The Starship Troopers franchise has long been quiet, though people did start talking about the original film a lot last year.
This was mostly because of Helldivers II, a game that wears the inspiration of the 1998 film, and the original book from 1959, clearly on its sleeve.
Starship Troopers has been a popular franchise in video games
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Now, it seems, the series is getting the reboot treatment, and none other then Neill Blomkamp will be heading up the project as director.
Blomkamp is familiar with big beasties and aliens from his work on Distrcit 9, and is familiar with sci-fi adventures, as seen from Chappie and Elysium.
Starship Troopers was a huge success in the late 90s, skewering and satirising the concept of war and tyrannical governments.
The film was a huge success, combining comedy with over-the-top action crawling with alien bugs, giving way to plenty of gore and splattering effects.
A reboot has been a long time coming, and The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Blomkamp’s attempt will directly pull from the original book, rather than simply remake the old film.
The book, of the same name, written by Robert. A. Heinlein, focused on Johnny Rico, a serviceman in the military who fought a war against aliens for voting rights.
Despite winning a Hugo award at the time, many consider the text fascist, which was core in the satarising for the film, as it poked fun at propaganda, the Nazi regime, and the pomp of military regimes.
The director’s most recent film was the adaptation of Gran Turismo for Sony, which brought the popular racing franchise to the big screen.
Blomkamp is known to tackle tougher topics, so he may keep some of that satire intact, but at this early juncture, it’s hard to know the direction he will take.
Hopefully, the tone is kept, but we desperately want to see the bug squashing remain in all its gory details.
Topics: TV And Film