Starship Troopers Movie Review

Starship Troopers was released in 1996. How I remember it so clearly. I was just a kid then, but oh man how I wanted to see that movie! I remember the previews, with the people screaming and shooting the guns and all the explosions, and I just thought: Oh man that is so badass! Unfortunately I was unable to see it on the big screen, but did secretly watch it at home when it was released later. Throughout the movie I was GLUED!! At the end all I could say was this: HELL YEAH!!

Back at that time the movie only provided what I was looking for: unrelenting action. All of the good stuff: death, guns, explosions, bodily dismemberment, extreme gore, dark humor, oh, and did I mention the killing? The gore in this movie was off the charts, even by Paul Verhoeven standards. So, if your squeamish, stay away...

What I didn't notice was the hidden themes of an anti-militaristic government. The government in the movie is ran by the military, and to even become a citizen you must serve in the military. The way the government and military was ran in the movie was quite ridiculous. In fact, the movie was more of a parody of the original 1950's book written by Robert A Heinlein. Heinlein suggested that a government ran by members of the military would be better, and would help to rid the country of violence. In the movie, Verhoeven suggests that such an idea is preposterous, to say the least.

The acting of the movie was at times way cheesy. Verhoeven wanted it to be this way, he designed the movie to be played out as one of the old propaganda war films of the past. Basing the human kind as the bad guys, and the alien bugs as the good guys. Even the human military officers have uniforms reminiscent of the old Nazi officer uniforms.

For me, the cheesiness was a great addition, I absolutely love this film. Apparently some other people thought it was great too as it has spawned 2 sequels, though the sequels are nowhere close to as good as the original.

If you are just looking for a film that doesn't make you think too much, and you want some gratuitous violence, then this is the flick for you. Or, if you get into the whole hidden messages within the film thing, then you will also get a kick out of it.

I am a huge fan of both the film and book, but I must say that most fans of the book probably wont like the movie, and vice versa.

In all I give this movie this score: 4 out of 5 stars.
Acting: 3/5
Effects: 5/5
Action: 5/5
Story: 4/5

If you wish to purchase the DVD, I suggest these online locations:
www.ebay.com
www.amazon.com
www.bestbuy.com