Runtime: 129 minutes
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris
From: TriStar/Touchstone
How do people in 2024 NOT realize this movie was satirical? If not for my schedule I would have watched then reviewed this (for the first time in ages. This was long overdue) several days ago, when the discourse over the movie started on Twitter. Of course, it devolved into an argument over politics and “leftists” but it is best to not directly discuss that. I’d never heard of the first Helldivers game-let alone its sequel that came out-yet I now know it was heavily inspired by this film.
Even the director has noted that he noted the militaristic tone that could also be described as “fascist leanings” of the original Robert A. Heinlein novel and wanted to lean into that then use irony to make the story more interesting. Being a fan of the military is one thing; Starship Troopers shows the danger & the horror of a futuristic society which is a stratocracy (a term I recently used; this means a government run by military chiefs) can be awful when it comes to valuing human life. As someone who survived as a kid in the Netherlands during World War II when Nazi scum occupied it, no surprise that Paul Verhoeven would be against totalitarianism and blatantly dress military leaders in a certain fashion.
Thing is, those that aren’t down for satire or don’t agree with the movie’s message for whatever reason or fear that it will be too blunt with its message-regrettably, a problem with too many modern movies-fear not. Starship Troopers can be enjoyed as is: several teens are followed as they graduate high school then join the military to do their duty & fight the fight against giant alien bugs. After some high school drama, we see scenes of training before escalation occurs and they’re all off to space. There are many graphically violent deaths and corpses torn apart.
However, if you look deeper, the film has the underlying message that the bugs aren’t quite the evil entity the military government portrays them as and our protagonists all morph from young idealistic blokes to hardened fighters that have lost their humanity & empathy. This is buttressed by all the darkly humorous moments which expose the fascist world where human lives are expendable if they believe it will allow them to win the war. In any case, everyone can appreciate the direction, the editing, the rousing score from Basil Poledouris and the effects (practical from Phil Tippett and CG) which more often than not still look good. As for the cast, the leads mainly work as the white buff Aryan youths to reinforce the theme; the veterans like Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside deliver solid performances while Caser Van Dien & Denise Richards were fine. The favorite character of many (including me) was the badass Dizzy, as portrayed by Dina Meyer. What a shame that her career never reached the heights it probably should have.
I know you’d like to know more, but enough has been stated in this review already. The discourse surrounding the film since late last week was not something I could have predicated at the start of the month. At the same time, it gave me the necessary push to once again visit a world I should have gone back to years ago.
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