Director: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
I remember seeing ‘Starship Troopers’ many years ago and disliking it. Watching it now as an adult, I found too much time taken up by young love issues, which felt immature and like they belonged in a daily soap opera and not a big budget movie. ‘Starship Troopers’ felt like an ‘Aliens’ movie made for the teenage and young demographic, whereas ‘Aliens’ is obviously much more mature.
The acting also looked more like soapie performances. Our protagonist is Johnny Rico (Casper van Dien) who joins the Federal Services together with his girlfriend Carmen (Denise Richards) and friend Carl (Neil Patrick Harris). All three quickly move their way up the ranks.
When Buenos Aires is destroyed by a bug meteorite, the Federal declares war against the Arachnids, and go to their planet to annihilate them. There’s plenty of blood, guts, and alien juices flowing in the clash against Man and Arachnid.
The film’s third act was by far the most exciting and entertaining – once all the petty love issues were out of the way, and it was non-stop action and fighting. The visual effects are excellent for its time, and actually still holds well by today’s standards. The action sequences are well done – visually and physically. There’s big character development and an amazing climax.
‘Starship Troopers’ received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Would I watch it again? I think so, yes… I’ll just skip the first few minutes.
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