Starship Troopers (1997)

In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire--not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that functions on multiple levels of entertainment. The film might be called "Melrose Place in Space," with its youthful cast of handsome guys and gorgeous women who look like they've been recruited (and in some cases they were) from the cast of Beverly Hills 90210. Viewers might focus on the incredible, graphically intense action sequences (definitely not for children) in which heavily armed forces from Earth go to off-world battle against vast hordes of alien "bugs" bent on planetary conquest. The attacking bugs are marvels of state-of-the-art special-effects technology, and the space battles are nothing short of spectacular. But Starship Troopers is more than a showcase for high-tech hardware and gigantic, flesh-ripping insects. Recalling his childhood in Holland during the Nazi occupation, Verhoeven turns this epic adventure into a scathingly funny satire of fascist propaganda, emphasizing Heinlein's underlying warning against the hazards of military conformity and the sickening realities of war. It's an action-packed joy ride if that's all you're looking for, but Verhoeven has a provocative agenda that makes Starship Troopers as smart as it is exciting. The DVD includes an above-average commentary by the director and Neumeier, several deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes documentary and promotional featurette, cast bios, production notes, and more. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Good transaction

I bought the DVD of Starship Troopers for my wife (believe it or not). She had a video tape of Starship Troopers but the VCR ate it and I am surprising her with the DVD for Christmas. I am very satisfied with the price and the shipping time was ok. November 11, 2008

Complete Crap

The polar opposite of the book in so many ways - from the political themes to the weapons and combat.

The combat scenes are a terrible joke. I'd like to think that if we can transport troops to other planets, we could arm them with something better than a current 5.56 rifle. And, maybe arrange for a few mortars or artillery.

Just an awful movie based on one of the greatest military sci-fi books ever written.
November 6, 2008

Has its moments, but doesn't really deserve the title

Starship Troopers is a big budget action film set in a science-fiction based future where most of society is military based, and to be considered a citizen you must serve in the Terran Mobile Infantry. This is of course based on the classic sci-fi/military novel written by Robert A. Heinlein nearly fifty years ago, which was under the same name. The name is pretty much where the similarities between the movie and the book end.

The plot to this film adaptation of this sci-fi classic is not handled very respectfully, Director Paul Verhoeven's sense of satire coming across as being very out of place when I first saw the film. I was wondering if whoever owned the rights to the book knew what they were doing to the material, because I'm sure Heinlein would NOT have approved of the end result.

I've come to accept the satirical aspects of this film, but I don't understand why they'd mock the book, as opposed to making it into an actual movie. I get laughs out of this movie, the action is fun, though simplistic, but as an adaptation of the novel it fails on multiple levels. I put the novel down feeling it was one of the best books I'd ever read. When I left this film it felt like I did after every B-action film you see on an average basis; just nothing that left an impact on me like the book did.

Total Recall and RoboCop were both handled better in regards to mixing action, sci-fi, and satire. Starship Troopers tries hard to be those films, but ultimately fails. Even if it wasn't supposed to be an adaptation of that novel, it still doesn't have the charm of those previous Verhoeven films. They made us laugh at the depictions of society, as well as draw us in with engaging characters. You don't care about any of the characters here, because they're all cardboard cut-outs and clichés, not worth anyone's time. Out of all the movies disappointed me, this one is up there as one of my biggest let-downs.

I really have nothing much left to say, other than I was incredibly disappointed by Verhoeven, and the production team for not providing a better film.

6/10 stars
November 5, 2008

Mocks the book on which it was based.

This movie is the liberal reaction to the book. This can especially be seen in the short films that litter the story. It makes fun of Heinlein's "militarism" by turning him into a jingoistic straw-man, following the well worn Hollywood groove of hating the armed forces and pretending that war is a silly game played by overgrown 9 year old boys.

Here is a little Latin from Napoleon for you Hollywood:
Si vis bellum para pacum.

October 31, 2008

Who wants to kill some bugs!

Now this might lose some weight with my review, but I feel I should first state that I have not read Heinlen's legendary novel yet. Based on some other research I've done, it seems the movie does not accurately represent the novel. I realize that often time's movies can butcher a great novel, just look at Battlefield Earth. Absolutely terrible rendition and the movie wasn't that interesting overall. On the other hand I enjoyed Starship Troopers in its own right. While maybe not an exact replication of the novel, I think it did alright for a stand alone movie.

I'm usually a sucker for Science Fiction films; I'll watch them even if they're terrible. To me, Starship Troopers wasn't a terrible film; in fact I rather enjoyed it. I can get into an action sci-fi movie centered on killing a bunch of alien bugs! Whatever social satire Heinlen was initially attempting with his novel is virtually lost here, so all we have left to watch is a military action movie in a futuristic setting. Alright, I'll buy into it; however, some parallels to other greater films can't help but be made. I'm naturally talking about the movie Aliens, which I feel this movie was trying to really borrow a lot from. We have everything you'd expect from that influence, hordes of alien creatures and the human infantry armed to the teeth shooting them. Honestly, if you like that kind of a film concept you'll find this movie entertaining. Granted it's not as high quality as Aliens, even though Starship Troopers came out years later, but most people will still have fun with it if you're not expecting the book.

This story sort of centers around an infantry trooper named Rico and it tries to have more of a dramatic feel by delving into the background of how he joined the Mobile Infantry. In some senses it tries to make some parts a bit sappy with his friends and this can come off a bit silly, but it's not too bad, I've definitely seen much worse in my day. I think the world we're brought into is pretty interesting. The government system is pretty interesting in the sense that you can't vote unless you're a citizen of the federation. In order to become a citizen you have to spend time in service to the military. It's kind of interesting, some countries have mandatory service for their citizens even today, but this is on a very extreme scale. From there we get to see Rico go through boot camp all the way up to his first battle and all the other fighting he's sent through. The first part of the film can feel a bit slow at times, but once he's on the battlefield things pick up pretty quickly! Once the fighting actually started I was pretty locked in. You shouldn't expect the greatest acting of all, after all this wasn't a huge scale production in terms of budget, but it's good for what it is.

One of the main points in Starship Troopers is the bugs! If you like creatures or monsters in any way then you'll find merit in this movie. The bugs look really cool in my opinion and are particularly vicious! One part that was neat about them was they moved with a bit of a purpose and the variant species of insects was really neat to see also. They clearly move with a telepathic kind of ability between each other and this is obviously pulled right from the script of Aliens.

Overall if you're up for a decent action packed science fiction film this is a pretty good watch. Don't expect to get the highest quality script or acting here though, just expect lots of dead bugs and torn apart humans. I thought it was just good enough to keep me entertained, but I wouldn't ever put this in my list of all time greatest films. Enjoy it for what it is and you'll have some fun with it. If you go in expecting high quality and something akin to the book, you'll likely be quite disappointed. October 19, 2008

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