Starship Troopers

"This year we explored the failure of democracy, where the social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control & imposed the stability which has lasted for generations since."

Starship Troopers is a cheeky inversion of Star Trek's post-currency, post-scarcity universe, one where wartime becomes further obsolete and diplomats are valorized over generals, and where social castes are non-existent. Instead, it imagines a post-democratic universe, where war is the only industry, conquest is the only culture, where jingoism is the common language, and where basic human rights, whether it be the right to vote or the right to procreate, are gatekept behind castes defined by one's usefulness to the totalitarian state, where the entire population is divided into civilians and citizens, and the only viable way to gain citizenship is by throwing one's bodily autonomy to the behest of the state:

"Rasczak: why are only citizens allowed to vote.

Rico: It's a reward. Something the federation gives you for doing federal service.

Rasczak: No. Something given has no value. When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority by which all other authorities are derived."

Another quote pulled from the beginning of the movie: "Dizzy: My mother always told me that violence doesn't solve anything.

Rasczak: Really? I wonder what the city founders of Hiroshima would have to say about that.

Carmen: They wouldn't say anything. Hiroshima was destroyed.

Rasczak: Correct. Naked force has resolved more conflicts throughout history than any other factor. The contrary opinion, that violence doesn't solve anything, is wishful thinking at its worst. People who forget that always die."

I have no idea why I felt the need to add this quote because I'm just now realizing I have no commentary to add to it. It really speaks for itself. Rasczak is the embodiment of every hyper-nationalistic, militaristically cavalier conservative, as I've heard that very argument verbatim about Hiroshima at least half a dozen times. Rasczak is only slightly exaggerated in that he's so brazenly honest in his love of violence and nation state imperialism. It just blows my mind how badly misread this movie was upon release, because it has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.

Also cheekily inverted is the character development of any movie in the vein of Born on the Fourth of July, in which a character is rapturously taken with blind nationalism through wartime propaganda, only to begin questioning their nationalism when confronted by the reality and horror of war. Rico's questioning phase doesn't come after his first experience in battle, but in the very beginning. He doesn't necessarily buy into the jingoism shoved down his throat through his education:

"Rasczak: Rico. What is the moral difference, if any, between a civilian and a citizen?

Rico: A citizen accepts personal responsibility for the safety and the body politic defending it with his life. A civilian does not.

Rasczak: The exact words of the textbook. But do you understand it? Do you believe it?

Johnny Rico: I don't know.

Jean Rasczak: No, of course you don't. I doubt anyone here would recognize civic virtue even if it reached up and bit you in the a**!"

Rather than beginning the story as an obedient little fascist who comes to question the state, Rico begins questioning the state and is unsure whether he believes in their dichotomy between civilian and citizenship, only to become a hardened, obedient little fascist as soon as he first encounters the horrors of war, a firmer believer in the obviously evil cause he's fighting for, a character arc I can't say I've experienced depicted through a main character very often. The only example that comes to mind is Bill Hader's Barry, which still doesn't fit, because Barry doesn't exactly become a believer in the state so much as he just finds fulfillment in being good at something (killing people). So if anybody has any other solid examples of an inverted character arc quite like this, please let me know, because I genuinely don't know if this has been done with the same intentionality anywhere else before or since.

This film is about the ignorance of conquerors and the fact that war makes fascists of us all. Now that doesn't sound like a lot of fun, does it. But guess what: it is fun (by the truckload - at least if you have a pitch-black sense of humour and you do realise what this film is and what it wants to achieve).

Paul Verhoeven was a master at making Sci-Fi films which worked both as perfect mainstream popcorn cinema and as very intelligent social commentary on the direction - he felt - society was headed. And despite the fact that the over-the-top satirical elements and highly political undercurrents in his two previous sci-fi extravaganzas Robocop and Total Recall were only appreciated by a few critics at the time, those two films became huge hits at the box office: because they also offered great action, amazing special effects and overall great entertainment.

My guess is that Verhoeven felt encouraged by that success, and so with Starship Troopers, he didn't just sneak in some subversive parts: he went full-blown satire. Sadly, that didn't go down too well with audiences and critics alike; apparently most viewers didn't get the film at all (the - seemingly - good guys wear Nazi uniforms? What the heck?). Verhoeven even got accused of being a fascist, and it took the director's commentary on the DVD to finally make it once and for all clear what Starship Troopers is about and what the writer's and the director's intentions were.

I wonder whether the studio execs realised what Verhoeven was up to with that film; maybe the director just took their 100 million dollars and ran with it. The result, in any case, is a unique oddity that I personally feel is on par with films like District 9 or even Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. It's a masterpiece. And much like another glitch in the Hollywood machine, David Fincher's Fight Club, films like that rarely get made (and not with such budgets), because more often than not, they end up as flops.

Apart from the underlying themes, on the surface Starship Troopers also has a lot going for it: amazing effects that still hold up very well and insanely intense battle scenes with more blood and guts than even the meanest gore-hound could wish for. So no matter how it came about that a studio ever green-lit this and gave Verhoeven a 100 million dollars - I for one will forever be grateful for this unique subversive masterpiece. My vote: 10 out of 10

Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

If "Starship Troopers" isn't the most epic science-fiction movie ever made, then I don't know what is! What is that you say? "2001: A Space Odyssey"? "Star Wars"? Well, perhaps, but they aren't nearly as entertaining as Paul Verhoeven's extravagant, unhinged and excessively violent dystopian saga. This film is probably the most cynical, yet simultaneously the most straight-faced parody in history. Look closely at the FedNet propaganda, the Aryan lead characters and their costumes, the careless sacrificing of the Infantry forces... This futuristic battle set in 2197 is a replay of WWII, but somehow Verhoeven succeeded in making us root for the fascist party! I honestly don't think there is much to write about "Starship Troopers", except that it's nearly perfect and brilliant from every possible angle. After the already amazing "Robocop" and "Total Recall", Verhoeven reached the ultimate in genius Sci-Fi. It's all there: the F/X, the humor, the cast, the bloodshed, the scenery, ... The only things you have to add yourself are beer and popcorn.

My title is a quote from director Paul Veerhoven who makes no attempt to water down his political views in "Starship Troopers", a merciless, satirical skewering of those superpowers throughout history who believe war solves the world's problems.

That opening sentence is a mouthful, so let me explain a little further. In the director's commentary, Mr. Veerhoven makes no bones about naming the USA as the greatest offender. In an awkwardly funny moment, his co-commenter, screenwriter Edward Neumeier, mutters "Yeah but we did save your ass in World War II." To which Mr. Veerhoven clarifies, "But this is not about World War II, it's about what happened *after* World War II." And thus, the entire philosophy is explained in a way that patriots as well as pinko commies can understand. "Starship Troopers" is a cautionary tale about what happens when war ceases to be a necessary evil and instead becomes an unnecessary thrill. It begins with some hilariously obvious propaganda satires, all about joining the military (including a funny scene of a 12 year old kid in full battle attire). The rest of the movie is peppered with such dark comedic skits, a lot like Veerhoven's "Robocop" a decade earlier.

Where the film is brilliant (or disastrous, see below) is in the way the battle scenes do thrill us, almost to the point that we lose ourselves in the hysteria of warfare, and only upon sober reflection do we realize that Mr. Veerhoven has just proved how easy it is to become a mindless minion of violence. The disastrous part is that I'm afraid many audience members never sobered up and walked out of the theater thinking "Go war!" Such is the pitfall of making a satire; you run the risk of promoting the very thing you seek to ridicule.

Something very interesting that Veerhoven did was to use giant bugs as the enemy. I mean, who doesn't hate bugs?? Certainly no human I know. And that's the point: by presenting an enemy that's so universally hated as a bug, Veerhoven turns the magnifying glass on ourselves and challenges us to answer why we hate bugs, why we like to kill them so violently (crushed until their guts spew out) or gassed so that they die of painful asphyxiation before our eyes. If you caught the message of this film, you'll probably think twice about stomping that little spider who had the misfortune of being sighted in your presence.

Oh a final note that's a very nice touch. There's a scene in this film where a bunch of kids are stomping on cockroaches. You'll be pleased to know that the cockroaches were fake, and literally no animals were harmed in the making of this film. Touché, Mr. Veerhoven.

The acting isnt always the best in this movie, but the crazy ahead of its times effects Is just mind blowing in the light of the time it was released.

Remember this was 2 years before Phantom of menace.

When you look back, this has to be one of the most enjoyable science fiction movies of all time.