Starship Troopers, 1997

Paul Verhoeven

In my eyes, Robocop is by far the best science fiction film ever made. It encompasses so much... and when I found out that Verhoeven was going to helm a hundred million dollar space epic... well, after watching him direct Basic Instinct and (shudder) Showgirls... I was pretty goddamn happy.

Following it up with Hollow Man might not have been the greatest of ideas... but even then, that wasn't a total loss.

Troopers was the first film in a long, long time that had moments that made me jump. The violence in this film is a commentary all its own, on Verhoeven's ideas of the future... (see Total Recall) but I'll get to that in a minute.

The first thing you should know about this film is that it was taken from a novel of the same name, written by one of the pioneers of science fiction, Robert A. Heinlein. And, the second thing you should know is that it was written in 1958.

NINETEEN FIFTY-EIGHT!

If you haven't read the novel, do yourself the favor. And if you keep in mind when it was written, you will be blown away by the imagination this man had.

The script, after having read the book, is about as well adapted as I could have hoped for. The novel follows the efforts of Johnny Rico... as they do in the movie... but what I got from the film was that the movie was strictly a slice of life film... but the real story was the war against the bugs... and we were just kind of zipping in... into Johnny's life... and then back out, at the end of the film (with the little Federation commercials and promos bracketing the movie... those helped).

Edward Neumeier (who also co-produced) helped write Verhoeven's other sci-fi masterpiece, Robocop, in 1987. He went on to write a Robocop episode from the TV series... and that's about it. We haven't heard from him since 1997... which is a shame... because I think that this script is one of the smartest ones to come out of Hollywood in a long time. I think, above all, the script lead the way for a philosophy behind the movie... which gave way to Verhoeven's ideas of the future.

A case in point was 'death'. The main characters... John Rico and Carmen Ibanez... each lose friends and family members important to them... but with this war... and everything happening around them... and their own break-up... they don't have too much time to feel.

There are these moments when characters die... like with General Owen is killed by a wounded flying bug... and Ace Levy and Rico just watch... and then Ace just shrugs and smiles... it put a cap on the whole thing for me. It was like saying 'death is something that happens every second... and hell, I don't have time to worry about death.'

Pretty much every character that we're introduced to in basic training... save Ace... dies. Every one.

And I think that you have to have these expendable characters, sure... but it was also the attitude that followed their deaths... that being a Infantry soldier... you put death behind you and you just fight... it was a little weird to watch... because I was thinking, Jeez... he just lost Dizz! She just lost Zander! And after a forlorned look, Carmen just walks right out, starts smiling, glad to be around her guy Rico and Carl... weird!

Next time you watch the film, pay attention to after someone dies... you'll see what I mean. There's no mourning. And the only character to receive a funeral was Dizzy... because they were able to bring her body back to base.

So, I think that working with Verhoeven again, Neumeier did an incredible job, and helped Verhoeven create an incredible movie.

This film also has a pretty strong cast... though I'm sure people had a slight problem with the wooden acting of Casper Van Dien. But the remainder of the cast... Dina Meyer, Denise Richards (her first big role), Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Patrick Muldoon, Michael Ironside... all of them did a great job.

Basil Poledouris is an incredible composer. He's worked on a number of Verhoeven's earlier works... along with one of my all time favorite scores, Conan. The man knows how to write original pieces.

I cannot say enough about Jost Vacano. He's one of my all time favorite cinematographers... I've loved all of his work... and it's obvious that Verhoeven trusts him with his movies... he's pretty much shot everything Verhoeven has done in the past fifteen years (with the exception of Basic Instinct, which was shot by Jan de Bont).

His work is so incredible... and his ability to work with sets and special effects... the lighting and blocking of shots... he's unreal. Now, granted, a lot of this film is CG... but that doesn't limit the amount of work that a good DP has... and Vacano has been able to prove his worth over and over, in my mind.

They just put out a two-disc set of this film... I traded in my old one on Ebay and bought this new set, with an audio commentary with Verhoeven, deleted scenes, a new documentary... I personally think it's worth it. This is a smart, well produced, violent and fun film... and I cannot wait to find out what Verhoeven has in store for us next.