**WARNING: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!**
Essentially, this film's plot is a broken mess. Let's just call it a flat-out stupid version of the first film where everything that was done right before is now done horribly, horribly wrong. The only "new" thing for this film is the introduction of the "super bug" that apparently controls all the bugs, and the haphazard manner in which it ultimately becomes hunted. I should tell you that I sighed heavily as I wrote this paragraph. Worst of all, for no real apparent reason, it has even hammier and fistier subplot concerning religion.
The Good:
-Nothing.
Didn't Hurt It, Didn't Help:
-There is brief, though nonsensical nudity that's always entertaining.
-Final super-bug alien is almost cool in a Lovecraftian manner, but is also quite ridiculous.
-The brief gore effects are generally competent.
The Bad:
-First off, the writing gives new breadth to the term "ham-fisted" with some of the worst dialog imaginable. It's unrealistic, it's forced, and pathetic. Take some of the worst Star Wars dialog you've ever heard and multiply it by a thousand and you have the best dialog in this film.
-Laughable technology. For such a futuristic film, the technology in use still seems like it came from the 1980's.
-Inexcusable special effects. This is the third feature-length installment in this series and the special effects shouldn't be getting worse over time.
-Meandering nonsensical plot that is a broken mess through and through. Feels like plots were written for three different films and then compressed together in an unnatural manner to create this mess. Even when the film attempts to tie them altogether, it ends up falling flat on it's face with new characters introduced an incredible TWO-THIRDS of the way into the film.
-The "Marauder" suits suck. Let me just say that for the whopping three minutes that they appear in the film, they failed to do it any justice. The battle sequence is dull, the robots are overly rigid, and it's pretty much the lamest thing you could ever see in a film.
-There appears to be some retarded war protesting going on in this film pertaining to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Worse, and don't quote me on this, but it seems like they're referring to the "bugs" as "Arachnis" and damn if that doesn't sound like an awful play on words to illicit the term "Iraqi."
-Lame, overall, view of anything military. Unrealistic portrayal of individuals and ranks.
-There are a few points of subplot that show up and are cast off rather quickly or ignored outright.
-The atmosphere is severely lacking. This is largely due to the nonsensical and overly hustled manner in which the plot progresses. Sequences simply run through far too quickly to ever build much actual atmosphere.
-The pacing is atrocious. The first act squeals by, attempting to cram far too much into a claustrophobic garbage dump of barely perceptible information. This is made all the worse by the downright awful dialog. Old friendships are essentially revisited, rediscovered, and betrayed all in a matter of a few on screen minutes.
-The first act ends without closure or explanation.
-The music ranges from lackluster, totally average sci-fi/action tunes to generally being a major nuisance. Even the stuff meant to be tongue-in-cheek bad ends up being just plain old bad. Some of it is inappropriately annoying.
The Ugly:
-Forced religious propagandizing bogs the film down and totally ruins it. Everyone who is "anti-religious" is seen as some kind of overbearingly evil lunatic ass-hole, including, and I'm not kidding, the heroine. There are even ironic smacks that certain religious beliefs can be "wrong." Yet, the overarching theme of the film seems to be about the "incredible healing power of faith."
-Every single character sucks and lacks any kind of development.
-When characters die, you don't care. You can't. In fact, there were some characters introduced early on in the film, and I can't even pinpoint the moment in the film when they either died or vanished.
-Ridiculous views of the government system and of war protesters. Conversely, while the government is viewed as a mean old freedom-gobbling team of tyrants, it's also seen as working against odds to maintain peace, protect the people, and inspire patriotism.
-For a film which purports (or rather, attempts to) such a positive message in the finale, the majority of the film is awash in negativity and derision. Instead of countering all the negativity throughout the story, the brow-beating religious sentiment ends up insulting the viewer rather than saving the film.
-Probably one of the most trite, cliché, ham-fisted, piles of crap I've ever seen. No new ideas are expressed and no, one new super-bug and mechas don't count. It's completely a thoughtless action entertainment failure.
Not recommended to anyone, ever.
1/10
Essentially, this film's plot is a broken mess. Let's just call it a flat-out stupid version of the first film where everything that was done right before is now done horribly, horribly wrong. The only "new" thing for this film is the introduction of the "super bug" that apparently controls all the bugs, and the haphazard manner in which it ultimately becomes hunted. I should tell you that I sighed heavily as I wrote this paragraph. Worst of all, for no real apparent reason, it has even hammier and fistier subplot concerning religion.
The Good:
-Nothing.
Didn't Hurt It, Didn't Help:
-There is brief, though nonsensical nudity that's always entertaining.
-Final super-bug alien is almost cool in a Lovecraftian manner, but is also quite ridiculous.
-The brief gore effects are generally competent.
The Bad:
-First off, the writing gives new breadth to the term "ham-fisted" with some of the worst dialog imaginable. It's unrealistic, it's forced, and pathetic. Take some of the worst Star Wars dialog you've ever heard and multiply it by a thousand and you have the best dialog in this film.
-Laughable technology. For such a futuristic film, the technology in use still seems like it came from the 1980's.
-Inexcusable special effects. This is the third feature-length installment in this series and the special effects shouldn't be getting worse over time.
-Meandering nonsensical plot that is a broken mess through and through. Feels like plots were written for three different films and then compressed together in an unnatural manner to create this mess. Even when the film attempts to tie them altogether, it ends up falling flat on it's face with new characters introduced an incredible TWO-THIRDS of the way into the film.
- This future media in this film is extremely obnoxious.
-The "Marauder" suits suck. Let me just say that for the whopping three minutes that they appear in the film, they failed to do it any justice. The battle sequence is dull, the robots are overly rigid, and it's pretty much the lamest thing you could ever see in a film.
-There appears to be some retarded war protesting going on in this film pertaining to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Worse, and don't quote me on this, but it seems like they're referring to the "bugs" as "Arachnis" and damn if that doesn't sound like an awful play on words to illicit the term "Iraqi."
-Lame, overall, view of anything military. Unrealistic portrayal of individuals and ranks.
-There are a few points of subplot that show up and are cast off rather quickly or ignored outright.
-The atmosphere is severely lacking. This is largely due to the nonsensical and overly hustled manner in which the plot progresses. Sequences simply run through far too quickly to ever build much actual atmosphere.
-The pacing is atrocious. The first act squeals by, attempting to cram far too much into a claustrophobic garbage dump of barely perceptible information. This is made all the worse by the downright awful dialog. Old friendships are essentially revisited, rediscovered, and betrayed all in a matter of a few on screen minutes.
-The first act ends without closure or explanation.
-The music ranges from lackluster, totally average sci-fi/action tunes to generally being a major nuisance. Even the stuff meant to be tongue-in-cheek bad ends up being just plain old bad. Some of it is inappropriately annoying.
The Ugly:
-Forced religious propagandizing bogs the film down and totally ruins it. Everyone who is "anti-religious" is seen as some kind of overbearingly evil lunatic ass-hole, including, and I'm not kidding, the heroine. There are even ironic smacks that certain religious beliefs can be "wrong." Yet, the overarching theme of the film seems to be about the "incredible healing power of faith."
-Every single character sucks and lacks any kind of development.
-When characters die, you don't care. You can't. In fact, there were some characters introduced early on in the film, and I can't even pinpoint the moment in the film when they either died or vanished.
- *SPOILER ALERT* This film ends, I kid you not, with Jolene Blalock and another girl actually praying to God to help them survive all the "bugs," and all the while we end up bombarded with face-palm worthy religious iconography.
- On the one hand, the franchise appeals to science fiction fans with a taste for the old ultra-violence in their entertainment, and on the other hand, it's heavily geared towards Christians. The Jesusy overtones will only serve to annoy most ardent sci-fi fans, and the routine violence and general profanity would tend to be a turn-off to religious types. What the hell is going on here?
- Throughout the entire film, there is little more than a "been there, done that" feel to absolutely all of the action, with the exception that it's all grossly less entertaining than the previous films.
-Ridiculous views of the government system and of war protesters. Conversely, while the government is viewed as a mean old freedom-gobbling team of tyrants, it's also seen as working against odds to maintain peace, protect the people, and inspire patriotism.
-For a film which purports (or rather, attempts to) such a positive message in the finale, the majority of the film is awash in negativity and derision. Instead of countering all the negativity throughout the story, the brow-beating religious sentiment ends up insulting the viewer rather than saving the film.
-Probably one of the most trite, cliché, ham-fisted, piles of crap I've ever seen. No new ideas are expressed and no, one new super-bug and mechas don't count. It's completely a thoughtless action entertainment failure.
Not recommended to anyone, ever.
1/10
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