Written by Cameron Geiser

Warning: This review is for Rogue Trooper, which is a film presented at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. There may be slight spoilers present. Reader discretion is advised.

Image courtesy of the Toronto International film Festival.

Written and directed by Duncan Jones, Rogue Trooper is an adaptation of the British 2000 AD comic-book run of the same name. Going into this one I had zero context, I didn’t even realize it was going to be a fully 3D animated film, nor did I know of the comic-book origins, I only knew Duncan Jones was at the helm and that there was a great cast attached to the picture. In the far future there’s a war being waged by two factions of humans on Nu-Earth, the Southers and the Norts. The war has gone on for a long time at this point and gotten so bad that the heavy use of chemical and biological weapons have poisoned the planet so thoroughly that both factions have to wear chemsuits while out in the field. This eventually prompts the Souther Military’s bio-labs division to create the GI, or "Genetic Infantryman", soldiers that are genetically engineered to be immune to the poisonous atmosphere of Nu-Earth, and therefore able to fight without chemsuits.

These blue skinned GIs are deployed in secret all at once, with one small faction getting knocked off course in the airdrop from space. This group is who we follow as they hit the ground running. After showcasing their fighting skills in taking out a massive tank, the group runs into a deadly, and hilariously *French* sniper Vichy (Peter Serafinowicz). Vichy takes out the whole team except 19, also eventually known as The Rogue Trooper (Aneurin Barnard). However, the secret sauce of the GI troopers is that if they are killed in battle their consciousness gets downloaded into a chip that their comrades just have to retrieve out of their skulls and place into any part of their standard tech, thereby keeping them alive and able to speak. Which is how 19 advances with his friends, Bagman (Reece Shearsmith), Gunnar (Jack Lowden) and Helm (Daryl McCormack) placed into his backpack, rifle, and helmut respectively.

19’s main goal is then to return to the Souther High Command station built into an orbiting asteroid so he can download his friends back into new bodies. Along the way they encounter the rest of the GI troops all killed in a massacre indicating that there must be a traitor involved because their descent was so secretive. In the process they run across a wide net of quirky characters in trying to reconnect with their superiors, two of which were the cheeky, slimy, war profiteers Mr. Bland (Matt Berry) and Mr. Brass (Jemaine Clement) who would only help you if it was financially savvy to do so. Rogue Trooper has several things going for it, namely it keeps moving with interesting visuals and ideas but also that it’s got a crass, comedic, and hyper violent nature to itself. While in the first moments of the film I wasn’t sure if I cared for the visuals of the film but that quickly faded as things got moving. It can look a little goofy in moments, but it’s stylistic, never lacking in visual fidelity. Sean Bean was instantly recognizable as one of the Souther Generals running things but none of the GIs look like their actors, which actually doesn’t really matter here to be honest with you.

There’s also a strong visual connection to both world wars regarding gear, armory, outfits, and landscape. The Norts have a direct fascist look in design while the Southers maintain a blend of allied forces style. It’s also incredibly British in dialogue tone and sensibility, which worked quite well given the setting and story at hand. Rogue Trooper was a lot of fun, it had a lot of solid lines and good pulpy genre stuff. Did it ascend to the heights of soul affecting artistic expression? Not really, but it is a damn entertaining sci-fi war flick. Do with that what you will.

Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.