Super "Troopers"

The original Starship Troopers was released 20 years ago this year which introduced us to the likes of the Johnny Rico and the infinitesimal war between humankind and the Arachnids. The first time watching it, I was only interested at watching the awesome firefights between the troopers and the bugs (c'mon, the scene where Casper Van Dien is riding that giant Tanker bug was pretty awesome). As an adult, my perspective changed when I started to notice the underlying themes of fascism and how the ideology of militarism was used for the propaganda of recruitment. Of course, the film spun these themes a bit differently than the original 1959 novel that it was based on, turning it more into a satire and with more focus on action than drama. Not many people who watched it were sure how to receive Paul Verhoeven's adaptation but it has become the source of debate concerning military politics and civic duty and inevitably a classic of the 90s. Perhaps it's why the films that followed have gone straight to DVD, forgoing the issues of war and fascism and opting instead for brainless bug shootouts, gore and nudity. Traitor of Mars, which is the fifth film in the franchise and the second CGI film, continues the streak of what we've come to expect from these movies but at least it knows what it wants to be. Taking place 20 years after the events of Invasion, Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) has been reassigned to a Martian satellite outpost near Mars where he is in charge of training new troopers whose performances are dismal at best. The recruits come from Mars where the planet has shown little to no support in the war because the conflict hasn't affected them in any way, which explains why the recruits are lacking in terms of readiness and initiative. They're quickly put to the test when a sudden outbreak of the Arachnids swarms over the populated colonies of Mars. Johnny once again takes up arms and assembles his new recruits to fight the infestation all the while uncovering a conspiracy that the attack might have been coordinated from someone within the Federation. Having never read the book, I can't imagine what the differences are between these films and the novel they're based on but I can assume that the later sequels follow more in line with Verhoeven's version. Traitor of Mars is basically a 90 minute long action film where more emphasis is given on how the bugs are shred to pieces when the bullets start flying and the social satire on militarism and propaganda takes a back seat. The animation is pretty tight but is brought down by the wooden voice acting which is for me personally the major negative of Traitor of Mars; it worked for the original film but here it doesn't contribute much. There are moments where the acting does feel genuinely real especially for being CGI but a majority of it, particularly from the new recruits, is bogged with some questionable writing and bad delivery on the dialogue. Let's be real: when it comes to these type of movies, you're only interested in seeing the action and that's something Traitor of Mars definitively delivers on. If you take it for what it is, the movie is rental worthy; just don't expect anything else.