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Directed by: Paul Verhoeven Starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards Avoid facism! This movie is based more on the director's experience with Nazi facism during the Second World War than on the book that gave it its name. In the movie, high school graduates go to fight for their country on distant planets against some unintelligent bugs. Is citizenship really that valuable? Is the war necessary? How stupid are the bugs? There is a lot of character development throughout the film, as people change from being idealistic to succumbing to the constant propaganda. The much decried last line of Dizzy Flores, where she says "It's OK, I got to have you" is in sharp contrast to the previous night where she had honestly said she loved Johnny Rico. Quite a change over such a short time. A stupid way to die, but it illustrates a point. 4/5 Come on you apes! You want to live forever? Would you like to know more?
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May 3, 2004 11:39
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I enjoyed this movie. Humans vs. a massive horde of gigantic bugs. Reminds me of StarCraft. 4/5
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May 3, 2004 11:54
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I'm going to have to give it a 1. I'd give it a 3, if it had been called "Robocop Facist Techno-Dystopia redux: Melrose Space, Earth vs. the Buggers!" But since it was called "Starship Troopers", gently caress that. I don't truck with people who say "don't you see, it is brilliant satire!?! Verhoven made the movie lovely on purpose, because he didn't like R.A. Heinlein! Isn't that hillarious?!" No powered armor, and a complete (regardless of intention) butchery of the politics, character, everything about the book (which Verhoven proudly claims not to have read) was a loving waste of the licence. It fails as political commentary, it fails as military sci-fi (I know, let's travel across lightyears to do battle with an implacable insectoid foe, and carry only vietnam era smallarms and flack jackets!) and it fails as a skin flick. Dina Meyer's tits are distinctly forgettable. The bug effects were pretty good, if you can get over the pathetic idea that it takes a squad of dozen people to kill one bug (with casualties) when humanity is outnumbered 1000 to one.
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May 3, 2004 11:56
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Discuss != Review
Somebody fucked around with this message at 10:03 on May 6, 2004 |
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May 3, 2004 12:03
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Con: Somewhat crap acting, not enough action. Pro:  in live action, some tits. I enjoyed it, but I never read the book, and I didn't think it was super-wonderful, either. I say three, only because I can't pick 2.5.
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May 3, 2004 12:08
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lovely acting, and for the life of me I can't see where the so called satire enters into things. 1/5
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May 3, 2004 12:50
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quote:Slo-Tek came out of the closet to say:
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May 3, 2004 12:56
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Probably my favourite movie of all time. 5/5
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May 3, 2004 13:24
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Watching absolute nerdasses bitch and squawk about how the movie dismantled the novel's subtle social commentary and LEFT OUT THE FANCY ROBOTS!!!! is almost as enjoyable as the movie itself.
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May 3, 2004 13:31
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I liked this movie as an action/comedy flick. The acting isn't that great, but it's entertaining, and therefore, I think it was sufficient in what it was intended to do. The special effects are pretty gnarly. If you ever want to see what Starcraft: the Movie would have looked like, you should give it a shot, but I wouldn't try to take it too seriously, so don't go into it expecting Saving Private Ryan in space. 4/5
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May 3, 2004 13:40
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You know what, I didn't expect to like this movie. The previews looked just ridiculous, and while I seem to be the only male who doesn't really care for Denise Richards, somehow I got pushed into seeing it. I liked it. It had a definite campy feel to everything, and I loved the facist-nationalistic overtones, like the "Become a citizen today!" ads intersparsed with multiple "Would you like to know more" queries. Michael Ironsides was great as the hardened rough and ready leader, and Jake Busey was creepy in his huge smile kind of way. Doogie Howser was kinda geeky, and it was a cringe to hear him say "He's afraid!" Overall, this movie was fun and enjoyable, and had some pretty interesting fight scenes. 4/5
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May 3, 2004 13:41
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I love this movie for all the wrong reasons. It has terrible acting, plot and characters. It has some great fx for it's time. Lots of beautiful blend shots with live action, models and cg that blew my mind when it came out. And I like the score, especially the big action themes. The thing I like the most about it though is the terribly wonderful plot and setting that only Verhoeven can pull of. This movie is obviously not to be taken seriously. It's like one big joke with cool fx and that's why I love it. 5/5
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May 3, 2004 13:52
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notary sojac sums up why I like this movie too (except I've always found Denise Richards to be hot). 4/5.
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May 3, 2004 14:34
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I know, I mean I really understand at a basic level, that I shouldn't have liked this movie as much as I did. It was clichéd into the ground, it was cheesy and unbelievable, but despite that, my brain released some sort of endorphin or something that made me suspend my disbelief and enjoy this movie. The worse part about this, is it seems to get better every time I watch it. I am a flawed human being. 4/5 for really no reason. PS I bought the DVD so I could see the deleted scenes so I could understand the characters more. What the gently caress is wrong with me!
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May 3, 2004 14:41
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On its own merits, as a sci-fi military horror film, and totally disregarding the name or the book: 3/5. If you dig random gore and tits and shock value, it's worth a rental, but it ain't Aliens.
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May 3, 2004 15:13
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I read the book. This has nothing in common with the book. Despite that fact I loved it. The polical comentary and propaganda were brilliant. I don't believe every movie must be a carbon copy of the book. Taken on its own merits, it's pretty drat good.
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May 3, 2004 21:25
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That's massivley interesting
Somebody fucked around with this message at 10:04 on May 6, 2004 |
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May 3, 2004 21:26
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This is not only a great movie but an intelligent satire of the book. Pay close attention The humans are the bad guys.
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May 3, 2004 21:48
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Whether you understand it or not, the movie is a rather large satirical look on humanity. Forget that it uses the Starship Troopers license and that there was a book for one minute - it was used merely for the setting, not for the source material and it is pretty much openly admitted on the DVD that this is the case. And for the power armor debate? Come on, there would be no sense of suspense if every soldier had a huge mech suit around him. Not to mention, how do you work in thousands of power armor suits without blowing your entire budget on one scene? Be real here and remember the movie would have been filmed/in production in '95-'96 when it was released in '97. They did an amazing job with the CG bugs, but CG power suits would have been pushing it, not to mention expanding the budget exponentially. Speaking of the CG, the CG in the movie was definitely before its time for 1997. Some fantastic effects and animation going on there, besting pretty much anything that had come out previously both in video games and in other movies. There are, of course, other flaws with the movie but I find they don't detract from the movie too much. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.
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May 3, 2004 22:05
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I'm not too big on subtext, symbolism, satire and all that other high school English class bullshit. I enjoyed this movie on a purely visceral surface level. It's perhaps the greatest big-budget sci-fi B-movie ever made (with Flash Gordon a close competitor). The dialogue is stilted, the acting amateurish, and the plot is nonsensical, but I'll be damned if I don't love every minute of it! Somehow this movie manages to tickle the pleasure center of my brain every time I watch it. Yes, I read the book. No, I don't care if they butchered the source material. Actually, I'm glad that they left out the powered armor stuff since that leaves open the possibility of adapting John Steakley's Armor - a far superior example of the "Space Marines In Powered-Exoskeletons" genre. Voted 4/5.
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May 4, 2004 00:37
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I really did not like Starship Troopers at all. As an adaption of the book, it fails. As it's own movie, it fails, albeit not as bad. As a counter-arguement against the book, it fails again. The only thing it succeeds at is discrediting the Starship Troopers title, and sometimes I wonder if that's what Paul Verhoeven was aiming at. I REALLY hated all of the characters in the movie, and by the end I was hoping they'd all get their faces gnawed off by a bug. The romantic subplots were unnecessary, unfaithful to the book, and generally retarded. Also, just because the movie is supposed to be a satire doesn't give it an excuse for having bad acting. If you want to watch a great Verhoeven movie, rent RoboCop. I still can't figure out why they changed Juan Rico's name from "Juan" to "John." 1.5/5
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May 4, 2004 02:07
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I am a poster-child for facist moderators
Somebody fucked around with this message at 10:04 on May 6, 2004 |
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May 4, 2004 02:15
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It's a parody of war-era propaganda movies, and a fairly good one at that. The selection of stiff soap-opera actors was deliberate and effective, and the infuriated response of Heilein fanboys just puts the icing on the cake. See it if you don't plan to take it seriously.
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May 4, 2004 02:19
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I thought it was poo poo. The effects were cool as was the gore in some of the fight scenes, but the acting and dialogue was painful. B-level softcore porn stars in a movie with a big budget. 2/5.
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May 5, 2004 00:53
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The second half of the movie was great. The first half of the movie blew and was nothing but "Beverly Hills 90210: In Space"
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May 5, 2004 01:28
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I enjoyed this movie a lot. It has everything you want in mindless entertainment, nudity, lots of violence, crazy hostile alien things that tear people up, and a few well-placed witticisms. I particularly enjoyed the fact that although this is set in the future, they still use machine guns and grenades; classic weapons, to great effect. It's awesome to watch bugs get killed by real bullets than by some fancy laser poo poo. Yeah, the acting wasn't the greatest, but I don't think they could get away with no background on the characters. I found the story necessary, and pleasantly low-key. Just enough history so you knew who people were, but not their entire life story. Either way, the action and special effects more than make up for it, and for that alone it's a great movie. You don't get the feeling that there was anything they couldn't do because of budget or technological restrictions. Watching this movie on a high-quality home theater is quite an experience to behold. There is also definitely some comedic value, with occasional clever lines, as well as various circumstantial humor revolving around the whole idea that it's the human race vs crazy bugs from space. There's no jokes that are cheesy or out of place, and there's no stupid rear end comic relief that detracts from the general mood (ie Chris Tucker in any movie ever). That said, this is a movie people either love or hate. I loved it for the violence, the dry humor, the simple plot that doesn't give you a headache when you want to just chill out and watch bugs get blasted, and of course, the tits. A lot of people hate it, some because it just doesn't do anything for them as a movie (these people expect Oscar-worthy stories in every movie ever made; yes I'm over-generalizing), and some because it deviates from the story that was in the book, apparently to an extreme degree (I haven't read the book). I usually make it a point to not give a poo poo about the differences between books and movies adapted from books, because it usually ends up disappointing. If you find yourself falling into this category, I suggest you try it too. The Bottom Line: If you want a deeply influential movie that touches your heart and changes your life, look somewhere else. You want a kick-rear end action movie with tons of violence that you can just veg out to, this is your ticket. If you enjoyed Dawn of the Dead (2004), you'd probably enjoy this. 4.5/5 EDIT: You want a hilariously awful movie, check out the sequel. All you haters haven't seen bad until you've seen that. ellysia fucked around with this message at 04:11 on May 5, 2004 |
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May 5, 2004 04:06
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quote:Lowtax came out of the closet to say: I sorta agree but I couldn't force myself to watch the second half of the movie. drat it was boring. Rating: 0 or .5 if there was any nudity in it. I don't remember or didn't get that far.
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May 5, 2004 21:29
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After ignoring questions in the back of my mind like "Why are they able to harness the power that is hyperdrive, yet not implement the use of weapons of mass destruction?", I found it to be fairly enjoyable. I understood it as a parody of old war propaganda movies, but someone please explain to me how it satirizes Heinlein. I thought it just ignored him for the most part. Rated 4 because I enjoy shootemups, although I feel it generally fails on other levels. edit: Michael Ironside is cool because I associate him with Darkseid. Paranda fucked around with this message at 21:43 on May 5, 2004 |
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May 5, 2004 21:40
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To the spoiler bit in the first post: Wasn't it Rico she said "At least I got to have you" to? Or am I remembering all wrong? P.S. I didn't read into all the fascism undertone, I just thought it was a great action movie. Rated 3.5
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May 5, 2004 21:41
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There was a bit of satire, but I think this was (intentionally) just an over-the-top action film. It's enjoyable, especially when drunk.
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May 5, 2004 22:21
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You have to approach this movie with a fratboy/marine/couple-of-beers attitude. You're there for the goofy plot, good looking girls, a little tit-age, and some really cool machine gunning the gently caress out of waves of alien bugs. The movie doesnt try and take itself seriously with the faux-propoganda and over the top cheery characters, so you're making a mistake if you do.
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May 5, 2004 22:35
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I never saw the film while it was in the theater, primarily because I thought the film's title was retarded. After seeing it on video a year or two later (it was recommended by a friend who claimed the CG and violence was well worth it), I changed my mind. He was right - for the time, the CG effects were great. True, the storyline was somewhat campy and there was alot of YAY FOR HUMANS BUGS ARE EVIL in it, but there WERE tits, albeit lame ones. Actually I'm posting because I didn't see a mention of the CG animated series based more on the book than the movie. It went by the name of 'Roughnecks:Starship Troopers Chronicles', and came out around 2000 or so. It was kind of frustrating to try and follow it at the time, because none of the networks could figure out where it fit. It was violent, people (and lots of bugs) died regularly, there were some GREAT weapons (AND powered armor...) and ships and such, but because it was animated, it got stuck on the BKN Network during early-morning cartoons. Sci-Fi eventually picked it up, but they were kind of at a loss for a good spot for it as well. The series was divided into campaigns on different worlds, all leading up to the invasion of Earth. And with 2 or 3 episodes left to complete the series, Sony PULLED THE loving PLUG ON IT. And never really gave a good reason for doing so. They finally got their poo poo together a year or two later and released all the episodes on a series of DVD's (which I foolishly bought) but never finished the series. Fuckers. They are available through Amazon; and if you liked the movie but missed some of the technology in the book, you ought to consider getting these. The animation is Toy-Story quality, it features some recognizable actors doing voice-over, and the storylines aren't quite as hoky.
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May 5, 2004 22:54
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I STILL don't see what makes this such a brilliant piece of satire. So everyone is rah-rah and they are out to kill the enemy with no thought of why they are doing it. And this is different from your normal brainless sci-fi movie, how exactly? The director's commentary apparently clues you in that the director was doing all of that on purpose, but it's not very obvious if you just watch the movie that this is all a big piece of satire and not just a straightforward dumb action movie. That being said the action is pretty neat, with gore and tits and explosions etc etc.
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May 5, 2004 22:55
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quote:Moosh came out of the closet to say: It completely ignores the book outside of the setting, if it had been an adaptation proper of the book I wouldn't've liked it as much.
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May 5, 2004 23:54
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I'm an elitist prick who wanted the movie to be entirely based on the book. But its worth a few laughs when you see the comedy underlying it all much like Hackers. So i'd have to vote it an average movie. I'll flip a coin to watch it or not when its on HBO...
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May 6, 2004 04:26
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They sucked his brains out I love this movie for the same reason I love Arhnold movies; because it's big, dumb, over the top, cheesy and utterly camp. When it first came out I was shoulder deep in Starcraft and I think I saw it at least 3 times at the theatre. 4/5 for big dumb fun.
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May 6, 2004 05:44
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5/5. You have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate this movie. It's tremndously silly, but "teen movie/space opera" is certainly a formula that no director had thought of before. Very few have thought of it since, too, although I like to think that "Wing Commander" is a bit of a paean to this particular bending of genre. The combination of gore with grossout/sophomoric humor makes a combination that isn't quite suited to fans of either, and I appreciate that. When I was a young stoner, I wanted to get a "Death From Above" tattoo on my arm, and continually tried to convince my friends to do the same (with little - ok, no - luck) just so we could recreate the one shot in the film with those tats. I may still get it.
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May 6, 2004 19:47
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quote:psylent came out of the closet to say: I always wondered how the brain bug got in there. Raping of a book, it was a bit too over the top for my tastes. The CG cartoon was alot better and did a good mixing of the movie and the book. Another movie that could have had cool power armor and totally botched it, but not as bad as say Final Fantasy: The Movie (Which was another movie to cash in on a name, coincidently). 2/5, but only because the bug CG stuff was cool.
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May 6, 2004 19:59
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i can actually enjoy the movie if i forget about ever reading the book.
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May 6, 2004 22:00
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this is probably my number 2 or 3 favorite movie, ergo a 5
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May 7, 2004 05:05
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