Review: Starship Troopers (1997)

After putting together my list of cheesy, must-watch sci-fi and fantasy shows a few weeks back, I was compelled with the urge to return to some of these movies and see what time has done to my perception of them. It’s been a while since I last watched Starship Troopers, so I decided to start with that one. As it turns out, I enjoyed the re-watch a lot more than I thought I might. For while Starship Troopers abuses the source material and tries to live off its goofy action scenes, there’s plenty more going on that makes it a fun flick.

If you haven’t seen it, the story is as follows. The setting is a futuristic, dystopian world where the Earth is at war with a race of alien bugs. The main cast consists of a group of high-school friends that decide to enlist in the fight. In the style of many military-themed films, we see Johnnie Rico make his way through boot camp and eventually to the alien worlds to throw bullets at giant insects. We see his sort-of girlfriend flying a giant spaceship around. And their other friend ends up in military intelligence, putting his psychic abilities to work.

And that’s really about it. Most of what Starship Troopers has to offer revolves around military training and shoot-outs with bugs. They make attempts to flesh out the characters but, while those attempts are actually done well, the actors aren’t exactly top-grade. The special effects were good for the time the movie was made, but it still looks kind of silly and the battles aren’t as epic as I remember them being when I was younger.

It does do a good job of creating a world and atmosphere that is suited to the dystopian feel. In a lot of ways, Starship Troopers reminds me of Robocop with regards to this particular element, presenting us with an almost comical look at the future. Honestly, if they would have sprung a few bucks for some better actors and cleaned up the fight scenes, this movie could have ended up as one of the classics. Unfortunately, it must be relegated to being a fun action flick with a quirky style.

The folks at Rotten Tomatoes give Starship Troopers a rather bland 63/69%, which is a little less than I would have rated it. Maybe that’s my nostalgia talking, but even now, nearly 20 years after the movie was released in theaters, it still manages to keep me entertained.

Photo Credits -           

Starship Troopers courtesy of theatlantic.com