Review: Starship Troopers

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven

Written by: Ed Neumeier

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris

Rating: [3.5/5]

Serving one’s country through the military remains one of the highest honors bestowed upon those who step up to the challenge. Risking one’s life for the sake of the greater good, which certainly imbues some admiration. Starship Troopers takes this honor and bastardizes it in such a funny and satirical manner very much in keeping with the filmmaker behind the project. 

Far into the future, Earth is ruled by one governing body that requires federal service to receive basic rights such as citizenship. With these parameters in place, Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) decides to enlist along with his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards). As they join the fight against the Arachnids, they each experience the battles through different avenues. 

Delivering quite the silly plot but certainly delivering a satirical lens at fascism and what it can do it its citizens, Starship Troopers serves as quite the treat. We get a fun character to follow in Johnny in the way he rises up the ranks in the military and learns firsthand the way the rules operate in this age. As much as this requirement for military service remains integral to life in this world, this feature demonstrates the disposable nature of the individual in the face of a larger battle against these giant insects. A devaluing of life not too foreign to military use, but one often left out of the advertisements for new recruits to join the armed forces. 

Presenting these advertisements becomes quite the large integral factor of this feature in the way it juxtaposes what actually transpires out on the battlefield. We see the horrendous actions these soldiers need to undertake and the military sells the experience as something so gratifying and worth it because of the difference it will make for the sake of the planet. After a while, it feels like a complete joke, which this feature very much seeks to communicate in the brazenness of how it all occurs. This United Citizen Federation ruling over Earth has no shame yet gets the success they seek proving the very point Paul Verhoeven seeks to communicate quite clearly through the narrative. 

The big bad enemy of this feature lies with these giant bugs, which have some fairly dated CGI effects bringing them to life, but they certainly operate as quite the adversaries for humanity in their sheer strength and willingness to kill. These creatures pose such a massive threat to the survival of humanity, and Johnny’s journey lets us see this all up close and personal in a manner displaying what these bugs can do. Rivaling the organization of humans and even surpassing it in the way they each serve as parts of a whole, the battles between them and the inhabitants of Earth make for some gutsy scenes to watch with the violence on display. 

While fighting these bugs at every turn, Johnny’s experience also centers on the relationship he builds with the individuals within the military. Set to serve within the special forces called “Roughnecks” while Carmen joins the pilots, their relationship gets defined by the ways they serve thus allowing him to get closer to someone like Dizzy (Dina Meyer) through their shared experience. The relationships he builds only make the inevitable loss he experiences make quite a large impact on him as he traverses the danger of this position. However, it does so allow for the general sexual energy that Verhoeven likes to inject into his films to demonstrate the raw humanity of these characters. Each time they step out into the battlefield against these insects, they know it could be their last day making any moment to share a carnal experience with another a necessary practice. 

Quite funny when looking at the plot as a whole but also quite entertaining when in the moments where Johnny and the rest of the Roughnecks take on these bugs, Starship Troopers lands its jabs in such an entertaining manner. Verhoeven crafts engaging battle sequences taking us right into the action with the bugs even with the dated effects it utilizes in crafting it. Quite the delight in what it wants to say allowing for another strong entry into one of the most intriguing directors in the game in the way he crafts films of genres with very pointed messages.