Review of Starship Troopers (1997) by Xgary X — 01 Feb 2011

A group of friends join up to fight for the Federation against an alien insect race. Starship troopers is classic comedy. Unfortunately, the sly wit Verhoeven employs in this veiled parody of US militarism passed by unnoticed to the majority and it is pretty obvious that even the catalogue model cast weren't even let in on the joke; they earnestly go through all the cliches of college love triangle, military bootcamp (hilariously overseen by Clancy "MEDIC!" Brown) and on to B-Movie style interplanetary war with totally straight faces.

Which makes it even funnier! The constant gore is laid on so thick that by the end it's just Itchy & Scratchy silly (my favourites are the flying bug decapitations!) and by the end you're feeling sorry for the bugs suffering at the hands of a Gestapo trenchcoat clad Doogie Howser! This film is essentially a subversive dig at the Hollywood blockbuster that still makes me laugh every I time I see it and a glorious celebration of stupidity that's not as dumb as it looks.