#41 ·
Just finished watching this movie and I have to say, it’s actually really solid. It isn’t some massive blockbuster spectacle, which is totally fair since it's a direct-to-video release, but it’s definitely worth your time if you're a fan.
Visually speaking, I’d say they hit the mark. It looks like they dumped a huge chunk of their modest budget straight into the effects. To be honest, the bugs look a little artificial—kind of reminding me of how they looked in the original film from 11 years ago. On the flip side, the space sequences and the way they laid out the propaganda messaging look genuinely great.
Jolene Blalock is her usual talented self, but Casper van Dien is really the MVP here; without him, the movie wouldn't even be half as engaging. As for the plot, it feels like it took some heavy inspiration from Babylon 5 and DS9, especially regarding the religious undertones and the whole undemocratic vibe of the government (you can easily draw a parallel to the undemocratic United Nations in Babylon 5). The first movie didn't lean nearly as hard into politics or religion, so this felt like a refreshing change of pace.
The character arc for Sky Marshall Anoke was handled pretty well, too. I was totally convinced he was one of the good guys for most of the film, just like Hauser was, so seeing his true colors at the end was a nice twist. One of the standout moments for me was when Lola (aka Jolene) commands the ship to go into warp—it immediately gave me T'Pol vibes. 😁
But honestly, the coolest part of the whole thing was finally getting a look at the combat units from the Marauder program. We didn't get to see them in the first two movies, even though they're a staple in the Heinlein book the story is based on. The only thing missing from the books was seeing those handheld nuclear weapons actually in action. For the actual Marauder scenes, it looks like they went with a mix of CGI and stop-motion animation.
Visually speaking, I’d say they hit the mark. It looks like they dumped a huge chunk of their modest budget straight into the effects. To be honest, the bugs look a little artificial—kind of reminding me of how they looked in the original film from 11 years ago. On the flip side, the space sequences and the way they laid out the propaganda messaging look genuinely great.
Jolene Blalock is her usual talented self, but Casper van Dien is really the MVP here; without him, the movie wouldn't even be half as engaging. As for the plot, it feels like it took some heavy inspiration from Babylon 5 and DS9, especially regarding the religious undertones and the whole undemocratic vibe of the government (you can easily draw a parallel to the undemocratic United Nations in Babylon 5). The first movie didn't lean nearly as hard into politics or religion, so this felt like a refreshing change of pace.
The character arc for Sky Marshall Anoke was handled pretty well, too. I was totally convinced he was one of the good guys for most of the film, just like Hauser was, so seeing his true colors at the end was a nice twist. One of the standout moments for me was when Lola (aka Jolene) commands the ship to go into warp—it immediately gave me T'Pol vibes. 😁
But honestly, the coolest part of the whole thing was finally getting a look at the combat units from the Marauder program. We didn't get to see them in the first two movies, even though they're a staple in the Heinlein book the story is based on. The only thing missing from the books was seeing those handheld nuclear weapons actually in action. For the actual Marauder scenes, it looks like they went with a mix of CGI and stop-motion animation.
