myrddyn
Joined May 1999
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see ratings breakdowns and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Badges2
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews16
myrddyn's rating
Before you ask, seeing this again was the price of maintaining a long-distance friendship.
I still can't figure out what Paul Verhoeven was trying to do with this picture.
SCIENCE FICTION ? Decidedly not. We're supposedly 200+ years into the future. Think back to the weaponry of, say, the US Revolutionary War. Compare it to current weapons. Now make a leap of similar magnitude beyond that, and what do we get? Heinlein postulated MI in powered-armor suits, dealing death in a dozen ways as personal as a punch in the nose. Verhoeven has our troopers still fighting with machine guns and hand grenades. No "smart" weaponry whatsoever, not even hand-held energy beams, and communication systems that are still blocked by canyon walls and bugged with static. Food service is still slop served with spoons from a heated aluminum tray. Bathing is still bar soap rubbed on by hand under a shower of running water. Finally, how did only 200+ years of immigration wipe out the genetic heritage of Buenos Aires? I see no influence of the original natives, only Carmen bears Spanish features, and nobody shows any of today's huge mixed-Japanese population.
THE HORRORS OF WAR ? Forget it. First of all, the technical and continuity errors left this a slapstick affair. Second, to get me to feel the horrors, you have to engage me in the characters. The shallow formula characters continuously reminded us that they're only cardboard cutouts of people. Even John Wayne got better character depth. Third, you have to engage me in the plot conflicts. Verhoeven needed to decide whether or not he had time to work on relationship tension -- four lines to work out a deep emotional attachment just doesn't cut it, and merely exposes the development problems. As for the war itself, we never get any real tension of battle or long-term planning.
PARODY OF WAR MOVIES ? Perhaps. War action scenes with stupid tactics even at the squad level ("They can spit napalm: let's bunch up!"), one technical error or discontinuity after another ... and after that's established, we have to suspend belief in *those* "world rules" whenever there's a mano-a-mandible close-up (note the changes in pace of battle and troop reaction time). Even then, some great foreshadowing and set-up opportunities go by unharvested, and the utterly superfluous shower scene defeats its own purpose.
SPECIAL EFFECTS ? Nah. The formula stuff in action films gets standard-of-the-art computer simulation; the day-to-day details are incredibly cheap. For instance, when Rico is recovering from his leg wound, they give him a huge floatation tank, some cute wound-knitting creature, but force him to breathe through a gas-can hose and lie inconvenienced for "three more days". At first, I wondered why their established Name Actor (Neil Patrick Harris) was shuffled to a peripheral role. I finally figured it out: if they hadn't, Dr. Doogie would never have let them get away with all the errors in human physiology. With Carl out of the way, we get the classicly hilarious brain-sucking scene and Carmen's Polyanna attitude some 5 minutes later (when she should be bleeding heavily while Rico radios for a medic).
Overall, "Starship Troopers" erratic, sloppy, and ill-planned.
I still can't figure out what Paul Verhoeven was trying to do with this picture.
SCIENCE FICTION ? Decidedly not. We're supposedly 200+ years into the future. Think back to the weaponry of, say, the US Revolutionary War. Compare it to current weapons. Now make a leap of similar magnitude beyond that, and what do we get? Heinlein postulated MI in powered-armor suits, dealing death in a dozen ways as personal as a punch in the nose. Verhoeven has our troopers still fighting with machine guns and hand grenades. No "smart" weaponry whatsoever, not even hand-held energy beams, and communication systems that are still blocked by canyon walls and bugged with static. Food service is still slop served with spoons from a heated aluminum tray. Bathing is still bar soap rubbed on by hand under a shower of running water. Finally, how did only 200+ years of immigration wipe out the genetic heritage of Buenos Aires? I see no influence of the original natives, only Carmen bears Spanish features, and nobody shows any of today's huge mixed-Japanese population.
THE HORRORS OF WAR ? Forget it. First of all, the technical and continuity errors left this a slapstick affair. Second, to get me to feel the horrors, you have to engage me in the characters. The shallow formula characters continuously reminded us that they're only cardboard cutouts of people. Even John Wayne got better character depth. Third, you have to engage me in the plot conflicts. Verhoeven needed to decide whether or not he had time to work on relationship tension -- four lines to work out a deep emotional attachment just doesn't cut it, and merely exposes the development problems. As for the war itself, we never get any real tension of battle or long-term planning.
PARODY OF WAR MOVIES ? Perhaps. War action scenes with stupid tactics even at the squad level ("They can spit napalm: let's bunch up!"), one technical error or discontinuity after another ... and after that's established, we have to suspend belief in *those* "world rules" whenever there's a mano-a-mandible close-up (note the changes in pace of battle and troop reaction time). Even then, some great foreshadowing and set-up opportunities go by unharvested, and the utterly superfluous shower scene defeats its own purpose.
SPECIAL EFFECTS ? Nah. The formula stuff in action films gets standard-of-the-art computer simulation; the day-to-day details are incredibly cheap. For instance, when Rico is recovering from his leg wound, they give him a huge floatation tank, some cute wound-knitting creature, but force him to breathe through a gas-can hose and lie inconvenienced for "three more days". At first, I wondered why their established Name Actor (Neil Patrick Harris) was shuffled to a peripheral role. I finally figured it out: if they hadn't, Dr. Doogie would never have let them get away with all the errors in human physiology. With Carl out of the way, we get the classicly hilarious brain-sucking scene and Carmen's Polyanna attitude some 5 minutes later (when she should be bleeding heavily while Rico radios for a medic).
Overall, "Starship Troopers" erratic, sloppy, and ill-planned.
Blake Edwards is in his element, but the script is too choppy for the cast to maintain a veneer of credibility. Nadia's motivations appear to be utter fantasy much of the time, taking away from Basinger's excellent portrayal. The various technical goofs and discontinuities should have been repaired before shooting began; instead, they go to the silver screen.
This should have been a career milestone for Willis and Basinger. Instead, the relationships are a few cents short in development, and the final product is a second-rate laugher.
Specific beefs:
(1) Ted and Nadia have separately warned Walter that Nadia can't handle alcohol. In response, Walter pressures Nadia to drink 2-3 glasses of champagne just before a critical business meeting.
(2) David rams through 3 storefronts during the movie, ending up covered with the store's product. Twice, this requires a right-angle turn, at speed, in the middle of a city street, caused by his merely taking his eyes off the road for 1-3 seconds.
(3) After each of these accidents, he somehow manages to track Walter & Nadia down at their next stop -- through LA traffic, without knowing where they were going. Also, despite these three storefront accidents, he punctures nary a tire (nor his radiator).
(4) In one evening during the work week, our lucky couple manage to (a) meet at her hotel after dark (b) attend an art show and escape from her ex (d) attend a taping session (e) get most of the way through a fancy business dinner (f) stop for gas (g) drive significantly elsewhere in the LA area and get mugged (h) and STILL make it to a society party in full swing. Given the daytime weather, this appears to happen in less than 5 hours.
(5) On the basis of one disastrous date, in which they rarely connected on a personal basis, Nadia and Walter decide they can't get along without one another and make life-changing sacrifices with almost no encouragement from the other side.
This should have been a career milestone for Willis and Basinger. Instead, the relationships are a few cents short in development, and the final product is a second-rate laugher.
Specific beefs:
(1) Ted and Nadia have separately warned Walter that Nadia can't handle alcohol. In response, Walter pressures Nadia to drink 2-3 glasses of champagne just before a critical business meeting.
(2) David rams through 3 storefronts during the movie, ending up covered with the store's product. Twice, this requires a right-angle turn, at speed, in the middle of a city street, caused by his merely taking his eyes off the road for 1-3 seconds.
(3) After each of these accidents, he somehow manages to track Walter & Nadia down at their next stop -- through LA traffic, without knowing where they were going. Also, despite these three storefront accidents, he punctures nary a tire (nor his radiator).
(4) In one evening during the work week, our lucky couple manage to (a) meet at her hotel after dark (b) attend an art show and escape from her ex (d) attend a taping session (e) get most of the way through a fancy business dinner (f) stop for gas (g) drive significantly elsewhere in the LA area and get mugged (h) and STILL make it to a society party in full swing. Given the daytime weather, this appears to happen in less than 5 hours.
(5) On the basis of one disastrous date, in which they rarely connected on a personal basis, Nadia and Walter decide they can't get along without one another and make life-changing sacrifices with almost no encouragement from the other side.
The role of Miss Hannigan was made for Carol Burnett or Bette Midler; Kathy Bates is merely above average for the part. Alicia Morton is good in the title role, with excellent mugging for the camera, but isn't any more believable as an orphan than Aileen Quinn was. Victor Garber has a wonderful voice for musicals, but his acting is quite inconsistent for Dady Warbucks, a classic Silas Marner role that requires very quick development. Overall, the cinematography, choreography, and set design felt as if they were merely adapted from "The Wizard of Oz" and "Mary Poppins", with perhaps a bit of "Beauty and the Beast" (Disney version) thrown in. When someone with a lot of money remakes a well-known picture, I expect a better treatment than this. It's worth 90 minutes to watch, but I won't see it a second time.