Rating: 
Summary: THE Space Opera of the 20th Century!
Review: While this movie does not follow Robert A Heinlein's plot exactly (or even closely)... it definately keeps Heinlein's attitude and overpowering xenophobia intact. It has everything that Heinlein would have approved of.. big chested and beautiful women, open sexuality, violent and sadistic army officers, over the top verbage from its characters, demoralization and destruction of democracy, and last, but not least... an enemy we can all hate and loathe and not feel guilty about! This movie gets heavy rotation in my home because of all the above and the fantastic special effects. Nobody who is a hard science ficton fan (and who has a strong stomach for blood and gore)should miss out on this film. On top of that, this DVD has in it scenes cut from the movie, and other goodies that make this trip worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie is 5 stars, the DVD is 3 stars
Review: Starship Troopers is one of my favorite science fiction movies, simply because it has great special effects, great action, and witty humor in to a small 2 hour movie. Let's start off with the good things: The special effects are magnificent. The spaceships and the bugs look better than special effects that are done today (in 2001) Also, the action is fast and furious. Probably the best scene in the movie is an all-out slugfest when a platoon of soldiers defend a base against thousands of bugs. The acting is almost there, with solid preformances by Michael Ironside and Casper Van Dien, but also with below average performances by airhead Jake Busey and Patrick Muldoon. The only bad thing is the plot, which barely exists. But then again who cares? It's an action movie! The DVD is only average, with a few deleted scenes, and a 6 minute documentary. Aside from that, Tristar threw in a bunch of boring screen tests and special effects breakdowns which, all in all, only take about 10 minutes or less to watch. Anyway, Starship Troopers is entertaining, and the DVD will satisfy some peoples' tastes, but for people (like me) who want more special features, I'd wait till a better edition comes out. (trust me, Tristar will get to it sooner or later)
Rating:
Summary: Very Cool.
Review: Yes, the film bears weak resemblance to the novel. Yes, the time it takes for an asteroid to travel across the galaxy is enough to allow our sun to collapse. Yes, asteroids cannot be simply taken care of with a couple missiles (because it creates many smaller asteroids that will probably not disintegrate in our atmosphere). But God, can't anyone just have fun with a film like this? I mean, even I, a hardcore sci-fi action buff, hated "Red Planet" and "Battlefield Earth." Let me tell you, "Starship Troopers" is infinitely more enjoyable. It features incredible battle sequences, outstanding special effects, and a somewhat disturbing but enlightening look at a Neo-Nazi Fascist society where violence does solve anything and everything.
The shower scene is not meant to exploit anyone. It's just a good metaphor for the belief that everyone is equal in every way during those times. Jesus, most everyone who writes a bad review of this film (not movie) merely says that it was stupid. They never say why, and these are the type of people (...) who don't like anything. Just kick back, watch several awesome fights, experience the incredible effects, and enjoy the cast, especially the veteran favorite of mine, Michael Ironside.
Rating: 
Summary: WILL MAKE HEINLEIN ROLE OVER IN HIS GRAVE
Review: You can never expect a movie to be identical to the book and this is not neccessarily a bad thing, but when you turn an intelligent and imaginative sci-fi. novel into silly cross between Star Wars and Bay Watch, you can only wonder what the directors and producers were thinking; one has to wonder if anyone who participated in making this movie even READ the book. Casper Van Dien plays Rico (who, by the way, in the book was a Filipino) leading a group of other Ken and Barbie look-a-likes in the Mobile Infantry against the "Bugs," a quasi-arachnid race who attacks the earth by litterally throwing rocks at planet Earth from the other side of the universe (you don't need to be an astro-physicist to know that by the time a rock/asteroid can travel across the universe, the Sun, the star the Earth revolves around, would have long since burned out and collasped into a black hole). Dressed in armour that makes them all look like Robocop and which doesn't do them a damn bit of good as protection against injury in battle, Van Dien & Co. wage war against the "Bugs" with the same facist gratification and sadism the Nazis and Imperial Japanese brought against Eastern Europe and China in 1938 and 39. Essentially, it's not the change in the structure of the movie compared to the book that makes this movie such a looser, it's changing the characters in the book from thinking human beings into viscious socio-paths of the movie that's objectionable. The rest of the book aside, the characters were still decent human beings while the characters in the movie were just a bunch of vicious fashion models. To sum it up, you need to do more than just check your brain at the door for this film; you need to get a full frontal lobotomy.
Rating:
Summary: Has to be seen a few times...
Review: I hated this movie the first couple of times I watched it, but the more I watch it, the more I enjoy it. It's got evrything that makes a good sci fi action flick. Giant bugs, big starships, big guns, legions of troops, etc. The plot seems really weak at first, but after a few viewings, the plot seems more sound. All in all this is a pretty goofy film, but it is a lot of fun to watch. One warning though, this is an excessively violent film with lots of blood and gore
Rating:
Summary: Pure energy. Excessive violence.
Review: I loved this movie. Especially on the big screen I felt as if in shock from the pure energy that this film emites. I loved the book and was prepared to dislike the movie, but I though that they handled the transition well, even if many of the books key concepts (such as power suits) were cut. It should be noted that the movie is a touch on the campy side. This movie is EXTREMELY violent, and so if you dislike violent movies or are squeemish you should probably avoid this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: Paul Verhoeven once again shows his incompetence as a director in this gory, tedious and all too predictable sci-fi yawn. The cast looks like something from Beverly Hills 90210 and their acting ability is equally bad. The characters are one-dimensional and boring. The only reason that I give this movie 2 stars is because it does hold some useful warnings against propaganda and glorification of war, which was also present in the Heinleins book. But as a whole I will not recomend this movie to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Got to look at it as a satire, then it's good
Review: If you view this film knowing how Heinlein wrote it, then it's a very interesting movie. The acting is cliched, and so much of it is overdone, but the reality is, in order to be true to Heinlein, it has to be. It, and the book that inspired it, are satires on propaganda and war. While the movie certainly doesn't follow the book step for step in plot, it captures its point. If you're looking for a sci-fi war story, this will serve, but you'll likely come away thinking it silly or poorly done. If you like satires however, this should satisfy.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is full of crap
Review: This movie is full of crap it is by far the worst movie I have ever seen. The actors in this movie could not act worth crap. this movie had a really stupid ending. The whole movie was just really dumb, now I am not saying I do not like Sci-fi movies but this movie was just really stupid... If I could rate this movie any lower I could but I can't so One star will do, if I could I would rate this movie with negative stars I would.
Rating:
Summary: A combination of sly propaganda and terrific gory action.
Review: Paul Verhoeven is no stranger to the unusual satire/sci-fi genre. Robocop and Total Recall show Verhoeven's trademark style of combining gory over the top violence and sly satire. Sure he's done World War II before in film(And why not? He lived in that time period), but that hasn't reached US audiences. In this WWII-esque film Verhoeven uses the standard humans versus (insert evil alien race here) tale compiled by screenwriter Ed Neumeier and producer Jon Davison to create his own vision. What follows is a War movie with a completely politically correct enemy: The arachnids.
For one I won't bother with naming off the actors and the characters they play. Not that the actors aren't very good(In fact they play their specific roles to perfection), but...well..why get troubled over such banal, trivial, and sometimes downright boring characters? The main male character joins the army only because this girl he really digs is joining, but they get seperated and she meets someone else whom the main character has a rivalry with. Basically if the entire aliens and war part didn't exist I probably just (badly)wrote the plot of your average 90210/Melrose place episode. None of the actors have any memorable lines, none of them have the on-screen charisma of a Bruce Willis, a Russell Crowe, or even a Keanu Reeves. They're not the kind of people you'd expect to save a skyscraper filled with hostages from foreign terrorists while delievering quotable snappy one-liners while killing the bad guys with swords and guns. The only difference between us and the young people on-screen is that there is not one scene where any of them look ugly. Sure they get sliced and diced in the most disgusting of a manner, but that doesn't stop them from flashing their pearly white perfectly straight teeth or their movie-star quality hair. In short..This is a propaganda film. It's a supposed pro-war film which attempts to tell the audience, "War is great, make friends, die for the country, go down as a legend, stay beautiful." That of course would explain the entire banality of all the characters, they aren't trying to sound cool or humorous, they're in the middle of a war, being fed fascist propaganda by the spoonfuls in order to become trained killing machines. The main character Casper Van Dien(Oops, giving out actor names now) loses interest in his pursuit of Denise Richards and well..everything else. He becomes a trained combat machine leading an army of followers to war against the enemy. The enemy isn't something we as americans or even humans would feel was controversial. This isn't the Vietnam or the Civil War, they're simply "evil aliens bent on the destruction of humanity" and we feel it would be politically correct to kill them all. But in the oh so noble goal of destroying the enemy we turn into the enemy ourselves, not joining their side by any means, but becoming the collective, a group of similar thinking people that live only by certain beliefs and instincts. Thinking outside the parameter is considered offensive and wrong, we as humans would be becoming just like them..fascists. Using violence as the only means of "power". But hey this movie doesn't revolve around simple propaganda, there's also a superb action flick in there somewhere.
Starship Troopers has astounding CGI, even by 2001 standards. Incredible sequences like the Klendathu Attack(Scene: 15) and the Planet P-ambush(Scene: 24) showcase the awesome detail that has gone into these amazing creatures. And since you're dealing with a Paul Verhoeven flick you're guaranteed plenty of violence and gore.
The DVD is great stuff. At the start you get your commentary from the director and the screenwriter, which goes into detail some of Verhoeven's thoughts on the film and the critics, some detail into his WW2 experience, and some truly off the wall facts. It's a pretty good commentary although he tends to speak a bit fast at times. Of course for a real challenge in trying to keep up with his motormouth, consider checking out the two special-effects sequences he narrates. You also get 5 deleted scenes, three screen tests, behind-the-scenes documentary, oh and also a french language track.
So get this DVD, watch it once, watch it again with the commentary track, notice how many Nazi references Verhoeven slipped into this work of art, and then laugh at it all. Because this film is arguably one of the wittiest action films of all time, and still holds up with the best of them if all you think of it is as a straight-laced action flick.
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