Starship Troopers (1997)

Big bugs are the order of the day in STARSHIP TROOPERS, an honest-
to-God, old-fashioned combat movie set in a retro, fascist future 
where impossibly square-jawed grunts still carry machine guns, en-
dure the abuses of drill sergeants, and get sent away to exotic, 
faraway places to be slaughtered en masse.  Okay, there is *one* 
thing that's new:  men and women fight together.  And bunk togeth-
er.  And even shower together, as in a gratuitous, humorous boobs-
n-butts bath scene from SHOWGIRLS director Paul Verhoven.  Relax, 
Mr. V. is no longer orbiting the hirsute moon of Eszterhas-- he's 
back in ROBOCOP territory, fusing social satire with gory violence 
and, perhaps, pissing in the face of the studio's target audience-- 
teenage boys already clogging the Internet with their grousing nit-
picks.  Granted, the director *is* poking fun at everything that he 
can lay his hands on, but he's also trying to channel his own war-
time experiences as a youth.  So, while you *will* get the gore-- 
amputations, decapitations, eviscerations, and immolations-- be 
prepared for cheesy dialogue, glaring plot holes, and, at the end, 
and just when you think you've grown used to the tone, movie mon-
sters that look like giant human sex organs.  Hilarious.  Now, for 
*my* nit-picks:  occasionally the action runs a bit long; the dra-
matics don't deliver quite enough emotional impact; and, at times, 
I was distracted by actors aiming their rifles a little too high to 
realistically hit their computer-generated foes.  With Casper Van 
Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busy, Neil Patrick Harris, 
Clancy Brown, and a meaty Michael Ironside.  (Rated "R"/129 min.)

Grade: B+

Copyright 1997 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: November 9, 1997