Starship Troopers (1997)

The Worst Film Ever

Powerful

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Paul Verhoevan's Starship troopers is a fantastic dark comedy masquerading as a cheesy science fiction movie. It is tragic that no one- not the critics or the audience gave this film a chance because the underlying theme is deep and worth debating. Much like all of Verhoevn's films this one contains everything from nudity (both male and female) and extreme gore and violence. Time will probably be more considerate to this movie as it is nowhere as bad as its ratings or box office performance imply. (Rico and space bugs are a treat for those who like layered satire)

Which might be just right if I were signing up for this inter-galactic war, because the bad guys are some of the meanest arachnids you've ever seen. The fun part of this movie is that while on the surface it is anti-alien, it is also a campy commentary on the sort of idiot blockheads who get turned on by war. So there are a few twists to this that make it a little hard to tell where the makers were really going, just the same it is rewatchable and features a number of fine performances by the young leads as well as some fun turns by Ironside and Brown. And while I'm at it I'll add this last line just to make it to ten.

Released in 1997 and directed by Paul Verhoeven, "Stormship Troopers" is a sci-fi adventure satire taking place in the 23rd century where high school kids are encouraged to become "citizens" by joining the fascist military where, after boot camp, they find themselves engaged in a full-scale war against a planet of malevolent insects. The protagonists are played by Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris, Jake Busey and Patrick Muldoon. Michael Ironside is on hand as a teacher/officer while Clancy Brown appears as a drill instructor.Right out of the gate the film blatantly advertises that it's not a straight interpretation of Robert A. Heinlein's sci-fi novel. No, this is a full-blown SATIRE showing how easily government and the influence of a biased media can make blatant fascists of any of us, particularly in times of war. Look no further than the Nazi-like uniforms of the good guys. If you get the joke, "Starship Troopers" is very amusing. I found myself laughing out loud on numerous occasions throughout the first half. Verhoeven captures a uniquely enjoyable tone.Unfortunately, the film gets redundant in the second half with the soldiers constantly shooting bullets into the colossal-insect antagonists. And, since we can't take the story & characters seriously, the movie is unable to sustain attention at 129 minutes. It would've been more effective at around 90 minutes. But, if you can handle the over-length and redundancy, this is a well-done and entertaining sci-fi satire.The film runs 129 minutes and was shot in Powder River, Wyoming; Badlands, South Dakota; and Malibu, Agoura Hills, Long Beach, Fountain Valley, Los Angeles and Culver City (studio), California.GRADE: C+ (5.5/10)

It is a mixed bag of terrible acting and eye candy. Great special effects and repetitive action sequences. Poignant satire, boring American style futuristic totalitarianism and one dimensional characters. Its worth a watch for the humour alone which matches that of robocop, the CGI and for the bodies, though there could have been more on the female side. It inherits the flaws of the base material and the little acting talent there is on the set (Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown) does not redeem it.Stay away from the sequels, no joke.