Review of Starship Troopers (1997) by Sean N — 15 Aug 2010

Paul Verhoeven definitely knows how to do science fiction movies, like Robocop and Total Recall. I have to say that, despite the fact that the acting in this film is somewhat bad and there is kind of an overuse of military theme, it is one of Verhoeven's best. Everyone, even those who don't like this movie, can agree that this is a definite popcorn movie.

The movie takes place in the future during a war between Earth and the planet Klendathu, home of the vicious Arachnids. For Earth residents, joining the military makes you a citizen. Eager to follow his girlfriend Carmen (Denise Richards), Johnny Rico (Casper Van Diem) joins up in the military as a member of the mobile infantry, alongside a former classmate of his (Dina Meyer) who has a crush on him. When Johnny is about to quit after the death of one of his squad members, the bugs attack Earth, leading the Federation to attack the bug planet head on.

Now, according to this site, one can enjoy this film if they don't mind the overuse of gore and the wooden acting. Well, I disagree with that. In terms of graphic violence, isn't Verhoeven known for that?? Remember Robocop? Total Recall? And in terms of the acting, remember that action films don't usually have that great acting. Every action film can't be Die Hard. I personally don't mind bad acting really unless it's really noticeable, which I didn't see from this movie.

What I can say is that I think that if you like action and science fiction films, you will like this movie. You have to give a lot of credit for Paul Verhoeven because he is good at making these kinds of movies.