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Visitors Review

Bruce Thompson 2012-05-22 02:38:12

Starship Troopers, the movie, a monstrous parody

In 1959, Robert Heinlein published a reminder of the responsibilitiesand duties of the citizen to the state. Heinlein always had the viewthat the highest achievements of the human mind were the twin conceptsof 'loyalty' and 'duty', and that when those concepts fell intodisrepute, the society so affected was doomed.Hence, Starship Troopers, a book still condemned for its warlike themeby people who completely miss Heinlein's point that a free stateretains its freedom and strength only through the willingness of itscitizens to exercise their duty.When I heard that Paul Verhoeven was going to make a film of the book,my initial reaction was of misgiving as his previous works had beenlong on special effects and short on just about everything else.Starship Troopers, the movie, confirmed my worst fears. Verhoeven tooka story with a message and reduced it to the lowest possible commondenominator, then fleshed out the skeletal remains with overpoweringspecial effects, uniforms reminiscent of Nazi Germany, and a revoltinggung-ho jingoism so common in American World War 2 movies. I keptexpecting John Wayne or Audie Murphy to walk on.The original message - that of the duties of the citizen - barelyreceived lip-service as the storyline progressed from oneincompetently-managed battle to another on, or in orbit around, whatlooked at ground level to be the same desert world.Having been a reader of Heinlein for more than half my life, and havinggrasped some notion of how his mind worked, I can see why he refused tolet any of his books be turned into films while he was alive. StarshipTroopers, the movie, is a monstrous parody of the original; utterlylacking in imagination and with acting vile beyond belief. Thebeautiful young people in the lead cast showed with every word andaction that they had graduated with honours from the Academy ofAmerican Soap Opera, class of Beverly Hills 90210.Perhaps I expected too much. Films adapted from books rarely accuratelymatch the originals, but, with a little more effort, Verhoeven couldhave made a movie that was a credit to the original. Instead, he tookthe soft option.As I left the theatre, I was consoled by the hope that in five yearstime, this awful film would be as utterly forgotten as IndependenceDay.

BillK 2012-05-21 20:50:21

Works on two levels: flashy CGI trash & social satire

..and I'm not condemning the other folks who didn't get thesocialsatire.Verhooven's world is presented as a matter-of-fact result of what clearlywas a U.S.takeover of the world and elimination of local culture and language. Theultimatecultural imperialism. After all, why does Buenos Aries look like BeverlyHills? Because theU.S. has consumed it.Is there only one TV channel? Perhaps so. the one shown in the movie is aninteractiveTV channel obviously completely managed by the government. Dissenters fromgovernment policy are shown as tokens -- to allow for the appearance ofbalance (Andthis was filmed before there was a Fox News Channel!).The blandness of the characters, again, is a direct result of a governmentpolicy ofhomogenizing the population and eliminating independentthought.I guess the reason this is not readily apparent to some is that it all isincorporated inwhat 'is' in the movie, not explained. You have to give the movie thecredibility itdeserves (and I for one, did not at first, until I read an interview withthe director, whowas absolutely aware of how the Nazis controlled the media in WWII) toactually thinkabout how things got to be the way they are.Why do the bugs attack? Because "extremists" move on to their planet. Dothebugspropel asteroids at Earth? Maybe. Maybe not. The government doesn't reallycare,because it needs a common enemy to unite the citizens. So seconds after anasteroidhits Earth, the culprits are announced and troops are sent. Jeez, doesthatremind you ofanything that's happened since the movie came out?

jduff72 2012-05-21 13:02:15

Read the book

I thought the movie was an FX masterpiece. But, having read the book,played the game, and been anticipating this movie for years, I was a bitdisappointed at the melodramatic lack of depth in the characters. Further,while Denise Richards is very pleasing to the eye, she really rubs me wrongfor some reason. I think it's because she appears to have a single-digitIQ. Go see it. If it ever gets re-released in the theaters, DEFINITELY GOsee it!

2012-05-21 09:34:03

Good movie - by the book

This is truly a great action movie, good sound, good picture... you know what you're in for from the start to the end. No surprises, nothing new, just action. Thus only 2 stars... But a really great movie!

Laserdome-AMH 2012-05-13 18:10:33

Incredible spectacle!!

Monster bugs from the planet of Klendathu threaten humanity'sveryexistence in the far future. The military recruits young people all overtheworld to go to war against the so-called "arachnoids". They go into oneofthe bloodiest battles the screen has ever seen...This movie is one incredible spectacle from start to finish and is myall-timefavorite U.S.-made movie (together with the original "Star Wars" trilogy)!Ireally loved every second of it. Special effects and battle scenes,especiallythose featuring the space vessels, are simply fantastic and rank as someofthe most spectacular ever filmed for any movie. I'm not going to analyzetheplot (my english is not good enough! : ), and I haven't read the 50's RobertA.Heinlein novel the film is based on, let's just say I absolutely hatemilitary andstill love this movie. Beautiful space scenery, great sets, great music(kudosto Mr. Basil Poledouris for another excellent movie score!),greatatmosphere, that's how to make a superb science-fiction movie! Oh, andtheactors do their jobs well. And please, do not make a sequel to it! Thisjustneeds to stand alone. Go see "Starship Troopers"!

Roger Fleming 2012-05-13 14:35:54

Am I the only one who thinks Verhoeven hates Heinlein?

Most of the reviews of 'Starship Troopers' on this site seem to fall intoone of three groups:a. Those who hated it, because of the silly 90210 look, mediocre acting,goriness, poor science, or infidelity to Heinlein;b. Those who say "Give it a break, it's a fun beer & pretzels movie";andc. Those who applaud the anti-militarism theme.I disagree with all of the above. Actually, I somehwat agree with group a.,but for different reasons.Criticising a movie for infidelity to a primary source or technicalinaccuracy is like criticising it for being in colour; they are very fewmainstream movies not like that.In this case, however, any dismay by Heinlein fans is deserved. There arehuge differences between script and novel, and where a resemblance doesexist the movie seems to _mock_ the book. In fact, I became convinced thateither Verhoeven or Neumeier strongly dislikes Heinlein - in particular, hissocial beliefs - and deliberately parodied his work.'Real' science fiction is about exploring the possibilities of actual (andplausible future) science and technology, and its effects on us and oursociety.Hollywood's version of 'sci-fi' is often an action movie decked out withbizarre gadgets, blaster guns and slimy-skinned humanoid villains. Sci-fifans call this 'science fantasy' to emphasize the difference. To a sci-fifan, 'science fantasy' is derogatory - just as 'sci-fi' is to a 'serious'novelist!!Heinlein was a science fiction author, and both sociological andtechnological details in his books are important to the plot. The movie ispure science fantasy. Of course it's rare for Hollywood to produce anon-fantasy sci-fi movie, but when seen from the viewpoint of theanti-Heinlein theory, the bad science in this movie does seem needlesslyexaggerated. Heinlein was careful with his science, and even includedphysics calculations in his work; this movie has starships piloted by kidsstaring out the windshield, and being shot down by the farts of giant bugs.A parody, perhaps?Forgetting the times in which Heinlein lived, people have sometimes accusedhim of revealing fascist traits. One idea from 'Starship Troopers' was ofextending suffrage only to military veterans. Bizarre extremism to presentday readers, but remember the context: Heinlein was writing just after thevast armies of WW2 saved the world from the Nazis, when national service wasstill nearly universal, and the Cold War was just hotting up. Anyoneadvocating the abolition of compulsory military service looked suspiciouslylike a commie fellow traveller. But there was Heinlein (a naval veteran)suggesting a novel compromise path: make military service voluntary, butwith suffrage as an inducement - while those who refused service to thenation didn't get to run it. So the "fascist Heinlein" claims are somewhatshallow. Compare "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - admittedly a much laterwork, but distinctly liberal/leftist (it's about an ingenious and inclusivepopular revolution overthrowing a repressive colonial government).Now we seem to have the movie 'Starship Troopers' taking the "Heinlein was acloset fascist" theme and ramming it down our throats. The Mobile Infantryare dressed in SS-like uniforms instead of power armour, the Terrangovernment uses Nazi propaganda techniques, and an intelligence officer isdressed as a Gestapo agent. It's so blunt no-one could miss it - but manydid. When some viewers asked about the strangely fascist newsreels, we weretold it was a parody of WW2 Nazi newsreels. Huh? Why parody 1940's Nazinewsreels in a movie set in the future? Unless it was a comment on thesocial ideas being parodied at the same time...I'm surprised the 'beer & pretzels' crowd didn't notice the blatantanti-violence, anti-military 'messages'. It almost seems as if the makersare offering their eye-candy science fantasy (and sex) as a lure to get the'beer & pretzels' types to watch their ‘messages'. If so it is rather, erm,ironic that a movie parodying Nazi propaganda techniques should employslightly subtler but essentially similar methods itself...Finally, a couple of particular gripes:Some people have lauded the special effects. I believe that when it wasfirst released, this movie had the greatest number of synthetic imagesrealistically interacting with human actors. Bravo for that. However thepoint of special effects is not to rack up statistics, it is to createastonishing images not otherwise possible to film. In this respect,'Starship Troopers' was ok but not anything special. Compare the pedestrianstarship combat to the breathtaking starship battles in 'Babylon 5'. Or lookat the scene of crewmen on the exterior of a spaceship hull in 'Star Trek:First Contact' - as the 'camera' slowly panned away and revealed the massivegrandeur of the scene, it really evoked a feeling of hanging by yourbootstraps above an infinite void. _That_ was an inspired effect. Anythinglike that in 'Starship Troopers'? Nah.Some people were also impressed by the battle scenes. WHAT?!?! You get moreconvincing battles in the average cowboys-and-indians flick. Case in point:90 zillion bugs, packed into a broad canyon, are swarming toward you. Youhave tactical nuclear rockets, and a radio link to a star fleet. So you pullout your assault rifle and try to shoot them one at a time!Overall, I neither loved nor hated this movie. I'm not sorry I went, but Iwon't see it again. My strongest impression is a mild annoyance thatVerhoeven seems to have thought he could mess with a whole bunch of heads,and mostly they didn't even notice him doing it.

Capt_Bob27 2012-05-12 02:13:40

NAZIS IN SPACE!!! Well it sure as heck ain't Starship Troopers.

The Starship Troopers Film adaptation (Henceforth reffered to as "Nazis inSpace") is the worst interpratation of Heinlein's novel. The only thing"Nazis In Space" has in common with the Starship Troopers novel is thetitleand names of the characters, ships, and planets. Oh yeah, they keep theBugs, however the bugs in the Novel are more intelligent.Also the Government system portrayed in the book is more akin to theAthenian government, with Veterans the only ones alowed to vote. In "Nazisin Space", the govenment system is a Socialist Dictatorship.Now we get to the Powered Suits, the vehicles that give the MobileInfantryit's name. These magnificant Machines are left out of "Nazis in Space".Think "Top Gun" without the Fighter Jets, that's the same scenario youhavewith "Nazis in Space".In conclusion: If you want to check out Heinlein's work, go read the bookorwatch a "Fansub" of the Japanese Anime version (Yes there is one out). Ifyou want utter crap that is a deviation from the book it's allegedly basedupon, "Nazis in Space" is for you.PS: Please excuse the poor spelling. That's the price I pay for being anEngineer (we can't spell for beans).

davidjmccrea 2012-05-11 09:56:12

WOW!

The effects in Starship Troopers are possibly best ever and definately makeyou sit up and say "wow". Not only that though the whole film is a triumphof cinema. Paul Verhoyen has constructed a masterpiece ignoring the usualrules of America is centre of the film making world, megaviolence is notallowed in sci-fi blockbusters and how only the male gender can save theworld. Very recommended.

view_and_review 2012-05-10 22:28:48

"B" rated gore and mayhem

This movie should've been called "Bug Invasion" or "JumboArachnaphobia" or some other "B" movie title so that people would knowbefore-hand that-that is what they are watching.I will concede that not much if anything in this movie is realistic,nor is it supposed to be. But is that an excuse for the horrendousacting, the almost laughable blood, guts, and gore, and a military thatis actually worse in the future than it is today.If this was supposed to be a comedy I sure was getting mixed signals.One moment the movie is serious, and the next moment they do somethingabsolutely asinine, e.g. shooting your partners brains out duringtraining, turning your back on the enemy, celebrating unnecessarilyduring combat, sending a couple of thousand troops after millions ofovergrown bugs, etc.The movie would have been better off going the comedic route instead ofthe semi-serious route it took. It was just one ridiculous event afteranother sandwiched between corny dialog and lackadaisacal attempts tomake it all believable.

William Faulkner 2012-05-10 08:06:10

Why did the director change the story from the book?

If I had never read the book (which is one of my all time favorites) then Iwould have thought that this film was mediocre at best. However, having readthe book I really hated this movie.This is another case of some director or writer putting their own spin on agreat novel, and turning it into a total disaster.The whole idea behind the Mobile Infantry was small, highly trained units inpowered armour and making "drops" from outer space. I wonder if they had amilitary advisor on the set or if so, were they ignored, what happened toair (space) bombardment, artillery, engineers, reconaissaince, ARMOUR?Perhaps the director beleives that in the future we will forget all thelessons of war and go back to mass human wave assaults.I know this is the 90's (whatever that is supposed to mean) but there wereno women in the M.I.!!, and those pretty boys (and girls) they have in thelead roles are just not beleivable.When these directors and writers make a film from a good novel, I reallywish they would stick to the storyline in the novel. I shutter to think howHollywood would butcher The Forever War!

Sandro-LN 2012-05-06 13:24:07

Really good Sci-Fi flick

I rated this one 9 of 10 stars.For starters, I really liked the soundtrack to this movie. Theorchestration is great, and does an excellent job of setting the mood.Yousee this most notably during the big dropship scene precluding the firsthuman invasion.The premise isn't overly realistic - a "bug planet" inhabited by orneryinsects has used biological plasma blasts to launch asteriods at earth,killing millions. But this is Sci-Fi, and if Star Trek can have Klingons,and Star Wars can have Jawas, then Starship Troopers can havebugs.The second reason I really like this movie is that it, along with "Aliens"are heavy influences on a favorite video game of mine, "Starcraft." Ihighly recommend both movies, and the game as well.The lead roles are those of Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien,) Carmen Ibanez(Denise Richards,) and Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris,) along withsupporting roles; Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer,) and Ace Levy (Jake Busey.)Rico, Carmen, and Carl are friends from Buenos Aires who all join up withdifferent branches of the military. Rico enlists with the Mobile Infantrywho are analagous to the US Marines - ground troopers who are the first inand the last out. Carmen works towards becoming a pilot in the FederationFleet, while Carl who has innate psychic ability joins the "Games andTheory" division, which is Military Intelligence.The main focus is on Rico and his enrollment in the "Roughnecks," alongwithAce and Dizzy (who is also from Buenos Aires.) The ensuing battles arebloody, the explosions are big, and the bug-guts are messy. The overallspecial effects were done wonderfully, and it lent a sense of devastatingrealism to the movie without making it too flashy and gory.If you like any of the other Man vs. Alien movies (Aliens, Predator,Terminator, etc...) you should give "Starship Troopers" alook.

anonymous 2012-05-06 02:41:18

great flick

This movie was great. Most movies don't allow one to see people get theirarms and legs ripped off by kinda believable bugs. We all know that thebugsdon't really exist, and if you look at the special effects in an attempttofind weak spots, you'll spoil the movie for yourself. However, if you justrelax and get into the film, you'll have a good time. Some people like toconsider the statements about society and war that the director is making.If you want to get all academic about this flick, fine, but I prefer tojustenjoy all the guns, nukes, and flying body parts.

Kane III 2012-05-01 22:59:36

Irredeemably stupid movie.

[Editors note: BEWARE, THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS]OK I realise this is meant to be a satire of sorts but satires are supposedto be intelligent. This was one of the dumbest movies I've seen for years,unless it was a fiendishly clever p*ss take of the Beverly Hills 90210 fansin the audience.1. Near the beginning Carmen is flying her little spaceship at the limits ofhuman skill *inside* a bigger ship, yet she's only a novice pilot. You'dhave thought this would require at least some concentration yet all theactress can portray is a vacant grin.2. Why is the fleet always crammed together like sardines? So much so thatthey seem to crash into each other whenever something unexpected happens.This is outer space y'know. There's *lots* of room outthere.3. The troopers spend ammo like popcorn seeming to never run out until thegoing gets *really* tough. Then someone says "Make every round count". Areyou kidding me?4. Hollywood pretty boys and girls trying to convince us that they're toughhombres/hombre-esses and not airheads. No sale.5. Superior medicine seems to cure all at the beginning, but the captainasks to be killed near the end because his legs have been cut off. Heywhat's the problem?6. Carmen's had her chest skewered by a bug. Not only does she remainconscious and alert. But when the bug withdraws its talon she just carrieson as though nothing has happened. Hey babe, you've lost a lung and probablyhad your aorta pierced, but you've got more energy than *I*have.On the plus side, at least the film kept my attention and I watched it rightto the end. The special effects were good, if repetitive. But why, oh why,use that cast? They were crap, Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside apart. Theyalways give good value. You felt they were aware of the basic sillyness ofthe script. If only the same could be said for the younger cast members.They played it absolutely stony-faced straight. Dina Mayer and Jake Buseywere not bad though. Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards should be fed tothe brain bug. We might win then.

Hellmao 2012-05-01 07:54:10

Bugs and mirrors

An alien race threatens mankind. The bugs are coming and they are uglyand dangerous. After heavy fighting for freedom the planet can befinally saved. Sure, the whole thing comes in the jacket of astate-of-the-art action movie. It is not about insects from outerspace, however.There was a lot of fuzz about Heinlein's book and what Verhoeven'sadaptation displays in the movie. Doesn't it promote militarism? Isthis gory over-the-top violence really necessary? Some protagonistsbehave kind of odd and bad, and the wrong ones die. People even wereconcerned about the uniforms. Good guys in Gestapo-outfit? It is anamazing complaint since the key to this movie is the human world that"Starship Troopers" describes.Good looking kids engage in sending stupid messages to each otherduring the class, while the teacher explains that brutal force is thestrongest power to solve problems. It's a global community in whichcoming from Buenos Aires does not mean any Italian or Latin roots anymore. There is no place for love in this indifferent world, where menand women sport together, take a shower together, fight together anddie together. "Citizenship" has to be earned in battle, since the onlyreal defender of human values is the soldier. It is a world with anobsession for guns and competition, in which telepathic skills arecontracted immediately by the secret police. They are convinced oftheir own superiority, think big and consider individual human life avery limited value. These guys wear fascist-style uniforms because theyare fascists. That's the whole point. Welcome to the United States ofEarth.Starship Troopers contains some wonderful ideas, presented with thewhole range from subtle irony to rough rudeness. A map points at therear end of the galaxy to locate evil. TV soap stars are casted asleading roles and they also act like in a soap. Most of the teachersare mutilated. When Rico battles the first tanker bug, they look prettymuch alike and his size compared to the bug is quite the same as a realbug's size compared to man. Later, a traumatized general will bespeaking the magic words: "They are like us" . Final victory isapparent when the enemy is found "afraid" and has been made possible by"a drill instructor who captured a brain" . This is not about bugs, butmen. The strange thing is, many people still just don't get it. Thisstatement does not mean any disrespect to the perception of anybody whodoes not understand this movie. Me, I don't understand most of FrankZappa's compositions, and I don't understand most of the exposed workat any Museum of Modern Art. But I can clearly see the touch of geniusin this cynical and inventive movie called "Starship Troopers".

2012-04-25 10:08:35

Provocative Action Thriller

Once upon a time, movies were realtively simple. You could pigeon hole your horro movies, your action movies, your romance movies.Then, the joy of crossing over started a new wave. The romantic comedy, the action thriller.Follow on from this and we start to see the lines blurred to the point that it is arguable what the film is actually about in the first place.The result of this can be seen all too clearly in Starship Troopers. What is it? It is an action movie? A bug movie? A horror movie? A scathing depiction of life? What?In it's own supposed cleverness, ST has suffered the worse of fates - to be misunderstood. Perhaps even members of the cast were never quite sure what it was meant to be about in the first place either.Forget the novel. Forget the clever ideals and the hidden messages. Watch the film and (as I rarely say) don't listen to the hype. Enjoy the action, the silly OTT acting, the weird humour. all if it is actually fun, if you forget the rest.I'll be putting this on my 'must buy' list, because it is so watchable. You can start getting deep when you really get to know it. But perhaps that's the point?Fianl thing: Doogie Howser will take years to lose the typcasting.

jasper 2012-04-25 01:08:52

One word : perfect

Call me a patriot, but I consider Paul Verhoeven one of the best directorsalive. Starship Troopers is Paul Verhoeven at his best, creating the kindof futuristic atmosphere like nobody has ever done before. Okay, it'sviolent and the acting's a bit cheesy at times, but there's no denyingthisis one of the best sci-fi films ever made................10

Li-1 2012-04-24 15:21:37

A silly movie surrounded by top-notch effects and awesome battle sequences.

*** out of ****Starship Troopers could honestly use a few more likeable characters and amore convincing lead, but otherwise, this is as thrilling as movies come, alightning-paced, hilarious rollercoaster ride of bullets, explosions, gore,raucous humor, and gratuitous nudity. So yes, this is my kind of film, and Irelished every minute of it.Troopers is set sometime in the unnamed future, where South American societyis apparently dominated by white, blandly attractive teens with Spanish lastnames, but look and sound distinctly American. The whole things plays like abig satire on fasicism, when these teens graduate from high school most ofthem sign up as citizens (basically a more innocent term for someone in theinfantry or fleet). Unlucky for them, signing up is almost a guaranteeddeath warrant, now that the humans have declared war on the Klendathu aliensfrom a distant star system, giant insectoid creatures that apparently feaston human flesh (once the soldiers get there, that is). Thus, the moviechronicles the adventures of one such platoon, led by Johnny Rico (CasperVan Dien), who's assisted by pals Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) and Ace Levy(Jake Busey). Massive chaos ensues.A lot of people I know see this as a stupid movie. An equally large amountof other people I know see this as a brilliant satire. Both can nitpick orexamine whatever stupidities or issues they want, I merely see this as aremarkable thrill ride. On a pure popcorn level, Starship Troopers is easilyone of the best sci-fi action films of the 90's (perhaps behind onlyJurassic Park and Star Trek: First Contact), so deft as it is at blendingaction and comedy.Starship Troopers is a very funny movie, for all the right reasons, too. Thefirst hour is relatively sparse in action (actually, virtually none at allunless you count that over-the-top football game), but it's more than madeup for by the first-rate humor. Definitely the standout segment must be thetraining camp scenes, which manages to outdo Full Metal Jacket when it comesto sheer brutality and certainly surpasses it in dark, morbid humor. Themovie has a pervading silliness that admittedly weighs it down a bit(especially during repeat viewings), but if this material had been playedstraight, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the film half asmuch.The first hour nicely plays the introduction of our lead characters, some ofwhom make an impression and a lot of whom don't. Casper Van Dien, the vapid,lantern-jawed actor that he is, is not a good actor, and while I could havegone with a more convincing lead, at least he does well during the actionsequences. Denise Richards is equally vapid as one-half of his loveinterest. Faring far better is Dina Meyer, whose kick-ass turn as Dizzy is alot of fun. Too bad she exits the film too early. The adult cast is fun,too, especially Clancy Brown as the sadistic, yet caring Drill SergeantZim.But Starship Troopers ultimately succeeds because of its action, and whatmagnificent action it is. The second hour is akin to strapping yourself intoa rollercoaster. We're treated to harrowing, Zulu-style battle sequences inwhich our heroes are surrounded at all sides from ferocious, unstoppableenemies. The action is blistering, bloody, and appropriately over-the-top.It's from Paul Verhoeven, would you expect any different?Starship Troopers succeeds because it's great fun, boosted by awesomespecial effects and a great score from Basil Poledouris. The film concludeson an open-ended note, obviously a ploy for a possible franchise. It'llprobably never happen, which is just as well, since there are only so manyways you can show human beings killing giant bugs and viceversa.

Roger Ebert 2012-04-24 02:34:06

The action sequences are heavily laden with special effects, but curiously joyless.

rspress 2012-04-17 08:29:22

Excellent Film!

While panned by most critics.....who listens to them anyway, StarshipTroopers is a war movie that shows better what happens in war than mostother war movies. Of course the film is set in space and the "enemy" isone what can all get behind, bugs. The film gets off to a semi-slow start but ratchets up that action to anear non-stop pace! This film is not for the little ones, there is lotsof gore. As far as gore goes it is a tour-de- force! The specialeffects such as the space scenes. the bugs, the animatronic bugs andthe gore are top notch. Especially notable are the space shooting bugs,the flamethrower bugs and the RPG nukes the troopers use. Casper Van Dien, Jake Buesy and Dina Myers all turn in greatperformances. If you are planning to work in the special effectsindustry this film should be considered required viewing. This filmgives you plenty to think about on many levels and while not followingthe book closely it rises above to make its own statement. This film isin my top 20 list and nearly makes it into the top 10!Watch it several times if you can...with so much going on you will seesomething new with each viewing!

chris.gilbert 2012-04-17 00:19:52

One word, "Excessive"

Since all movies short of excellent can be summarized in a word, StarshipTroopers can be summed up as `Excessive'.That said, let me expand on why. I'm not a fan of gore and I often cringewhen human lives are threatened and taken. However, the vast amount ofsevered limbs, the camera ever returning to those are they are beingmangled, and... the overall fakeness of it all made it completelybearable.Unfortunately, the constant repetition of bloody severance of bodies wascompletely annoying. Well, excessive, rather.Now, if I could have picked another word to summarize this film, I wouldhave chosen `Propaganda'.Starship Troopers is not a movie. I believe it's a parody of propagandawhich just happens to have some elements of an action film. Sure thenews-reel cutscenes are a clear mockery but there are many others as well.The young boy (who's hair style and blue eyes are straight from WWIIGermany) and his quest for honor through the military could only be thatofa work of propaganda. And, the annoyingly innocent looking super girl andher countless victories could only be crying out to all the commoners tofulfil their potential.But, as a parody of a military solicitation, it's half way decent.Holdingexcess in bad character execution (Rico's father, Dizzy, and sometimesCarl), fake plastic severed limbs and unnecessary nudity (and that samealien death flail over and over and over) aside, Starship Troopersprovidesspots of entertainment. Unfortunately, it's generally annoying untilafterthe first half.Before viewing, take a few deep breaths like you did during the SAT's andtry to enjoy the few shining moments Starship Troopers has to offer. Oh,and if you're like me, turn away as soon as you see a cow. Just do it,you'll thank me later.