Rating: 
Summary: Skip the Movie, Read the Book
Review: Most of the things that make Starship Troopers a great book are completely lost in the movie version. It was like watching 90210 in space.
Rating: 
Summary: Best sci-fi movie since the original Star Wars trilogy.
Review: This movie is a terrific mix of state of the art special effects, action, and storyline that is a lot better that the box office receipts show. It tells the story of a few high school sutdents who go into the army in order to become citizens of a facist society. Soon they're fighting in a war against giant bugs and becoming loyal subjects of the government. It's full of great perfomances by the actors and action sequences that are not for the squeamish. The movie is has a great romantic triangle between Johnny, Carmen, and Dizzy and is intended as a satire of facist societies. Casper van Dien and Dina Meyer stand out in lead roles and Michael Ironside delivers a great supporting performance. Director Paul Verhoeven does a top notch job in mixing a sci-fi story with the satire and many reminders of World War II battles. What really blew me away is the fact that the movie actually has a great screenplay instead of just having great special effects like so many other sci-fi movies. Overall, the movie is as good as any of the original Star Wars movies. The special features include deleted scenes and a commentary by the director and three of the actors that adds a lot of insight into the plot and some great stories about the making of the film.
Rating:
Summary: A classic, even if it does depart from the book.
Review: This movie is probably the best "war sci-fi" flick I've ever seen, and I've seen them all.
Technical Evaluation: The DVD video is crisp and vivid, the special effects are truly first-rate, the audio is good, and there are lots of nice special features, including deleted scenes (why were these scenes deleted? They would have been helpful to the movie.)
The movie is based upon Robert Heinlein's classic "Starship Troopers" novel which won the Hugo Award in 1959. Unfortunately, the movie unnecessarily departs from the novel to a significant degree. The central political message of the novel (which is preserved in the movie) was the notion that only those who had served a term in the armed forces would be permitted to vote, the theory being that such persons had shown a higher sense of civic duty and responsibility. Not a popular idea in our society with its emphasis on entitlement, but intriguing to some. The director and others have labelled this idea as "fascist." Robert Heinlein, who was no fascist, didn't think so.
The story line in the movie is excellent, for the very simple reason that there **is** a story line, and the movie keeps moving right along without any long, boring, pointless interludes that some directors (mostly European ones) seem to cherish. The acting is not first-rate, but it is not bad. All of the characters are easy on the eyes, and actually do a good job. The movie is fast-paced and keeps your interest all the way through. Minor quibbles. The weapons used by the Mobile Infantry seemed unrealistic--a trooper had to keep shooting at one bug for about 20 seconds to kill it. Surely by then they would have had lasers or something. That's what the book had. The "Zander" character seemed unnecessary, but didn't really detract from the movie. Since asteroids from one solar system can't be used to attack another, this is an irritant. Why not have Bug spaceships attacking earth like in the book? Why do directors change these things? These are minor quibbles though. This flick is simply a classic SF war movie, and deserved to do better in the theaters than it actually did. The special effects are so good that you truly feel as though you are in the twenty-second century with Earth locked in a life-or-death battle with an enemy species. The off-world scenes really do make you feel like you are seeing scenes on another planet or in space. This flick is well worth buying, watching, and keeping in one's DVD collection.
Rating: 
Summary: It had a good idea, but... it up.
Review: I really hope someone redoes this movie someday with a better script, director and actors who are all in part to blame for this movie. There were so many things wrong with it it is hard to know where to start: I guess the best place to start is at the root, the script. Writer ED Neumeier packs the script with flat dialouge, lackluster scences and relies more on gorey battle sequences than on giving his director to work with. But his director, "Robocop's" Paul Verhoeven, seemingly did nothing to get past it. He gives the movie even more boredom than the script alone would have. His direction style and camera angles do nothing to intensify the battles or give the dialouge more muster. He gives his actors absolutely nothing to fall back on. And finally there are the actors to critque. First off, the studio who financed the movie looked like all they tried was to find the prettiest faces and put them with them a movie that they thought would be able to look past their sub-par performances and become a hit. Unfortunaetly, most of us have the movie sense to see that. Almost all the actors don't try to get into character or delivering their lines with feeling and purpose (but that goes back to script problems). All in all, this movie should be put in a vault and then have someone else create a deeper, more emotional, more thrilling film.
Rating:
Summary: Action spectacular meets dark-humoured satire
Review: There is a long thick line drawn between people who "get" this movie and people who don't. The latter category can include both people who enthuse the violence and people who condemn it; people who don't see the satirical undertones and people who think the film is some sort of pinko plot (whether or not they think that would be a good idea). There's also a small minority of Heinlein fans who are furious that the book has been _adapted_ by the writer and director, rather than faithfully shot page for page. The intelligent viewer will realise that things are rarely black or white: violence is awful, but pretend violence can be dramatically gripping or even funny (and this is nothing new). War is terrible, but the courage and loyalty it can summon are admirable. A war under false pretences is shameful, but once you're in it, you'd better win it. (Sound familiar?) Mindless patriotism is bad, but no state, no matter how civilised or postmodern, can survive without a vigorously maintained army. Citizens have an obligation to the state, but does the state invalidate itself by forcing the citizens to comply? These are the ambiguities that Starship Troopers encompasses in its satire. Unfortunately, ambiguity doesn't play well in this day and age (if it ever did), so in a sense this film was doomed to fail before it was even shot. Fortunately the DVD release includes a director's commentary in which Paul Verhoeven explains it for us one more time and spells it simple: If the plot seems goofy or over-the-top, it's because they based the movie on WWII propaganda films - from the Axis as well as the Allies. The philosophy that underpins the film is "War makes fascists of us all." As the cherry on top of this moral message, Starship Troopers delivers pure adventurous fun: huge spaceships exploding, a sappy love-triangle, heroic fights with giant bugs, and Michael Ironside, as cool as ever. The effects are great, the ending is satisfying, and the fake propaganda ads are very funny. The score by Basil Polidouris is also terrific, (although the CD is only 35 min. long) and would even make a great symphony. So it's a win-win movie: you can enjoy a big dumb action spectacular with great special effects, or you can get all intellectual with the satirical sub-text about the human sacrifices that patriotism requires. Either way, this is one of the great science fiction movies, both visually and in terms of ideas. I highly recommend it. (By the way, I'd recommend listening to the director's/writer's commentary even to people who don't like this kind of film - it's the best DVD commentary I've ever heard: very informative and funny, with Verhoeven coming across as a slightly mad, European intellectual-type character.)
Rating:
Summary: Don't take this film seriously.
Review: Everything in the movie that people complain about was intentional. The bad acting, the obsurdity of the military tactics, the cheasy dialogue. And lets face it. The book that it is based on was pretty boring. Lighten up! I would however have to say that this movie does not quite stand up to the utter perfection of the Criterion Collection version of Robocop.
Rating:
Summary: Destroys the book
Review: If the screenplay was actually an adaptation of Heinlein's book (which won the Hugo award) then this movie might have been quite a bit better. The movie ended up being nothing more than a mixture of some deleted soap opera scenes interlaced with a script. Try reading the book and you will see how the story improves when all of these scenes are removed.
Rating:
Summary: Heinlein must be spinning in his grave
Review: I normally expect differences between the book and the movie. In this case I loved the book and hated the movie; I hope someone redoes the movie right some day. The book was written with thought, and included the well thought-out technical idea of powered armor, as well as whole, realistic different social and political systems. You watch Johnny Rico learning and growing, and read much thought-provoking commentary about the nature of social and political systems. Training is made tough for a good reason, but is never brutal. Questions (even stupid ones) are answered; at the worst the instructor looks disgusted, students are given an essay assignment to force them to think the problem through and find their own answer, or given pushups or a long run. In action, troopers were given armor, smart (some nuclear) missiles, flamers, Bug-specific nerve gas and well-defined, sensible objectives when going up against the Bugs. They were as well taken care of as possible. In the movie, they lifted some names from the novel and tossed most everything else. The powered armor is completely missing. The social and political thought is completely missing. The movie is full of gratuitous violence, nudity and stupidity of the high command. A trooper asks a reasonable question during training, so an instructor throws a knife to pin his hand to the wall. Does anyone think that'll encourage troopers to think and ask questions? Does anyone think this was good training? This was stupid, gratuitous brutality. Troopers are sent up against Bugs while wearing fatigues (in other words, practically naked) with inadequate rifles; it took 10..30 seconds of full automatic fire to kill one Bug. Again stupid and unnecessary; we have better weapons than that today. Skip the movie, read the book.
Rating:
Summary: A special edition worthy of the name.
Review: "I just had it in mind that Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue go into outer space and fight giant bugs and become Nazis," says screenwriter Ed Neumeier at the beginning of "Death From Above," the brand new making-of documentary that forms the cornerstone of this feature-laden DVD re-release of Paul Verhoeven's underrated science-fiction extravaganza. This oddball quotation perfectly captures the skewed feel of the picture, and also demonstrates how well the new, and recycled, support material on this two-disc "special edition" lends insight into the process of creating STARSHIP TROOPERS. Much maligned upon its release in theaters, STARSHIP TROOPERS has gained a loyal following in subsequent years. The film's nods to Axis and Allied propaganda efforts, including Leni Riefenstahl's TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, are now seen as the subversive elements they were intended to be, and the deep irony of Neumeier's script, coupled with Verhoeven's own iconoclasm, is better appreciated. TROOPERS loyalists have been rewarded with an eye-popping digital transfer of the movie, and a whole host of extras to accompany the pristine video and audio. A few of these extras, such as the Verhoeven/Neumeier commentary track and a few bits of test footage, will be familiar to owners of the previous release of the film, but the rest is never-before-seen material. Alongside the short, and somewhat lackluster, featurette found on the initial DVD release is the sharp, half-hour "Death From Above," which reassembles all the creative minds involved and has them bring fresh insight to their work on STARSHIP TROOPERS. This alone is worth the purchase, even for those who have already bought and enjoyed the film's previous DVD release. A second commentary track - where Verhoeven is joined by principals Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Neil Patrick Harris - is not only interesting, but sometimes uproariously funny, with the actors quickly warming to the informal atmosphere and providing listeners a hint of what fun shooting the movie must have been. A lengthy series of small special effects featurettes spotlight the process that went into bringing the "bugs" to life for the movie, and Verhoeven provides commentary for a series of scene breakdowns where every element is examined in minute detail. This is all fascinating stuff. Also not to be missed is the extensive gallery of pre-production drawings, and the isolated musical score with commentary from the composer, Basil Poledouris, which is much more engaging than it might sound. In fact, the list of tidbits and treasures could go on and on, including the exceptionally well done menus, which repackage the propaganda films seen throughout STARSHIP TROOPERS and make them part of the experience as one navigates through the discs. This release of STARSHIP TROOPERS is as close to definitive as one could hope to come. Loaded with supplementary material that will take hours to fully explore and digest, and given the sharpest possible transfer, this DVD is a prime example of how to do a "special edition" right. Even the most demanding viewer will come away satisfied, and that's exactly as it should be.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't have been worse
Review: One of the Worst Movies that I have ever seen. The acting was some of the worst I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing. Like wen the main character (forget his name) said in anger: "The infantry does the dying, the fleet does the flying!"
It was so fake that I almost threw something at my TV. The movie had a good idea and apparently a good book behind it, but it was so poorly executed it was painful. I was really hoping that it would be a good movie but WHOA! what a stinker!
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