The lengths which many are willing to go to provide some sort of intellectual justification of the existence of Starship Troopers never cease to amaze me. "Oh, it's satire," they say. "It is a subversive send up of fascism, the most brilliant since Dr. Stragelove."
Well folks, I'm here to let the cat out of the bag. No it isn't. Starship Troopers is not subversive. Starship Troopers is not satire. Starship Troopers is just stupid. For all its smirking, in-on-its-own-joke faux camp and oh-so-ironic stabs at social commentary, it is nothing more than a schlocky sci-fi shoot 'em up aimed at adolescents (clearly demonstrating that the filmmakers knew all along that their 'subversive' film was a steaming turd) and directed with all the ham-handed prurience which we've all come to know and hate from Paul Verhoeven (whose chief claim to fame is Showgirls, the movie which ensured that no one would ever be curious enough to see an NC-17 film again).
That's not to say that 'satire' and 'subversion' aren't attempted, just that they fail miserably (and how could they not with Verhoeven at the helm, not to mention a cast of 'stars' headed by the likes of Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards?). Any satirical effect is lost in the stunning lack of context. So there might be a fascist society some time, for some reason at some point in the future, and it might not be pleasant? How interesting. Now get back to machinegunning four-story beetles.
The moral of this story? In the future, Marines will take co-ed showers.
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Well folks, I'm here to let the cat out of the bag. No it isn't. Starship Troopers is not subversive. Starship Troopers is not satire. Starship Troopers is just stupid. For all its smirking, in-on-its-own-joke faux camp and oh-so-ironic stabs at social commentary, it is nothing more than a schlocky sci-fi shoot 'em up aimed at adolescents (clearly demonstrating that the filmmakers knew all along that their 'subversive' film was a steaming turd) and directed with all the ham-handed prurience which we've all come to know and hate from Paul Verhoeven (whose chief claim to fame is Showgirls, the movie which ensured that no one would ever be curious enough to see an NC-17 film again).
That's not to say that 'satire' and 'subversion' aren't attempted, just that they fail miserably (and how could they not with Verhoeven at the helm, not to mention a cast of 'stars' headed by the likes of Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards?). Any satirical effect is lost in the stunning lack of context. So there might be a fascist society some time, for some reason at some point in the future, and it might not be pleasant? How interesting. Now get back to machinegunning four-story beetles.
The moral of this story? In the future, Marines will take co-ed showers.
0/10
