Starship Troopers

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

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I am blown away by how well this movie holds up after all this time. Don't get me wrong this is a solid B movie dressed up to look like a blockbuster. It has got some really cheesy moments but it all works really well. This movie is campy where it needs to be, cheesy and serious all at the same time.

It's clear they used a LOT of practical special effects wherever they could, mostly in human body parts and blood. This is a very gory movie, which I tend to shy away from, but in the way it is used here it works well. I love some of the lines like "they sucked out his brains!" it reminds me of campy 50's sci fi.

Despite this being a B(ish) movie they do a pretty good job at developing the characters. We see them as recent high-school graduates moving onto college or in this universe military training. We see them develop and grow as the story progresses. You end up caring what happens to these characters which for me is a mark of a well told story. Plus most of the human characters are used as cannon fodder against an unending tidal wave of baddies.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes action/sci fi movies with a TON of gore. Think of a cheaper, cheesier version of Aliens but with larger outdoor battle scenes that give the feeling of scale. Don't get me wrong this is not close to being as good as Aliens but it is still worth a watch.

The truth is that this is a brilliant film that, like Verhoeven's earlier "Robocop", is an insightful satire and critique of fascism and at the same time succeeds as a sci-fi thriller. It can be enjoyed at both levels, though obviously it is much richer when the viewer comprehends the satirical and critical level as well.

It's not as if the satire is so subtle it's hard to get. If anything, it hits you over the head with it. But at the same time, it is very disciplined and consistent in not tipping its hand and giving the game away, which to me makes it much more successful and enjoyable than if the satire and social critique were blatantly broadcast. That's the strange and wonderful thing about "Starship Troopers" and "Robocop" -- one viewer might totally not get it, while to another, the critical/satirical level is totally in your face and is what the film is really all about.

I don't know if I'm describing it well, but watch it with the film-makers' commentary turned on (on the DVD version), and director Paul Verhoeven and writer Ed Neumeier lay it all out very clearly: the film is about how war makes fascists of us all. Very timely today (2004) with US imperialism wreaking havoc in Iraq & Afghanistan.

On a technical level, the film is excellent. The bug special effects are top notch and the whole bug society and hierarchy is deeply thought through, as is the future Earth society's politics and technology. The acting is excellent, and the balance between the characters' interpersonal story line, the bug war story line, and the underlying political satire and critique, is perfectly handled.

A truly exceptional film, Verhoeven's best so far, topping even "Robocop" in my opinion, and fully deserving a 10 out of 10 score, which I rarely give.

This movie has levels. You can appreciate the action sequences and special effects just as much as the subtle, and not so subtle, undertones. Like Orwell's Animal Farm, with Starship Troopers you need to sometimes dig a little deeper into your IQ to more completely appreciate its genius.

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.