1997’s Starship Troopers delivered a sci fi guilty pleasure with plenty of alien butt-kicking fun and a touch of satire.
What Is It?
Based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel of the same name, the movie begins with high school graduates Johnny Rico, Carmen Ibanez, Dizzy Flores, and Carl Jenkins enlisting with the Federation in order to attain citizenship status and to aid in the ongoing war between humans and the hated Arachnids (“Bugs”) who come from a distant planet. Ibanez is sent to train as a pilot, Jenkins is assigned to the intelligence unit, and Rico and Dizzy are sent to grunt work in the Mobile Infantry. After going through a harrowing training regimen, they are thrust into action after the Arachnids launch a surprise attack that destroys Buenos Aries (killing Rico’s family). Rico and Dizzy find themselves assigned to the Roughnecks and are sent into the heart of the conflict where they find themselves in the midst of a futile attempt to hold off thousands of bugs.
Cast: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside
Crew: Paul Verhoeven (Director), Edward Neumeier (Screenplay), Robert A. Heinlein (Novel)
Original Release: 1997
Legacy
This adaptation of the classic Heinlein novel flirted with satire–and may have at times been too clever and self-mocking for its own good–but at its core it delivered a relentless, well-done action film with plenty of alien butt-kicking fun!
A Closer Look
Prior to Starship Troopers, Verhoeven had already proven himself a force in the genre with 1987’s Robocop and 1990’s Total Recall. And in many ways, Starship Troopers harkened back to the former movie with its hints at satire and at times self-mocking tone. But it didn’t succeed with the satire quite as well as Robocop, flirting with some of the fascist undertones of Heinlein’s book while doing more to make the audience feel uncomfortable than it did to amuse them (though maybe that was the point?). Not that Verhoeven was trying to promote any sort of radical ideals with the film, he just keyed off of those elements from the book as a means to throw in some snarky humor (and there are plenty of debates over Heinlein’s original intentions as well, though none that actually prove any sort of sinister motives).
But don’t look to the Starship Troopers movie for grand social statements, just take it for the high-octane, non-stop action thriller it is (like Total Recall, but better). This is one of those movies where we get to indulge our baser nature and enjoy the mayhem and carnage. The heroes are kicking butt on the alien bad guys and we don’t have to have any qualms about it because these are some bad bugs whose only motive is to exterminate the human race. As G’Kar said in the Season 3 episode of Babylon 5 “A Late Delivery from Avalon”: “No moral ambiguities, they were the bad guys and we were the good guys. And they made a most satisfying thump when they went down!”
The cast deserves a nod for their efforts in moving the film along and not fading into the background amidst the action and hardware. The uber-hot leads of Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Dina Meyer take the forefront, but the supporting cast make their mark as well. For Neil Patrick Harris, this was an early stop in his journey to remake his image after his child-star days on Doogie Howser M.D. And Michael Ironside is onboard as the expected tough-as-nails military commander. Clancy Brown also shows up and delivers his trademark hard-lined character, though at least this time around he gets to play a good guy.
Starship Troopers plays off the same appeal of jarheads vs. aliens that propelled James Cameron’s Aliens to success back in 1986. And sure it has some depth to its story, just like the Cameron film, but that gets rather muddled when you try to sort it out. So ultimately you decide that you just don’t care and that you’d rather see some more aliens get blown away. Have some popcorn, pop open a beer, and enjoy the good guys killing the bad bugs.
How Well Does It Adapt the Book?
This movie takes the name of Heinlein’s novel and presents its spin on some of the characters he created, but it is a loose adaptation at best. Many of the names are used from the book and the basic idea of an ongoing interstellar war remains (though in the book they are fighting more than just the arachnids). But one of the main things missing is the powersuits that played such a large part in Heinlein’s story, largely for budgetary reasons. The film version of Starship Troopers ultimately delivers very much its own tale with little connection to the source material, though it still has plenty of appeal to sci fi fans.
The Story C0ntinues
The film did spawn two low-budget, direct-to-video sequels–Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder–with Casper Van Dien reprising his role as Johnny Ricco in the third film. The franchise then continued with two Japanese-made CGI films–Starship Troopers: Invasion and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars–and Van Dien provided his voice to both productions. The well-regarded CGI television series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles–which had some links to the movies but also added in the power suits from the book–premiered in 1999 and ran for 40 episodes. There was also a six-part OVA Anime Starship Troopers series that came out in 1988 but it is not related to the later franchise.
Should It Be Rebooted?
The 1997 film is well-remembered and has generated multiple spin-offs, but a reboot of the franchise that is more faithful to the original book could be interesting. As mentioned above, Paul Verhoeven took plenty of liberties with the source material and did not use the power suits which were an important part of the book. With today’s CGI, it is more feasible to bring those to life on the screen as a feature film or a television series, and that could allow the reboot to more closely follow the direction of the Heinlein tale. A television series might be the better way to go, allowing the property to start anew on the small screen and possibly carry on for multiple seasons. Some may prefer a revival of the franchise that Verhooven started up, though, carrying on from the multiple sequels. But a fresh start that is more faithful to the book also offers plenty of potential.
Interesting Facts
Paul Verhoeven started reading Starship Troopers but never finished it because he found it too boring and depressing and he believed it was “a very right-wing book”. He had screenwriter Edward Neumeier tell him the rest of the story of the book and that is when they decided to add the satirical commentary on fascism to the film.
The movie was not considered a Box Office success because even though it earned over $120 million worldwide upon its initial release, that barely covered its high production costs of $105 million. It has since established its place as a sci fi cult classic, though.
Where Can You Watch It?
The movie has been released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD. It is also available VOD and it is currently streaming on Netflix. The sequel films are also available on DVD and Blu-ray, and Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles is available on DVD, though several of those sets have gone out of print. That series is currently streaming on Fubo and Crackle.
Further Reading
Wikipedia
IMDb.com
The Making of Starship Troopers by Paul M. Sammon
