Review of Starship Troopers (1997) by Conjo Y — 10 Aug 2010
After what happened with Showgirls (1995), Paul Verhoeven returned to the genre of sci-fi, one that had made him money with RoboCop (1987) and Total Recall (1990), he adapted Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 sci-fi novel for the big screen.
It's violent, outrageous and over the top, but that's what Verhoeven is best at!! It's political overtones feel scarily relevent today as well. Set a few hundred years for now, it has high school kids from Buenos Aires, Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien), his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards), and their best friend Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris), as they all join the Mobile Infantry to become citizens, this also means going to Klendathu, a far off planet on the other side of our galaxy to fight a race of alien bugs known as Arachnids.
Carmen joins Flight Training, while another of Rico's friends from high school Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer), joins the mobile infantry, as she's in love with Rico, and then they find a colony of brain-sucking bugs on the neighbouring Planet P.
It's what you'd expect from a Paul Verhoeven film, but it's also one of his best films as well. Alot of the performances are over the top, and it's undeniably macho, and only Verhoeven could do that shower scene!! :P But, Verhoeven once summed up the films message.
"War makes facists of us all." How very true indeed.
This review of Starship Troopers (1997) was written by Conjo Y on 10 Aug 2010.
Starship Troopers has generally received positive reviews.
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