Starship Troopers Movie Review

Starship Troopers (1997)

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Written by: Edward Neumeier (screenplay), Robert A. Heinlein (book)
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Michael Ironside
Rated: R
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Plot
Humans in a fascist, militaristic future wage war with giant alien bugs.

Verdict
This is a cookie cutter sci-fi war movie with satire around the edges. That was my first reaction, and the movie's satire seemed shallow because of the boring story. Intentional or not, this type of movie is exactly the kind of propaganda that would be made in the world the movie presents. That's a neat trick that adds a new layer to what appears to be an average movie. I didn't 'get' this movie while watching it, but while writing my review I realized it's much deeper than it looks.
Watch it.

Review
The novel was licensed after the script was written just for the name, so similarities are only superficial.

When I first saw this movie soon after its release, it seems like a cookie cutter sci-fi war movie. Watching it now, there's a lot of depth to the movie. In the future a boiler plate country's jingoistic nature has them waging a war against an insectoid alien race. The disconnect is that the plot is rather banal. You can watch this as simple sci-fi shooter, but the satire creeps around the edges. Commercials in universe drive home the desire to arm men, women, and children. As I write my review, maybe the banal plot is the point. This type of movie is exactly the type of propaganda you would see in this world.

Denise Richards and Casper Van Dien play Carmen Ibanez and Rico.

The question becomes just how self aware is the movie. The acting isn't great, but is that the point? The movie presents us with good looking people that excel in the military. Rico is persuaded not to join the infantry, but rebels and excels making his way to an officer. It's not far from a call to arms in the way Top Gun created a surge in Air Force applicants. The very government waging war would love this movie. My review was initially and "It depends." but once I thought about this movie I realized I had missed the point.

The goal of the military is to destroy the bugs, going to the bugs' planet to eradicate them.This is foreign policy, and if you change bugs to humanoid aliens, or even humans; the message and satire is clear. A militaristic country could become a fascist government in this world. I can't help but apply this to America.

I saw this way back when, and I didn't know enough to see what it was doing. I didn't quite know enough even now. It was only while writing this review that I realized how deep the satire goes. This reminds me a lot of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender's Game with a militarized society reacting to an invasion of bugs. Ender's Game came out in 1985, and Heinlen's book in 1959.

There is an undercurrent that the bugs are just defending, and it's the inherent manifest destiny of the humans that prompts attacks. It wouldn't be the first time.

This is a movie that wants you to look past the plot. A news report mentions that the bugs became hostile after the invasion of their planet. That puts the blame on humans. Is there more to the claim that the bugs sent an asteroid to Earth as retaliation? Is that just misdirection from the government to justify war. This is a society where the government wants even children armed. The movie's point is that if you take America's world police mentality and extend it past anything reasonable it shares similarities with Germany in World War II. The edge is blunted because America is fighting bugs, and people generally just don't like insects.