Starship Troopers
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Movie Reviews of Starship Troopers
Movie Review: great movie
Summary: 5 Stars
If your a man that likes blood guts and a little T&A your gonna love this movie.Movie Review: They sucked his brains out
Summary: 4 Stars
Director Paul Verhoeven freely admits that he didn't read Starship Troopers, and I doubt that screenwriter Edward Neumeier read it, either. Verhoeven read the first few chapters, but couldn't bear it. The message of the book is that military service is a duty that you owe to society. If we aren't willing to fight for our freedom, then we don't deserve it. Military discipline is praised in Heinlein's book as an almost sacred rite of passage. Verhoeven's childhood experiences during and immediately following the Second World War, first the German occupation and then the American occupation, gave him a vastly different take on the military and the Nazi propaganda Hitler used to get soldiers to enlist.
He wanted to make a different movie, and he did. I know that Robert A. Heinlein fans were disappointed, but perhaps someone will make his 1961 novel, Stranger in a Strange Land, into a movie someday. Looking at the films that have been made of Heinlein's books we have The Puppet Masters, made into a movie with that title in 1997, and it was also made into a movie called The Brain Eaters in 1958. Then there is 1953's Project Moonbase and Destination: Moon, made in 1950. Phillip K. Dick has had Total Recall (also directed by Verhoeven), Blade Runner, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, made into films, but have they ever captured the author, in all his various levels of humor, philosophy, and so forth, on the screen? Only A Scanner Darkly comes close to what Phillip K. Dick is capable of, and that film was no raging success. Blade Runner is an excellent film, but it is not Do Aliens Dream of Electric Sheep? (the book Phillip Kindred Dick actually wrote).
I think that fans of Heinlein, especially young children, would be disturbed by the sex and violence seen onscreen in Starship Troopers. Bodies hacked to pieces by giant alien bugs, wholesale carnage, brains sucked out -- not to mention the nudity. Did you know that in the future, the infantry will be co-ed, even in the showers (on a dare from Dina Meyer Director Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jost Vacano shot one take of the co-ed shower scene in the nude themselves)? Perhaps a co-ed infantry is not such a bad idea after all:
Jean Rasczak: You got 10 minutes to get ready and go.
Johnny Rico: Yes sir.
Jean Rasczak: Who's in there with you?
Dizzy: Flores, sir.
Jean Rasczak: Make it 20.
Johnny Rico: We can do it.
Verhoeven chose to do a parody that isn't going to make any Heinlein fans happy, but let's just judge the film on its own merits or lack thereof. The film has a distinctive look, kind of retro, but futuristic. It is like the pulp science fiction look of what people back in the 50's imagined the future would be, way back in the 20th Century. Throw in some Nazi style uniforms, some Cholo suspenders, and voila! A campy fascist fashion fest.
The actors and actresses might be graduates of the Beverly Hills 90210 School of Acting, but they look fantastic. Casper Van Dien, especially looks like he would be right at home in a Goebbels produced, Leni Riefenstahl directed propaganda epic. He was born too late, as somehow, he can't break out of the television ghetto into film. You'd think that Starship Troopers would be his big break, but the critics just want to use him as their whipping boy.
Newsreel announcer: Join the Mobile Infantry and save the Galaxy. Service guarantees citizenship. Would you like to know more?
Denise Richards won the Worst Supporting Actress Razzie Award for the 1999 film The World is Not Enough. She may not be the greatest actress since Bernhardt, but she plays one on television. She has appeared in "Spin City," "Friends," "Seinfeld," "The Ben Stiller Show," "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Doogie Howser, M.D.," "Married with Children," "Melrose Place," and "Saved by the Bell." Her acting style is a perfect fit for ST, the only part I had trouble with was believing she had a math score of 97% and got into flight school.
Zander: Don't exceed port speed.
Carmen: Or what?
Zander: Or they revoke your flight status... and mine.
Carmen: [Smiles] Your career is in my hands.
Neil Patrick Harris, on the other hand, makes a great smarty pants. After all, as Doogie Howser, M.D., he was already a doctor as a little kid. He currently rules television as Barney on "How I Met Your Mother," but his film resume is rather light, with only the Harold & Kumar franchise willing to give him a tumble. In ST he is not only a brain, but he has psychic ability as well. He goes right into Officer Training, as the military can always use a psychic friend.
The military can also use a High School Teacher, as Mr. Rasczak (Michael Ironside), the one armed history teacher, turns up as Lieutenant Rasczak, a gung ho officer with a bionic hand. He is tough on his men, but only because war is hell. He works hard, but he plays hard:
Jean Rasczak: I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!
Though the soldiers of the Mobile Infantry fight and play hard, they have terrible strategy, fighting the alien bugs on their own turf as if there was no such thing as air support. The story doesn't make a lot of sense, but is driven more by visceral needs than by logic. For instance, though hundreds, thousands, have died in battle, they have a military funeral for just one soldier. Not even Lieutenant Rasczak is afforded that dignity. Earlier, back in boot camp the drill sergeant demonstrates the usefulness of knives in combat by pinning the recruit's hand to the wall with his knife. Later, Ace, the recruit, plays fiddle at the post battle hoe down. His hand is miraculously healed. Hey, it's Jake Busey, son of Gary Busey. He actually learned how to play the violin for this part.
The start of ST is like some kind of bizarre John Hughes (BTW, R.I.P., Mr. Hughes) High School epic, complete with the Big Game and the Prom. Then, when Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) enlists to impress Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards) it morphs into the boot camp from Full Metal Jacket. Finally, there are the big battle scenes with the alien insects. I think that the special effects, by Industrial Light and Magic, were excellent.
Paul Verhoeven makes bold and visceral films, and he is either very brave, or else he doesn't have any shame or care what people think. He was the only director who ever showed up personally to receive his Razzie Awards, and he got two of those, for Showgirl, Worst Director AND Worst Picture. I think he was at his best/worst (so bad it's good) with the Joe Eszterhas penned Basic Instinct, but Show Girls (also from the house of Eszterhas) is so relentlessly bad that you can't help but stare dumbfounded, with your jaw dropped right to the floor in disbelief. Does anyone besides me remember Spetters? Robocop, I hear, is pretty good, but I can't take Total Recall, as it was just a desecration of the book by Phillip K. Dick. Robert A. Heinlein fans, I know how you feel.
Johnny Rico: These are the rules. Everybody fights, nobody quits. If you don't do your job I'll kill you myself. Welcome to the Roughnecks.
Private Sugar Watkins: Rico's Roughnecks.
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (Extreme Unrated Edition) (2004) .... Neil Patrick Harris was Neil Patrick Harris
The World Is Not Enough (1999) .... Denise Richards was Christmas Jones
Sleepy Hollow (1999) .... Casper Van Dien was Brom Van Brunt
Wild Things (1998) .... Denise Richards was Kelly Van Ryan
Showgirls (1995) .... Director: Paul Verhoeven
Basic Instinct (1992) .... Director: Paul Verhoeven
Total Recall (1990) .... Director: Paul Verhoeven
Robocop (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition) (1987) .... Director: Paul Verhoeven
Flesh and Blood (1985) .... Director: Paul Verhoeven
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) .... by Robert A. Heinlein
Jean Rasczak: They sucked his brains out.
Disney for Adults
Summary: 4 Stars It's a boy has girl - boy loses girl - boy gets girl back, movie containing every one of your favourite Hollywood movie cliches ever written (all in one place).
TBH, 5 minutes into this movie, I was thinking 1* for special effects. 1/2 an hour later, I had figured out that you must switch off your brain in order to follow this movie.
If you try to figure out, how it is that bugs, with no technology described, are able to shoot meteors across billions of miles of space to crash into densely populated Earth cities, .. your brain will likely freeze.
Once you get used to the excellent plastic sets, plastic characters, plastic acting and plastic storyline, sit back relax and be prepared for a thrill ride.
I notice many 1* reviewers are comparing the movie to Heinlen's book by the same title (which I have not read). Why can't the movie be taken for its own merits?
Spoilers: My favourite bits:
- The news feed - excellently done.
- The way the bugs hold back in order to allow the injured crew mate to be rescued so that they may give a farewell speech (which is quite impressive considering they had just been stabbed though the heart with a 10' telegraph pole).
- The ending; Brilliant, from the seriously injured officer fighting off bugs and celebrating as if 'tis purely a flesh wound', to the friend who turns out to be not such a bad person afterall (where did all the bugs go?).
Why not 5*s? Well, with a movie like this there is so much that could be done, they must have missed out something - there were actual parts where I wanted to fast-forward, just for a few seconds - and finally, SPOILER ALERT; Denise Richards does NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT, get her kit off in the movie; if only, 5*s for sure.
Movie Review: An Entertaining Exercise in Gratuitous Gore and Nudity
Summary: 4 Stars
The soldiers of the future will be stupid, sexy and totally expendable. Remind me to leave a note to my great grandchildren telling them not to sign up for military service!
The film is VERY loosely based on R. Heinlein's classic novel and borrows only the barest elements of its plot. P. Verhoeven's soldiers are kids right out of highschool: niave, petulant and easily swayed by lofty speeches about honor and duty. That, and they are full of blood and internal organs that are just begging to be splattered all over the place.
The movie's fun is in the preposterously gruesome battle scenes between hordes of alien 'Bugs' and the tiny, poorly trained pin-cushions otherwise known as Humans. The troopers move from planet to planet, hand delivering nukes to the bugs while dying horribly and in large numbers themselves. All of this is not to be taken seriously, neither is the mostly superfluous love triangle between the main characters.
Just sit back and enjoy the slaughter, boobies (if that's your cup 'o tea), and sly social commentary. Higher level brain functions are not required, but will reveal some added depth. Dolby 5.1 audio is available, but extra features are limited to director commentary.
Movie Review: Good movie but a lot could be improved
Summary: 4 Stars
Having watched this movie tens of times I am now an expert on every scene and one liners of this movie. The acting is mediocre but the script makes it all the best and enjoyable. It's an exciting movie. I've been a fan ever since it came out in late 1990s. There are also a lot of goofs in it for instance when Rico is injured and Carmen (Denise Richards) searches for his name on the screen she says I am surprised there are no wounded and then her colleague/mate says "Bugs don't take PRISONERS". She was talking about wounded while a lot of them were shown on that shot any ways. The director could be a lot more careful with those stuff. This is a sci-fi movie with the technological advantages of 1990s. I enjoy it every time I watch it.