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Based on, but very different from, Robert Heinlein’s classic science fiction novel, Starship Troopers (1997) takes place a few centuries from now with Earth threatened with destruction by an alien arachnoid race. Four high school friends (Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris and Dina Meyer) join the military to see the universe and squash some bugs.
Heinlein’s politics were extremely right wing, at least in the ’50s when he wrote this, and the novel nearly comes out and says that perhaps America made a mistake defeating the fascists the decades before as that organizing principal could offer a better way of dealing with the issues confronting a technical society. Director Paul Verhoeven, though, turns that sentiment on its head and plays the politics for fun in the movie through a framing device of martial broadcast news clips interspersed thoughout.
The script by Ed Neumeier, who’s made a career on sequels and spinoffs from this and RoboCop (which he also wrote, and Verhoeven directed), is not the strong point though. The dialog and set pieces are thin, though overcome. The effects are decent, especially the bugs’ biological heavy weaponry, infantry training camp and starship interiors, and the happy, shiny people really drive home the political satire.
recommended
Note: The first sequel was nowhere near as good on any level.
