Starship Troopers (spoilers)
- Thread starter Rom's Sehlat
- Start date
You know, I personally think it did a much better job then Total Recall. Total Recall's conceit that maybe it is or maybe it isn't just a prefabricated hallucination is what it has going for it on the undermining level - the film is mostly a straight up big dumb Schwarzenegger action vehicle and was passable blockbuster fare at the time but bores me now.
Starship Troopers just has more bite. It's a little more trenchant and its ridiculousnes be inferred rather then beat the audience on the head with it.
Last edited:
The book is a joke, too. (Unless you'd like to argue?)
Rubbish. The ordinary WWII-era German didn't view the Allies as an inhuman plague that had to be wiped out at all costs; they saw them as deeply misguided hypocrites trying to keep Germany down yet again. To toot my own horn, a much better analogy would be a Nazis vs. zombies movie. So we'd be/we are rooting for Nazis there. So? Not that hard or deep when the deck is stacked so strongly.
And here's the real crux of the matter, imho: that the movie wants to have it both ways. The producers sought to make money off what Verhoeven sees as the slobbering, hick American masses by having endless battles and a rah-rah upbeat ending, but he also threw in a few half-assed instances of fascist imagery for the more educated. This way, the masses get their peppy violence fix, and the smarter cookies get to look down their noses at them and laugh at their lack of sophistication. It just comes across to me as lazy pandering to two groups at the expense of what could have been a much more interesting and focused full-on satire.
I loved the movie and wish the other ones were like it. The third one tried to be like it , but failed miserable.
I saw the movie first and thought it was quite entertaining on both textual and subtextual levels and improves on subsequent viewings as the subtext becomes more clear, though I also think many viewers don't actually pick up on the subtext.
Read the book later and found it much less entertaining. One of the few times I'd argue the book is worse than the movie.
Read the book later and found it much less entertaining. One of the few times I'd argue the book is worse than the movie.
Slobbering Hick American Masses? Wasn't their hometown in Brazil or other South American Country?
The deck was stacked in most war films produced during the Second World War in the United States, too. Axis villains -- especially Japanese villains -- were the subject of viscous caricature. Your zombie vs. humans analogy is apt, because Axis villains were shown to be evil zombies, more or less, in these films.
What Verhoeven's film does best is it appropriates the form of the World War II propaganda film, and then slowly reveals that the audience has been rooting for the fascists the whole time. This illuminates his theme, namely, that, "War makes fascists of us all."
Actually, that sounds like it took hard work to "pander to two groups" like you said. I wouldn't call it lazy, I would call that marketing. I think it succeeded.
@whoever asked me if I've seen Saving Private Ryan and so on, no not yet. Is it any good? If it's just plain violence, then I probably won't for several more years. I like storylines about individuals, not just big battle scenes for the gore.
The fascism in this movie seemed to be a little disturbing-- license to have babies?! (Sounds like China or something with their one child thing.) Rapid trials and executions...
Actually, in the movie, what keeps it from being any form of real fascism as the present world has seen it was the equality of men and women. Females were fighting alongside men. Traditionally in fascist views, women were supposed to bear lots of children for the state. But perhaps the Federal Government had a overpopulation problem...
Heinlein appeared to be serious when he wrote it. And to be honest, a lot of his ideas seem worth a second look.
Remember, Federal Service doesn't automatically mean front line military duty. Any job, no matter how menial - accountant, cook, receptionist, uniform tailor, whatever - qualifies. And they have to take you - they cannot turn anyone down. So everyone has the opportunity to serve. Plus, service members can't vote WHILE they're in the military - only after they leave.
And to be brutally honest, what's wrong with requiring a term of service of some kind in order to vote? It would help ensure that those who do vote, CARE. And even then, those who choose not to do so are not lacking in rights. Not even in the movie. Look at Rico's parents, for example...
I meant the audience, not the characters.
It is about individuals, and there is a strong story, and it's good overall, but it isn't quite great, imo. There's a climactic battle sequence that just goes on and on and on, a good deal longer than it had any need to.
I don't know if this was deliberate or not, my imagination or not...
I seem to remember that the flying bugs come out *after* the humans start aerial bombardment, the tank bug comes out after the humans start using tanks...
I thought the movie was subtly playing up the idea that humans are teaching the bugs how to make war.
Anyone else catch that? Did I hallucinate it?
I seem to remember that the flying bugs come out *after* the humans start aerial bombardment, the tank bug comes out after the humans start using tanks...
I thought the movie was subtly playing up the idea that humans are teaching the bugs how to make war.
Anyone else catch that? Did I hallucinate it?
You know, that's a good idea, as far as I'm concerned, but I don't believe the movie supports it. For one thing, I don't remember any human tanks.
Maybe the brain bugs are bigger bad asses than suspected! Maybe they can mutate eggs at will.
You mean a Nazi v. zombie movie where the zombies were never human, were most likely minding their own business and then the Nazis instigated an excuse to conquer them for lebensraum?
That might actually be a pretty interesting movie but I wouldn't go so far as to suggest I'd be rooting for the Nazis here.
