Directed by:
Paul VerhoevenScreenplay:
Edward NeumeierCinematography:
Jost VacanoComposer:
Basil PoledourisCast:
Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Patrick Muldoon, Michael Ironside, Rue McClanahan (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Starship Troopers charts the lives of elite members of the Mobile Infantry, a corps of dedicated young men and women soldiers fighting side-by-side in the ultimate intergalactic war... the battle to save humankind. The enemy is mysterious and incredibly powerful with only one mission: survival of their species no matter what the human cost. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (12)
An incredibly entertaining parody of everything that stood in Paul Verhoeven's way at that time. Brilliant internet interludes, brutal and unprecedented bloody action scenes that are almost flawless, likeable protagonists, excellent one-liners, Michael Ironside as the ultimate badass, and fantastic looking bugs. This is how an action-packed masterpiece should look, skillfully alternating suspense with light-heartedness. I admire the director, he truly wasn't afraid to use large amounts of blood and scored with that. If nothing else, even the skeptics will remember this movie because of all the severed limbs and heads. Brilliant fun and excellent score by Basil Poledouris.
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A whip-sharp satire, or is the film really as stupidly militant as it looks? I vote for the first option. Because if my other extreme is true, Verhoeven is not capable, which contradicts his nature. If you watch Starship Troopers with exaggeration and relate it to fictional models of individual genres (a war film, a teen series from “high-school", an action sci-fi, a propaganda documentary), then you just can't help but bow down, because Starship Troopers works great. On the one hand, the film is able to captivate through mass combat scenes and tension on the battlefield, and on the other hand it can entertain with satirical whisks, especially during the inserted sequences from the "period media". Paul Verhoeven cannot be considered anything other than one of the greatest deviants of the silver screen, and the contradictory reception of his works is the best proof that he is doing his job amazingly. In this case, however, it’s a little less amazing, because what it parodies it also absorbs dangerously in places.
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How to stay true to the idea and structure of Henlein's premise while epically wiping your ass with it and its entire author. The inability of critics of the time to recognize the satire in a film steeped in Reiefenstal-esque angles and the sectarian milieu of a utopian Earth, not to mention the cast, demonstrates time and again the importance of building a sensitivity to the form of film, the Achilles heel of most film theorists. ___ Update 2021: I am convinced that there is no such thing as immunity to visual propaganda, and whoever thinks they have it is saying so in the name of propagandizing others. After years of rising above the propagandistic nature of Starship Troopers, it only just dawned on me that the proper reading is to succumb to it for a lovely 129 minutes and, through cheering on those beautiful young people, to enjoy that sense of power and purpose. It's an important cathartic experience that ultimately helps you be more sensitive to the natural need to fall for that propaganda and marketing in real life.
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If Paul Verhoeven had actually made the satire that so many of the reviews keep referring to, I would have enjoyed it; and yet the director isn't making fun of multiple genres at once. Instead, he's combining three genres together to occasionally try, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes decently, to engage the viewer. Still, I would like more than just oscillating between awkward dialogue, unimaginative training sequences, and the film's best aspect, namely the well-executed and action-packed fights with the enemy. I would like to delve deeper into the film, and the resolution of whether the main hero ends up with this one or that one, or pondering the different ways bugs can kill you, will never give me that.
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Starship Troopers has on the one hand decent visual effects and a good dose of action, but on the other hand it has an incredibly dull script that makes you roll your eyes in all directions. Almost all of the characters are unlikeable to varying degrees, so I couldn't even root for them to survive – the only exception being Michael Ironside as Rasczak. (SPOILER!) Finally, I have to nitpick about the bizarre appearance of the bugs' main brain, which (not so) slightly resembled a certain body orifice.
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