So, Casper Van Dien's career wasn't going as great as it looked like it would when he starred in the original Starship Troopers. The second movie got made without him, and this one could probably have been made without him pretty easily. I'm not sure if he was enough of a draw for the movie or not - it was like when they made Jurassic Park 3, and they brought back Sam Neill. I guess it added legitimacy to the movie.
The internet tells me that Casper is 5'10", but they must be casting giants to costar with him, because he looks downright tiny. His eager anger/brooding is on display just as it was in the first one, and I guess that's another thing he brings to the table. In general, his character is cookie-cutter, and he doesn't see a need to change it.
Special Effects are really what these movies are about, and this one has the worst in the series. It's like they couldn't afford a computer, so they wanted to hand animate all of the aliens using MS Paint. Somehow, the aliens went from a reasonable 30fps to more like 20fps. Their movements are choppy, their colors are muted, and they are not the only effect that has issues.
But let's not use up all of the synonyms for "bad" on the special effects - there were people operating the cameras, too. They were probably limited on what they were allowed to do by the budget. There aren't sweeping shots of the battlefield, as the battlefield isn't very big. As a result, battles feel like they are in a condemned college dorm room about 10' by 10'. When the walls are blown apart or breached, they appear to be made of either cardboard or Styrofoam, and that's probably because they are.
There are other people who dare to call themselves "actors" in this film including a woman who could play Angelina Jolie's sister, Jolene Blalock. That's about the best I can say about any of the actors in this thing. Blocking is rough, and the actors can't sell it. Dialog is laughable except for the parts that are supposed to be funny.
Even the costumes have the feel of a Halloween store's Going Out of Business Sale. The nature of things called "uniforms" is that they are supposed to be uniform. For some reason, no one wears the same thing. Some are dark, some are light, some look dressy, some look dirty, but none of them are the same except for the losers who are destined to be faceless dead people.
Acting was terrible
Effects were terrible
Story was terrible
Dialog was terrible
props were terrible
Lighting was terrible
Voice announcer was terrible
Only redeeming quality? Naked scene. And it's not worth it.
0.5/5