Starship Troopers

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

A great Paul Verhoeven film. I feel it is one of the most underrated and misunderstood films ever. Most people I know think it is a horrible film but I think it's actually a scathingly funny satire of 40's war propaganda and sci-fi B-movies. It seems to be making fun of its source material but can still be read as a sincere adaptation. In fact some people think it's pro-facist when really it's the opposite. Apparently the satire is too subtle for some people. Idiots.

Paul Verhoeven does not make pure exploitation, he somehow manages to have just enough legitimacy in his films to get away with some pretty low brow stuff. He loves the violence and sex and his films, including this one, are jam packed with them. But he always has some amount depth to his characters and themes, sometimes more slight than others but enough to make his films stand out from the run of the mill b-grade genre films. His technique is always extremely competent. I really love his films and nobody does gunshot squibs quite like him. More is more.

This film is also significant because of the huge leaps forward in fx that were made. A lot of this has to do with the amazing design and animation work done by the great Phil Tippett and his team who were just making the switch to digital fx at the time.

This s just a damn entertaining film, if you let it be. The action is great, the effects hold up rather well, and although the characters are basically stock, it's the plot and the tone that offer a great political commentary on propaganda and militarism.