Directors Shinji Aramaki, Masaru Matsumoto
Starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, DeRay Davis
Rated MA
Score 4/6

Federation trooper Johnny Rico is ordered to work with a group of new recruits on a satellite station on Mars, where giant bugs have decided to target their next attack.

Traitor of Mars is the latest addition to the franchise based on Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 military science fiction novel Starship Troopers. For those of you who might not have known the franchise consists of a total of 5 movies released between 1997 and 2017, 3 of which are live-action and 2 are two animated films the first being Starship Troopers: Invasion. There is also a CGI animated half-hour television series that lasted for one season released in 1999 and a six-part anime OVA that was released in 1988.

I will admit to the best of my recollections when I saw the first movie in the franchise I really did not like it that much, but over time the franchise has grown into something of a guilty pleasure of mine. If you look at the other 4 movies individually none of them would ever be considered as being ‘award winning’ but there are enough moments throughout the movies that make them watchable. The same goes for Traitor of Mars, but it also the bonus of the nostalgia a 20-year-old franchise can generate especially when you take into consideration Casper Van Dien is reprising the role of Johnny Rico as well as Dina Meyer reprising her role as Dizzy Flores and of course all those bugs.
I found myself loving the dynamic between Sky Marshal Amy Snapp and Carl Jenkins which seemed to have shades of a spiteful sister and brother relationship, the characters were voiced by Emily Neves and Justin Doran.