Starship Troopers
1997 · Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Original language: English
- adventure
- action
- thriller
- science fiction
The story
Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs."
What it’s like
Bright, glossy and deliberately artificial, with saturated primary colours, clean chrome spacecraft and sun-flooded military sets that look like recruitment posters come to life. Verhoeven stages much of it as news bulletins, propaganda reels and mock-commercial inserts, so the image keeps flipping between sleek sincerity and winking satire. Battle scenes arrive in fast, chaotic handheld bursts, with bursts of CGI insects, tracer fire and debris filling wide frames, while the quieter stretches sit in cramped barracks and sterile classrooms under flat fluorescent light. The score is a bombastic orchestral march that stays cheerfully oblivious to the carnage. Violence is frequent and graphic: bodies are blown apart, bugs are gutted and shredded, and there is nudity and sexual content in the locker-room and shower scenes. It is a loud, mean, tongue-in-cheek ride with a vibe of militarist kitsch and dark comedy. It suits a rowdy weekend night with friends who enjoy satire, and it is for viewers who like their sci-fi sardonic, gory and deliberately over the top rather than for anyone wanting something gentle.
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