Starship Troopers

Rating:
Summary: Loathsome Corruption of RAH's Message
Review: This film is a classic Hollywood-adaptation abomination from start to finish. Not one shred of Heinlein's message is left unsmeared or uncorrupted: substituting Nazi-esque Fascism for warrior honor and defense of humanity, wimpy Star Wars-infantry helmets for high-tech full battle armor, sleazy sex scenes and cheap shots for ... well, I don't recall any in the book.

There is surely an eighth circle of hell reserved for directors like Verhoeven, who harks from the Netherlands, noted for its Leftist sociopolitics. Ah, but see where it got them; just ask Theo Van Gogh.

Forget it and read the original novel. It should never have been touched by Hollywierd.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Decidedly Disturbing
Review: Here we are in a rather bleak future where the world is run by a ruthlessly authoritarian militaristic government whose ideal rather seems to be one of reducing humanity to the status of a social insect. But there is a big problem: real social insects in the form of a race of giant bugs that can breath fire and chuck asteroids around. Inspired by school teacher Michael Ironside's enthusiastic explanations of the dubious values of this civilization not to mention his own romantic ardour for highflier Carmen (Denise Richards) who is off to be a pilot, Jonny (Casper van Dien) joins up and off we go to war with the evil creepy crawlies.

This is a strange film. In the wildly inconsistent career of Paul Verhoeven it comes in between the appalling `Showgirls' and the mediocre `Hollow Man' and sort of makes up for both, adding up to something just as interesting and enjoyable as `Total Recall'. Disturbingly it often seems the authoritarian ideals of the social order it depicts are not so much satirized as celebrated: Ironside's schoolteacher and later army lieutenant clearly presented as a figure of inspirational heroism. So politically all a bit iffy but brilliantly realized and in many ways highly ambivalent: at some levels it's a genuinely disturbing and intelligent invocation of just what is attractive about the kind of political order it depicts while at other levels ridiculing. It's hard to think of a science fiction film since `Blade Runner' that is so imaginative in its devising of a picture of a not too distant future world. There is something at once compelling and repellent about this smooth running world peopled by unreflective young people with plastic-perfect bodies and no nonsense authority figures. And, sticking with Ridley Scott comparisons, the swarming bugs of Klendathu are surely the coolest monsters to come along since Mr Geiger's disturbing invention first burst forth from John Hurt's stomach.


Rating:
Summary: Complexity Nonexistent, Complete Refutation
Review: I hate this movie for several reasons but love it for others. That is why I decided to give it three stars. My reasons for liking it are few. I actually saw the movie before I read the book so I'm not a Heinlein zealot. I enjoyed the battle scenes simply for their scale and the Korean War element. I did find it ridiculous after a while seeing infantry with practically musket range weaponry with about the effectiveness being slaughtered by hordes of big Praying Mantises when a half dozen WWII vintage tanks could have finished things in about twenty minutes.

My anger comes from the so-called "satire" element in the film. Making certain elements of a novel seem silly is one thing but directly refutting them is another. Taking "liberties," Verhoeven destroys the thesis of the entire book. His comment that an accurate adaptation would have been impossible is correct. However by his "adaptation" one wonders if he even read the novel. Basically he takes the enemy, the names of the some of the characters (and adapting their gender to his needs), and the name of the book for his movie. If they had taken the title off the book I wouldn't have made the connection between it and the movie other then by character names. Good book. Laughable movie.

Rating:
Summary: Movie does not do justice to the book
Review: I've read Heinlein's Starship Troopers. In that book, the troopers were roughly the equivalent of light tanks packing plenty of firepower. They could move fast, jump heights or distances with their "jump jets", and deliver unbelievable firepower from their armored suits.

Not so in this movie. The troopers are just dumb grunts, on foot, wearing futuristic looking uniforms and helmets, and given a machine gun to fight with. This is the future with warships that travel to different star systems, but they still arm their troops with machine guns, where it takes hundreds of bullets to kill an enemy "bug"! Ugh. The troopers were little more than cannon fodder in this movie. Often I kept yelling out at the screen, to retreat and just nuke the whole darn battlefield.

The movie also had blatant themes of nationalism, gestapo like uniforms for the intelligence officers, etc. I don't know what kind of message the director was trying to send by this, but it's there.

The movie does earn 2 stars, because the battle scenes are cool looking, although you will quickly realize that the troopers in front always die. I'm surprised they're notwearing red shirts like in Star Trek. Also, the movie does have Denise Richards in it, always a plus.



Rating:
Summary: So many missed the Starship on this one...
Review: This movie is brilliantly subversive, and was rather poorly received by critics and audience alike. Why? Many just missed the boat...er starship. It flew right over their heads.

Some disliked it because it was unsuttle - from stage like overacting to bright primary colors in set design - this was not a morally, visually grey film like the 'Alien' series - nor was it meant to be.

Many people disliked it because it was a perversion of Heinlein's classic novel. This is true, though, arguably a straight adaptation would neither have been possible, nor watchable. And the essential theme of the book is preserved.

And still others disliked it because it was mismarketed as a SF action film ala "Aliens", which it clearly is *not*.

But, I think the reason it failed to connect with mass audiences is the less obvious fact that it makes fun of them - and people just don't like being made fun of. It is a scathing (and sadly prescient) indictment of how easily the general public can (and often has) been (mis)lead.

For what I believe is a great, insightful review of this film, see Mr. Scott of Silver Lake, OH's review below.

Rating:
Summary: Doogie Howser fights brain bugs
Review: Ok this movie has it all, the beautiful Denise Richards, alien cockroaches, explosions, guns, gore, nudity, and of course lots of good old fashion fun. I never read the book this movie was based off of, so I enjoyed it immensly without having to make the comparison.

Alien bugs from another world attack Earth. It seems they can hurl asteroids at our planet from zillions of light years away. The senior class of a high school joins the Federation (an armed service of sorts which is made up of mostly infantry and pilots) to combat these sinister bugs.

When they land on a bug planet all hell breaks loose so sit back and enjoy the ride.

I will say though that Dizzy is extremly sexy and hot. It's too bad yoohoo boy didn't get that through his thick skull until it was almost too late. "Never pass up a good thing boy". Yeah right like my commanding officer needs to tell me I got a hottie hot for me.

Good flick.

Rating:
Summary: One Great B-Movie!
Review: First of all, if you have read the brilliant Hugo Award-winning novel by Robert A. Heinlein and you're going to watch the movie realize the two aren't even in the same ballpark. Heinlein's classic is a thought-provoking commentary about what we all take for granted and, like all great works of sci-fi and fantasy, it can be read on many levels.

Now, Paul Verhoven's movie is two hours of pure, unadultered, and utterly shameless B-movie shlock. It's not without it's moments of satire, but it's clear the only kind of debate Verhoven wanted to spark was which battle scene was cooler.

If you take the movie strictly on this level you're in for a heck of a time. Yes, there's plenty of cheesy lines. And yes, the acting is straight from a bad daytime melodrama (and for that matter, so is the casting). That being said, the movie is well-paced, action-packed, and full of cool special effects (and big, exploding, spiders).

The bottom line is that this flick is not exactly what I'd call cerebral, but it is a lot of fun!