believe i wasted my money on this.
(slaps head repeatedly)

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two very different movies about the same thing, August 4, 2004

By	S. C PIRES "Sergio" (Providence, RI. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first of these two movies, Starship Troopers, is a stunningly amazing achievement in both visual effects and political satire. The movie is funny yet very graphic in its violence. For those with a strong stomach and a soft spot for dark humor, this is a film that will entertain again and again.

On the other hand, the second movie, Starship Troupers 2, is everything the first movie isn't. This movie takes various elements from the first movie and screws them all up.

The first thing that you'd notice about the second film is the obvious lack of a budget. The film is on a much smaller scale than the first. That alone doesn't make it a bad movie; but the bad acting, half-witted story and poor lighting make it a film with almost no redeeming value. It's like a made-for-TV movie with some nudity.

If you are considering getting the two pack, I would suggest getting only the first (Starship Troupers) instead and skip the second altogether. There was 1 1/2 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Don't make the same mistake I did.