R, 2 hrs. 9 min. Directed by: Paul
Verhoeven. Release Date: Nov 07, 1997. DVD Release Date: May 19, 1998.
****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW COMMENTS AND EDITS****
Quirky and unusual, this movie is
story-driven sci-fi that triumphs over its curses of bad acting and lousy
special effects. I'm not really sure why I love this movie, because there are parts of it that I find a little off-putting, but I'm always ready to pop it in my PS3.
Near-future sci-fi is a hard genre: trying
to make a reasonable facsimile of events happening only a few decades from the
modern day toes a much harder line than sci-fi that goes out a few centuries
and the audience is more able to suspend disbelief. Starship Troopers
manages to create a world I can understand in spite of all the changes to the
culture that make humanity a bit hard to recognize. I totally get us getting
involved in a planet-destroying war with the first extraterrestrial life form
we encounter. It just seems like us. I can't get into the idea of human
psychics and co-ed showers, at least, I can't get past the idea of co-ed
showers outside of an adult movie.
Really, the cast is horrible. Led by
Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards, the cast is pretty faces that look good
without clothes and are young enough to be willing to frolic around nude, but who can't really do much else. Even Neil Patrick
"Doogie" Harris kind of sucks his way through this movie, and he
actually has some skill on screen. But, there has probably never been a finer B
movie made. I died a little inside when I realized the xenobiology teacher is
Rue McClanahan. She needs a better agent.
The action scenes are basically
worth it, provided you can get past the fact that the enemy is a large group of
bugs. Apparently Orkin has gone out of business by the time this movie happens.
But isn't it always the way? Well, it's sometimes the way.
