Starship Troopers

Science fiction as a genre sees many backgrounds and arguably works as the most flexible genre in cinema, as many masterful works of film-art fuse sci-fi and other genres together. Since the 1970s sci-fi movies have become wonderful hybrids that are continuing to evolve and adapt to their social environments: from the Western in space that is Star Wars through to the next-level horror of the Alien movies. But perhaps the best hybrid is the cross between sci-fi and comedy. 

Like fantasy, science fiction is an ultimate playground for social commentary and political, ethical, moral, racial, and all other opinions. Add the scathing voice of comedy to the metaphors that sci-fi provides and you’ve got a pretty dominant species of film. Perhaps one of the strangest, but enjoyable -and also spookily prophetic- examples of this is Starship Troopers. 

Would you like to know more? Set in a future where humanity is threatened by an invasion of hostile space Bugs, high school graduate Johnny Rico answers the call to join the army and fight against the Bug threat. Leading his team of young and idealistic freedom fighters, Johnny fights for the survival of mankind, even it that involves scraping his way out of numerous suicide missions, going in completely blind with brute force, and swallowing the fact that his pilot girlfriend gets seduced by a suave flight instructor. 

Directed by Paul Verhoeven, who also brought us Total Recall, Starship Troopers is film that doesn’t seem very complex in terms of story, but actually has a whole lot of stuff going on. For a start, it’s filmed as more of a war movie with the central plot being summarised by camp ad campaigns rather than big chunks of character dialogue and exposition; a funny and fresh technique that makes the screenplay quite the gem. 

These random campaign segments break up the flow of the narrative it’s true, but it actually works really well and provides humour as well as performs the task of keeping the audience up to date with what’s happening. The tone and aesthetic of these segments remind us of similar army campaigns of the ‘30s and ‘40s and, when held against the violence of the war itself as well as attitudes towards it, it becomes an eerily prophetic depiction of America’s involvement in Iraq. 

Then we have the overall aesthetic of the movie itself, favouring talent in creature design and art direction as opposed to computer wizardry. If you took out all the blood and gore, you could easily mistake this movie for a 1970s sci-fi action movie like Star Wars rather than a film made towards the end of the millennium. 

The achievements in creature design as well as the gore wizards behind the body-strewn battlefields are pretty fantastic because it’s both gory and gross, but at the same time fun because of the film’s pastiche aesthetic. 

Made complete by a strange cast, Starship Troopers is a great movie that pays homage to classic sci-fi as well as a clever nod towards the future. If you like the genre, if you like satire, or if you just want an action-packed romp, this is a good one. 

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Patrick Muldoon, and Michael Ironside 

Rating: MA 

Year: 1997