Subject: Review: Starship Troopers (1997)

From: Marty Mapes <[email-masked]>
Date: 14 Nov 1997 17:08:07 GMT

Starship Troopers
A film review by Marty Mapes
Copyright 1997 Marty Mapes

***1/2 (out of 4) The war in Vietnam changed the face of American war
movies for good. War movies now show the horror, futility, and irony of
nations fighting. But before, once upon a time, war was the heroic,
romantic proving grounds where boys became men. By providing an inhuman
enemy, STARSHIP TROOPERS is able to make war fun again.  

STARSHIP TROOPERS is not a science fiction movie; it is a war movie
(specifically, a WWII movie, according to effects-man Phil Tippett).
Like GATTACA, only its setting is futuristic, giving the movie a
science-fiction look and feel; the story itself breaks the sci-fi mold. 

What are the conventions of war movies? A big cast. Lots of characters
with names, not all of whom will survive. Caricatured people from
different walks of life coming together in the military. Clear class
demarcation between strategists, flyboys, and grunts. Big,
well-choreographed battle scenes. Characters growing from "boys" to
"men." The African-American infantryman dying first. War-inspired
racism. This movie has them all. 

Our heroes (Carmen [Denise Richards], Johnny [Casper Van Dien], Carl
[Neil Patrick Harris], and Diz [Dina Meyer]) are just graduating high
school, contemplating their futures in a world on the brink of war with
Klendathu, a planet of giant insects. There are many options — college,
professional athletics — but like in GONE WITH THE WIND, "joining up" is
the only real option to any self-respecting youth. Our side needs you;
all your friends will be joining up; it's the best way to prove yourself
a man; and besides, this is history in the making. Being the right age
at the right time in one of humanity's greatest moments is fate and
destiny and downright fun! 

To really spark the characters' (and the audience's) interest, slickly
made propaganda films (reminiscent of the commercials in Verhoeven's
ROBOCOP) call all red-blooded humans to action in the adventure of a
lifetime. Making it even more irresistible, things at home are untouched
by the war. None of the awful destructive reality of war discolors the
young people's enthusiasm for going off to kill the enemy. They're doing
it as much for fun and camaraderie as for duty (again, reminiscent of
GONE WITH THE WIND). 

The movie is really well made, and it's hard not to get caught up in the
thrill of going to war. But Verhoeven doesn't let us forget that the
emotional hype has a dark side to it. For example, a newsreel tells us
that a man is caught, tried for murder, convicted, and executed, all
within 12 hours. Another newsreel refers to a group of "Mormon
Extremists;" actually, they were hoping for a peaceful solution to the
war. Another newsreel encourages war racism among kids too young to
fight: cockroach stomping is a great way for little Johnny to feel like
he's really killing gooks, too. These subjects are awful, but they're
presented with all the enthusiasm of real propaganda films, and the
audience is hard-pressed not to give in to the emotion of the moment.
(That's why you should see this movie during a crowded show, not when
you're the only one in the theater.) 

The world of STARSHIP TROOPERS is an interesting place. Details about
military service, citizenship, and Earth history add to the satirically
dark tone of the movie, though not very subtly. For example, a civilian
(with no military service) is not a citizen, and can't vote. Democracy
failed and "the Veterans" took over politics. These details seem
unnecessary at first, but they help explain many of the characters'
motives and they further distance the audience from the war-glorifying
world on-screen. 

Clearly, this movie is intended as a special-effects blowout, and the
effects are indeed great. A bug stampede around the camera has all the
tense energy of a "real" stampede. Battle scenes at an abandoned
fortress are choreographed and edited masterfully (and they look like
BEAU GESTE and INTOLERANCE). But if you have a taste for film history or
for war movies, there is more to STARSHIP TROOPERS than
computer-generated insects. The special effects action is a great start,
but deeper, you can find lots of interesting commentary on war movies
and on war itself. 

A friend of mine once proposed that the nations of the world should set
aside some remote island to be used for war. Any young man who felt the
need to go off to kill and die in glorious battle could choose a side,
hop over to War Island and engage in battle until he grew up or until he
died. The rest of us could go about our lives unaffected. 

Really, that's what STARSHIP TROOPERS is all about. It gives itself
enough distance from reality so that our lives aren't really affected by
the horrors of war, and then it taps into that young-man eagerness for
life-or-death adventure. 

Intellectually, I can't really condone that message, but I have to admit
that this will be a guilty pleasure of mine for years to come.

Check out more current movie reviews at http://www.indra.com/~mmapes/