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Starship Troopers (Special Edition)

Starship Troopers (Special Edition)

List Price: $27.95
Your Price: $22.36
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Glorified B-Movie with some tasty moments
Review: Even though it's basically a 'B' movie trying to pass itself off as an 'A', I thought this little romp through fascistic military disciplining and VERY gratuitous violence was another amazing milestone of controversial filmmaking in the career of director Paul Verhoeven. It's undeniably THE most ultraviolent film he's ever helmed, which in itself is no small feat. His direction of 'Robocop' started the string, and continued with 'Total Recall'. And even though the box office on this one proved rather lackluster, it's definitely a return to grace for Verhoeven after his directing work on 'Showgirls'. Actually, just about any movie is a step up from 'Showgirls', but that's another story...

I also like (well, maybe 'like' isn't the proper word) how 'Troopers' shows the true horrors of war, and what really happens to the less-than-fortunate soldier in the middle of the firefight. It's probably the first war flick since 'Platoon' to do this, but to a much greater degree, and to the point where it's over-the-top, and darkly humorous, rather than grotesque and disturbing. A very satirical take on the unpleasantness of war.

There's dismemberments, disembowelments, guys getting blown up, torched, and lots of other unpleasant stuff. Yes, it's couched in a sci-fi/action story (VERY loosely based on the novel of the same name) with human soldiers going up against giant insectoids, but I'd say it comes pretty close to the mark in portraying realistic battle. I don't think there's a movie before or since that's had this high a level of disturbing, graphic mayhem. It's probably also one of Steven Spielberg's pieces of inspiration when he made 'Saving Private Ryan'.

One really sad thing about 'Starship Troopers' is that it's one of the most over-played movies on premium cable. It seems like every other day I switch to a pay channel, there it is. I used to like this movie quite a bit more in the past, but after my zillionth cable TV viewing, it gets kinda stale. With it playing so often, getting the video or DVD may not be so great an option...

'Late...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Starship troopers excels at many different levels
Review: Paul Verhoeven has managed to take a classic Sci-Fi masterpiece and make it better. his screen version hits us at different levels. First it is an action picture of massive dimensions, utilizing state of the art special effects to make the "bugs" incredibly real and dangerous. However, on another level, Verhoeven shows us how easily young people can be "brainwashed", so to speak, into accepting Fascism as the normal state of being. The whole movie is a primer on how nations have brainwashed their population into sacrificing themselves for the state. One very interesting feature on the DVD version is a running commentary by the director and screenwriter of the entire movie. It is extremely interesting.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sci-fi action galore, Little on story and acting
Review: This is the we call a 'turn-off your brain and enjoy' movie. The action is set at break-neck speeds, while keeping some sort of story. The computer graphics are stunning and it seems that it was supposed to make up for the terrible acting of Casper Van Dien. I don't know about the book and its resemblence to it, but its a great action filled movie with enough gore to rival Saving Private Ryan.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: "This Planet Crawls"...unfortunately, so does the film.
Review: Yes, "Starship Troopers" does weave a fairly strong (and clever) anti-fascist theme into its storyline, and features some brilliant special effects, but unfortunately, it's not enough to overcome a lame script and some of the worst acting in recent years.

Think of a Roger Corman flick with $100 million in special effects and you get the idea.

Let's start off with the good stuff: "Starship Troopers" features truly harrowing and effective visuals - some of the best in recent years. And director Paul Verhoeven has always been great at weaving a tale of a moderately warped future, and "Starship Troopers", with its' neo-fascist ideas (check the uniforms - Gestapo all the way!) and strong hint of genetic perfection (nobody is fat or ugly, and nobody has pimples), does get some sly shots in at the goose stepping/master race crowd.

Also, check out the terrific score by Basil Poledouris (who also did "The Hunt for Red October), with its fascist propaganda-ministry overtones. It sounds like recruiting music for the armed forces, and works VERY well.

But these strong points are countered by a weak script (best line: "This planet crawls!") and hack performances by Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards (not to mention Neil Patrick Harris, best known as TV's Doogie Howser, as a supersecret government spook). Only Dina Meyer, who plays one of Van Diem's soldier cohorts, displays any kind of depth; she gives her character, Diz, a nice mix of toughness and vulnerability.

Then there's the techno-gaffes. The producers of this film would have us believe that mankind has mastered faster than light travel, but can't stop meteors from hitting the earth? And why send in millions of humans to basically uninhabitable planets when they can just blow up the planets and the bugs with them? They can't just flood the planets with Raid?

But "Starship Troopers" isn't about the science in science fiction. It's a blow-em-up, and works well on that level, but with decent actors and a better script, Verhoeven could have used his visual inventiveness and keen satirical edge to make a far better movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: 9 out of 10 housewives prefer this movie to a dead crab...
Review: I must say that the special effects in this movie were outstanding...but the plot, acting, and character development left me very disappointed. (Did I actually pay money to watch this movie? Unfortunately...yes.) Overall, this flick was predictable, and had it not been filled with "eye candy", I most likely would have died from boredom by the time the sappy characters all enlisted to save the world. If you're just looking for some cool sci-fi FX, check it out. If your standards are any higher, I'd suggest that you stay away!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant Satire
Review: This film is a perfect example of how good art operates on various levels.

On the surface, its simply a ripping yarn about how our brave boys and girls sally forth into space and fight the bugs, in a war of survival.

Scratch just below the surface though, and you have a witty and interesting satire on a future facist world. The actors are all beautiful specimens of the "master race" variety. The propaganda films shown on the "home front" are both silly and, for those of us old enough to remember the cold war, just plausible. Several scenes pay a twisted homage to Leni Refenstahl, the famous German film-maker of 1930s who made propaganda films for Nazi-Germany. The dress uniforms of our gallant soldiers are Wermacht field-grey, and the officer's uniforms are straight out of "Schindler's List."

Finally, like many of the outraged reviwers I've read here who are too dumb to realise they are watching a satire, the characters in the film are too dumb to realise they are being used by a cynical and authoritarian state. Just like the soliders of Nazi Germany, they are forced to die in vast numbers to "prove" they are the master race (or as one of the characters says "we're in this for the species").

Add to the above some of the best special effects ever done (to date) and you have an excellent movie - a rare combination of social satire, sci-fi and horrifying action. Paul Verhoven's best film, and the best sci-fi film of the 1990s.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tongue-in-cheek Blastathon!
Review: You people who have reviewed and hated this film because it isn't "realistic" enough in the way Humans would respond to a threat such as dramatized in the movie are totally missing the point! This is as much a COMEDY as it is an action sci-fi film! The entire movie NEVER takes itself seriously and that is what makes it fantastic! You don't think this is really a comedy at heart with giant bugs spewing artillary at earth spaceships from their behinds? Lighten up and know that this movie is not meant to be REALISTIC! It is a Tongue-in-cheek comedy/sci-fi thriller with absolutely some of the best special effects ever put into a film to date! I am putting this in my DVD library, something I am VERY selective about. It is terrific if you view it with a sense of fun and comedy as well as being able to admire its amazing action scenes and special effects!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not as good as the novel but good enough
Review: Starship Troopers with its graphic violence, beautiful actors, is a satire on fascism. Paul Verohoeven is a creative director, not since Robocop has the director mixed black comedy, graphic violence, and his personal views on our society and yet he made another extremely entertaining movie. I will admit this isn't an A+ on believability, but it is still very entertaining. Rated R for graphic violence, gore, nudity, sexual content, and some language.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good in a different sense
Review: Granted, the movie was very unrealistic and in fact put the novel to shame (the novel being an excellent story) I would like to view this movie as less of a Hollywood-era fire-and-forget sci-fi flick and more of an analyzation of propoganda and fascism illustrated on the human's part. Look closely and you might just see the similarities it bears to Nazi Germany during World War II. For those of who who are interested in this kind of thing, Starship Troopers is worth a rental. For those of you looking for a unique addition to the sci-fi war universe...keep hunting.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't listen to these other weirdos.
Review: They are judging it like it was supposed to be a serious movie. Starship Troopers had to be one of the most entertaining movies I have seen. Most films have boring parts or scenes that you just don't feel like sitting through but this one is enjoyable through the whole duration. So lighten up a little.


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