The Surprisingly Smart Starship Troopers

• Directed by Paul Verhoeven
• November 4, 1997 (Westwood) / November 7, 1997 (US)
• Loosely based on the 1959 novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

A group of teenagers fight in Earth’s struggle with an alien species of arachnids.

Ever watch a movie down the road and realize it was smarter than you initially gave it credit for? Such was my experience with Starship Troopers. What it does is no big secret at this point but until this viewing I really thought that this film being a satire was bunk. There was just no way in my mind but being a little more mature and seasoned as a movie watcher I see how this movie is a big budget satire and less an action-packed science-fiction adventure war film.

This is not a pure adaptation of the novel Starship Troopers but rather a combination of that and an idea writer Ed Neumeier had for a war film called Bug Hunt at Outpost 7. At some point the similarities between what Neumeier came up with and Heinlein’s book were noted. Once the rights were secured the ideas were bastardized, er, merged and here we are.

This was intended as a big, silly, jingoistic, and xenophobic movie about going out and killing the enemy movie. And it is just that. Using science fiction it subtly (perhaps a bit too much so at times) gets that point across. The characters are largely swept up in a patriotic fervor and war is treated as an adventure. And the enemy is easy to dehumanize since it is not even human. Some of the language used here is racist language but loses that particular edge when applied to a group that is considered socially acceptable to use it on.

Let’s start with the military uniforms. You can’t miss the similarities between SS uniforms and those worn by the character of Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris) for example. The characters in this dress like WWII German military grunts or as members of the Luftwaffe depending on what their role is in the film. Hugo Boss should be honored. Pick up a history book and you will get that.

And if you’ve ever seen one of the propaganda films made by Leni Riefenstahl (who got a pass from celebrities up until her death) for the Nazi party you will certainly see the similarities between those and the cutaways peppered throughout meant to move the story forward. In other words, the humans are the villains of the story and they are almost Nazi’s.

The Nazi allusions don’t end with the styling of the cutaways. Names aside, the main cast is entirely Caucasian with only supporting characters being anything else. And they are largely from Buenos Aires where the Nazis fled to after the war. You need a history book to get Starship Troopers at times.

Much like the Nazis, humans started the war even if they will not admit it. They don’t come quite out and say it but that’s the reality of the situation. How do they imply it? Once or twice it is mentioned where people question whether or not it was our fault (i.e. humans) for starting the war when we (i.e. humans) tried to settle on a bug controlled the world.

Every level of the society of the United Citizen Federation is built on indoctrinating the population into supporting the regime and blindly supporting the war effort. People who don’t support the regime are viewed as less or weaker. To get the full benefits of society you need to join the military in a similar way that you would’ve needed to join the Nazi party or even later on communist parties in any number of nations. This movie is a satire against all of that.

Some of the characters even represent groups you might find in such a society. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien), aside from being the Nazi idea of a perfect Aryan, is the listless individual who’s the perfect puppet for the regime. He has no really strong core so he can be shaped and molded to whatever the regime might need.

His friend Carl is the perfect member of the regime. He’s not above manipulating things or jerking people around. People are objects to be used by this somewhat amoral person. And viewing it as I do now you can take a statement early on when Rico questions if Carl has ever used his abilities on him and Carl says “I can’t do people. Not yet” means he might be willing to control people with his mind.

Rico’s teacher Jean Rasczak (Michael Ironside) is a teacher who joins the service when the war hits. How he survived Buenos Aires after it was struck by an asteroid I do not know, but he’s the experienced man who sees things as they really are. He is attempting to educate his students but not indoctrinate them. When Rico approaches him for advice he doesn’t do what you would think he would do and suggests he joins the military. He doesn’t actually give him any advice other than to make his own decision. 

I think Paul Verhoeven even tried to make the regime appear cowardly in the form of General Owen (Marshall Bell) whom they found on Planet P. Rather than stand with his men he hid and tried to make up excuses for his cowardice. Something about that reminded me of Hermann Göring. Don’t know why though.

The ship destruction is not of the Star Wars variety. They are not stylized like zippy arial fights but closer to naval battles with ships descending slowly when struck. It is much more plausible. But what really sells this visually are the bugs. We got several different styles of them in this movie. There are spider-like bugs that you see the most of that have pincer mouths. Then there are the beetles which pop up from the ground and you see maybe two others. Gross and cool.

The narrative itself is largely a flashback until the closing quarter or so of the story. We open with the battle that the film ends with and in between we have the story of Johnny Rico and his friends, and how they came to be in the military and the trials and tribulations.

As a satire Starship Troopers is not as overt as other satires. I’m not saying Paul Verhoeven made a bad film. He just didn’t push it as far as he should have and made this as obvious as he should have. With the classic RoboCop he made his points without them generally going over the head of the audience. You got the Jesus allegory when Murphy walked across the shallow water towards Bodecker. I think the big budget and high production values obscured what he was going for in comparison to the lower budgeted RoboCop. It confuses things and make this look pro-fascism and so forth when it is just the opposite. And that is if you can think to try and get below the razzle dazzle of the surface.

When viewed from the surface as a science-fiction action-adventure war film it’s not bad. It’s entertaining and a little silly. And it’s quite entertaining. But once you start taking a look at it for its satirical elements you suddenly realize that Verhoeven made much smarter film and people great give him credit for that. There is plenty of excitement and stunning visuals that making this an engaging film. Mesh that with elements Verhoeven and Neumeier first used in RoboCop and you got a great two hours.

If you take Starship Troopers as just a weird action adventure war film it is certainly worth a viewing. If you look at it as a satire it gives it a little something more and makes it extra special viewing. Either way, I do recommend it!