Super troopers? NO (Starship Troopers (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	Starship Troopers (DVD)
Date:	27/04/04 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good special effects

Disadvantages: Dire acting, Right wing ethos of the subject material

I had always assumed that “Starship troopers” was a movie along the lines of Robocop – you know, futuristic, great-looking, science fiction. Full of scenes that will look great on posters, plenty of action, but also, just maybe, a bit of a message behind the story as well.

When I did finally get to see “Starship Troopers” it was on DVD, and around 6 years after it’s release.
I think it must have been all the hype at the time (1997) that put me off seeing it then, plus the fact that I didn’t really know any of the cast.

Anyway, I’ve seen Starship Troopers now, and here’s my verdict:
It is QUITE different from Robocop.

I thought it was pointless teen trash.

There are some similarities with Robocop - it’s directed by Paul Varhoeven, for a start (he’s also been responsible for “Showgirls”, “Basic Instinct” and “Hollow Man”).
Also it has the futuristic backdrop, and some good special effects…
but any other comparisons to Robocop are, I think, highly misplaced.

“Starship Troopers” was, for me, little better than movies like “Streetfighter”, movies that, deep down, would rather be a computer game.
Denise Richards and Casper van Dien star – and as I mentioned, I was unaware of either of them at the time when the movie came out. Van Dien had appeared in “Beverley Hills 90210”, a programme I never watched, but since the late 90’s he’s had a varied movie career. (“Sleepy Hollow”, “Omega Code” etc)
Denise Richards, well, she is a big star now – “Love actually”, “
8;rop dead gorgeous”, “The world is not enough”, the list go on).
Also appearing were Dina Meyer (“Star Trek: Nemesis”), and Jake Busey (who I’ve seen since in “Identity”)… all in all, not really a star-studded cast in 1997. And it is clear that the movie was aimed at the teen market.

Anyway, onto the movie itself.
I thought the acting was very poor, and there were just too many unbelievable coincidences as far as the plot was concerned.
After 30 minutes I’d had enough, but I persevered, to be rewarded by yet more uninspired acting.

Anything on the plus side?
Well, lots of great special effects.
I also enjoyed the futuristic settings (the computerised newscasts, and the mixed army shower-rooms especially were things that took me by surprise, and made me start paying attention to the movie again). The very sadistic army training routines were also quite good to watch – obviously never really going to happen, but it’s interesting to think about a world where they might.

The story is based on an extremely right-wing 1959 sci-fi novel (written by Robert A Heinlein), and tries to inject some satire and humour into things, but I have a funny feeling that the kind of people who might enjoy the movie may miss this – and it’s a frightening thought but they may not even think twice about the extreme right-wing war-is-unquestionably-a-good-thing views.

The plot, incidentally is about a war being waged against ‘bugs’ which live on planets in outer space. Nothing that unusual, for a science fiction shoot-em-up.
It concerns mainly the forces, the starship Troopers, who are called upon to do the battle with the bugs.
No ordinary, human, civilian stories here.

How could it have
been better?
Maybe, just maybe, if someone like Sigourney Weaver, or even old Arnie, had been cast as a lead character, I’d have really wanted to get involved in the film. But as it was there were romantic subplots which were incredibly boring, and it all detracted from the action, in any case.
There is a lot of gore, and thus the 18 certificate. It seems to me, though, that due to the teen-flick cast and the cardboard acting, there’s not many people over 18 who are going to think “Starship Troopers” is that great.

The DVD contains various extras –
Deleted scenes – five of them. They are mainly padding to do with the love stories – pretty inessential stuff.
Screen tests – for Denise Richards and Casper van Dien
A commentary from the director -it’s very enthusiastic, and he even mentions how he took his own clothes off to make it easier for the actors to do the same for the shower scene. So, interesting, and on many levels, more interesting than the movie itself!

124 minutes long – much too long, in my opinion.

The DVD is currently available on amazon.co.uk for a very cheap £6.97, but I wouldn’t even pay as much as that for it, personally.

Summary: