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 Casper Van Dien is back as Johnny Rico, joining a few tens of thousands of homicidal CGI bugs to repeat a Heinlein-inspired spoof on jingoistic war-making that I’m sure has nothing whatsoever to do with any major conflicts currently taking place. Honest.
Jolene Blalock appears as the lovely (what else?) Lola Beck – hotshot pilot and general purpose love interest for Casper and rival Dix Hauzer. (Any echoes of Dougie Howser here? Neil Patrick Harris –formerly Dr Dougie- was in the first film) Amanda Donohoe pops up as the main bad guy Admiral Enolo Phid, trying for a promotion by conspicuously failing to rescue her boss when he crashes on a bug planet along with Captain Jolene. Despite being courts-marshalled after trying to save Dix from making a mug of himself in combat, Rico is himself rescued from execution to lead a mission to rescue the castaways. This involves using some hi-tec powered armour that is the one conspicuous area where they woefully skimped the special effects – Iron Man this is not. There was a good chance for a shoot-em-up guns blazing finish here that gets wasted in some needless Messianicism (double word score). To offset some of the downsides, there’s a little gratuitous nudity - always good for the ratings - and the bad guy gets his just deserts by becoming desert. The spaceship special effects are excellent as they were in the first film (we don’t talk about the second one..) plus the general tech and toys. The photography is first rate if you can ignore the casual genocide and the general totalitarian regime - and the fact that Dix wears glasses throughout for heavens sake. Unless these were laser-powered nuclear sighting specs I don’t think Specsaver’s best was ideal for a space film. Casper is another graduate of the Keanu Reeves school of architectural acting, but strangely he’s right for this camp overkill. If you liked ST1 you’ll like this. Get help soon however and you may be able to return to a normal life in due course… Would you like to know more? |
