Starship Troopers [1997]

August 7, 2024

I guess I have no real justification to talk about one of my favorite nineties science fiction action movies, Starship Troopers. After four sequels, a television show, and cult status among science fiction fans, I’m sure most of you have heard about this movie. Still, I simply cannot help myself talking about it. Something similar happened with Total Recall, another one of my nineties favorites. I just rewatched Starship Troopers for the umptieth time and I still had a great time. Actually, as time goes on, it seems that the movie is gaining relevance.

As we see autocratic and downright dictatorial regimes around the world gaining steam, it’s always good to see where this whole thing might eventually end. On a faraway planet fighting huge fucking bugs. Robert A. Heinlein wrote the novel back in 1959, a time when the U.S. was still not in its full imperialist mode. Little did he know that over the following decades and up till the present times, the United States of America would go on to have more than 200 military interventions all over the world. And right from the opening scene, you can see how they cleverly focus on military propaganda.

And while Heinlein didn’t know the future, director Paul Verhoeven and writer Edward Neumeier certainly knew all about this. The movie Starship Troopers is actually a very intelligent parody of the US military interventionism after WWII. It also successfully makes fun of authoritarianism, conservativism, and machismo. However, none of that mattered to young Rabbit who just wanted to see some space action. He wanted to watch giant bugs fight heavily armed humans. And most of all, he wanted to see that shower scene with half-nude Dina Meyer.

She actually dared Verhoeven to take off his clothes during the filming of that scene and he accepted. Cinematographer Jost Vacano also accepted the challenge, although that wasn’t too hard for him as he grew up in a nudist camp. Just to get back a bit to the issue of militarization, we’ve seen the new 2014 RoboCop remake try to do the same thing. And even earlier than that, District 9 also explores this subject quite intelligently. Moving on, the special effects stood the test of time and Starship Troopers still looks awesome. The CGI isn’t janky and the sets look quite believable.

I want you to take in the immensity of the situation in this movie. It feels like a twisted space opera turned on its head. We have not just intergalactic and interspecies warfare but also the power struggle within the Terran government. Ambitious, lavish, and just so damn entertaining, Starship Troopers is one of those movies that’s going to put you in a good mood. It’s so damn charming that after thirty minutes you’ll be cheering on your Terran comrades to exterminate all bugs. On top of all of that, we have our young and highly impressionable cast. Almost all of them played their roles straight, creating a perfect B-movie atmosphere.

This especially goes for our main hero, Rico, played by none other than Casper Van Dien. Who knew that in just a few years’ time we will be watching him in two movies so bad that they’re good? I’m talking about 2004 classics Dracula 3000 and Skeleton Man. Denise Richards, Jake Busey, and Neil Patrick Harris were just a tad bit better. Compared to them, Dina Meyer was a subversive master, the only one fully realizing what was going on. This brings us to the old guard led by none other than Kurgan himself, Clancy Brown. Along with Michael Ironside and Dean Norris, the three of them perfectly represented the experienced commanders charged with a devious task.

And that task was to convince these young soldiers to give their lives fighting bugs on some faraway planet. After all, this is what the United Citizen Federation demands of them. And we’ll see that the indoctrination begins at an early age. This is the reason why I wanted to write about Starship Troopers. This is a movie that holds a special place in my heart and I feel such satisfaction writing about it. I also can’t help mentioning another franchise that basically stole Starship Troopers’ main story, the new Star Trek reboot movies.

We have the same dynamic of young officers going to school together and all the shit that goes with it. As you can see, I could go on and on about this movie but I don’t want to bore you too much. I just want to recommend you check out Starship Troopers: Traitor Of Mars, a quite solid animated sequel to this masterpiece. And if you want to read more about themes, production details and other stuff, the Wiki page for this movie is as long as Sgt. Zim dick.