Starship Troopers

A whip-sharp satire, or is the film really as stupidly militant as it looks? I vote for the first option. Because if my other extreme is true, Verhoeven is not capable, which contradicts his nature. If you watch Starship Troopers with exaggeration and relate it to fictional models of individual genres (a war film, a teen series from “high-school", an action sci-fi, a propaganda documentary), then you just can't help but bow down, because Starship Troopers works great. On the one hand, the film is able to captivate through mass combat scenes and tension on the battlefield, and on the other hand it can entertain with satirical whisks, especially during the inserted sequences from the "period media". Paul Verhoeven cannot be considered anything other than one of the greatest deviants of the silver screen, and the contradictory reception of his works is the best proof that he is doing his job amazingly. In this case, however, it’s a little less amazing, because what it parodies it also absorbs dangerously in places. (09/12/2004)

How to stay true to the idea and structure of Henlein's premise while epically wiping your ass with it and its entire author. The inability of critics of the time to recognize the satire in a film steeped in Reiefenstal-esque angles and the sectarian milieu of a utopian Earth, not to mention the cast, demonstrates time and again the importance of building a sensitivity to the form of film, the Achilles heel of most film theorists. ___ Update 2021: I am convinced that there is no such thing as immunity to visual propaganda, and whoever thinks they have it is saying so in the name of propagandizing others. After years of rising above the propagandistic nature of Starship Troopers, it only just dawned on me that the proper reading is to succumb to it for a lovely 129 minutes and, through cheering on those beautiful young people, to enjoy that sense of power and purpose. It's an important cathartic experience that ultimately helps you be more sensitive to the natural need to fall for that propaganda and marketing in real life. (08/25/2019)

Verhoeven on drugs. :) It’s almost incredible how well this film works. Here we have a futuristically oriented mockery of militaristic nationalism, a bunch of schoolboys in love, sets like from Star Trek, and waves of nasty bugs spreading death in a very brutal and gory way. But most importantly, we have an avalanche of amazing insight, outrageously entertaining execution of both the individual action scenes and the concept of the narrative as a whole (the TV spots featuring the mindset of the society and the physicality of the bugs are not to be missed), Casper Van Dien as the male lead and a downright gorgeous Denise Richards as the female lead. A nostalgic sci-fi flick which, if we accept in time that we are watching a deliberate insane B-movie, is an almost inexhaustible source of entertainment. 80% (11/18/2015)

One of the best anti-war films ever as far as I’m concerned. Shiny happy people brainwashed by propaganda that even Goebbels would envy fight to the last limb against sneaky repulsive bugs. The film's main positives definitely include the direction, excellent costumes whose legacy is crystal clear, the endless enthusiasm of all the soldiers, the comedic propaganda shots with chilling subtext, and the great supporting characters of Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside. Verhoeven failed to disappoint me again. (06/25/2016)

Starship Troopers has on the one hand decent visual effects and a good dose of action, but on the other hand it has an incredibly dull script that makes you roll your eyes in all directions. Almost all of the characters are unlikeable to varying degrees, so I couldn't even root for them to survive – the only exception being Michael Ironside as Rasczak. (SPOILER!) Finally, I have to nitpick about the bizarre appearance of the bugs' main brain, which (not so) slightly resembled a certain body orifice. (08/01/2019)