Movie Review – Starship Troopers (1997)
Every once in a while it’s satisfying to see a movie full of warfare and bloody violence.
We’re not talking about a gripping re-enactment of a past war such as the American Civil War or the Vietnam War. This is instead a war set in the not-too-distant future where human beings are fighting for their very survival against an aggressive race of bugs. These soldiers will travel to distant planets and use everything in their arsenal from air strikes to miniature nukes to destroy the bugs.
The movie Starship Troopers delivers this much and more! The 1997 film is loosely based on Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 novel of the same name. There are so many differences between the novel and the movie that these are two completely different experiences.
Starship Troopers was released on November 7, 1997. Directed by famed science-fiction director Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, RoboCop, Hollow Man), Starship Troopers is a thrilling and quite violent and bloody film that follows a few high school students as they join the military and face the bug threat. Starship Troopers has a large cast starring Casper Van Dien as Johnny Rico, Dina Meyer as Dizzy Flores, Denise Richards as Carmen Ibanez, Jake Busey as Ace Levy, Michael Ironside as Lt. Jean Rasczak, Clancy Brown as Career Sgt. Zim, and Neal Patrick Harris as Carl Jenkins.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
Starship Troopers begins similar to RoboCop with a series of video clips showing everyday life in the future, complete with a recruitment advertisement for people to join the elite Mobile Infantry. The news then jumps to the Bug War and “live” coverage of the Mobile Infantry making their assault on Klendathu, the home planet of the Bugs. We watch as the invasion goes poorly and many soldiers are slaughtered by the Arachnid force. One solider in particular is in significant pain as the camera shot ends.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
Starship Troopers then jumps to a flashback to show us the events that took place over the past year. We see Johnny Rico (played by Casper Van Dien), Carmen Ibanez (played by Denise Richards), Dizzy Flores (played by Dina Meyer) and Carl Jenkins (played by Neal Patrick Harris) as they participate in their History and Moral Philosophy class in high school. Their teacher is one-armed Mr. Rasczak (played by Michael Ironside), a tough but fair instructor. The students live and attend school in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
It’s the end of the school year for the students, and Carl and Carmen express interest in joining for Federal Service. Carl is accepted into military intelligence to help study the Bugs. Rico is in love with Carmen and signs up for service to follow her into flight school. Unfortunately, Rico’s grades aren’t that great and he’s only fit to join the Mobile Infantry. Rico’s parents are very upset about his decision to join, but there’s nothing they can do about it. After meeting with the recruiter, the students head back for final dance at their school.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
Life is tough at first in the training base for the Mobile Infantry. Career Sgt. Zim (played by Clancy Brown) has a brutally hard way of training the recruits that includes breaking their arms, nearly snapping their necks, and even throwing a knife through a recruit’s hand. Rico is surprised when Dizzy Flores shows up at his training compound and becomes a fellow soldier. Dizzy is still in love with Rico from high school, and she secretly enlisted and requested a transfer to his training station. Private Ace Levy (played by Jake Busey) gives Rico a run for his money while competing for squad leader in the unit, and the two recruits become good friends.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
Out in space, Carmen Ibanez excels in her flight training. She shows steady nerves and a smart skills when piloting the different vehicles. Carmen is transferred to the space corvette, Rodger Young, where she completes her training under the watchful eye of Lt. Zander Barcalow (played by Patrick Muldoon). It’s while serving on the Rodger Young when Carmen makes the decision to make serving in the Federation her career, ending her relationship with Rico.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
After winning in a mock combat game, Rico is promoted to squad leader in basic training. It’s in this position of leadership though when Rico makes a critical error in another training session, ordering a recruit to remove his combat helmet. After he does so a different recruit falls and accidentally fires her weapon, killing the recruit who removed his helmet. For his failure, Rico is sentenced to a public flogging of ten lashes. He takes his punishment and decides to quit the Mobile Infantry. As he’s walking out of the complex he learns of the Bugs’ attack on Buenos Aires. Millions of people are killed including Rico’s parents. Rico returns to the Mobile Infantry to get his revenge.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
The Federation’s Sky Marshall orders an all-out attack on Klendathu, the home of the evil Arachnids. While in transit to the planet, Dizzy and Rico briefly reunite with Carmen who is now an officer in the Federation. Rico gets into a fight with Zander, and the two are finally separated. The soldiers man their landing craft and make the descent to the Bug planet. While they’re descending to the planet, some of the bigger bugs are launching plasma missiles against the ships orbiting the planet. The Rodger Young is hit but survives the attack. Other large cruisers aren’t so lucky.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
As we saw in the beginning, the attack on Klendathu is a massacre against the Federation. Rico is the soldier who was critically injured by the Arachnids. He’s initially declared dead before we learn that he was actually saved by an elite Mobile Infantry unit called the Roughnecks. Rico, Ace and Dizzy are all transferred to the Roughnecks. It turns out that the commanding officer of the Roughnecks is none other than their former high school instructor, Lt. Rasczak.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
A new Sky Marshall takes command of the assault force. This time an air strike initially kills a bunch of Arachnids and the Mobile Infantry is sent in to take care of the rest. This time the action takes place on a desert-like planet called Planet “P.” The Roughnecks attack some Arachnids when a massive tanker bug emerges from underground. Rico uses his high school athletic skills to jump onto the massive bug, shoot a hole in it, and throw a hand grenade into the bug. For his heroic actions he’s promoted to corporal.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
The Roughnecks respond to a distress call from a Federation outpost on Planet “P.” Upon arrival they find the place to be filled with dead soldiers. At least one of the soldiers has an ominous hole in the top of his head. They theorize that the bugs sucked out the soldier’s brains. Suddenly, thousands of Arachnids come running at the outpost from all directions. The Roughnecks are trapped as they fight for their life. A “Mayday!” call is made and a landing craft makes a daring landing and rescue of the soldiers. Lt. Rasczak is killed in action, and Dizzy is mortally wounded by an Arachnid. She dies while riding the landing craft back to the Rodger Young.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
After Dizzy’s funeral, Carl Jenkins appears (now holding the officer rank of colonel) and tells Rico and Carmen that they’re going back to Planet “P” to capture a brain bug. Rico is awarded a field promotion promotion to lieutenant and given command of the Roughnecks.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
The Roughnecks return to Planet “P” and begin their search for the brain bug. In space, the orbiting ships are attacked again with plasma missiles. This time the Rodger Young is destroyed and split in half. Carmen and Zander barely escape in an escape pod. They make a crash landing and ultimately end up underground on Planet “P.” Rico hears the distress call and takes a few volunteers to go looking for Carmen.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
Carmen and Zander are captured by some Arachnids and taken deeper underground. They’re forced to meet with the brain bug, a massive, brain-like bug that sucks the brains from people. Zander is killed when the bug sucks out his brains. Carmen is next but she uses a knife to attack the brain bug, cutting off its straw-like appendage. Just then Rico and his fellow soldiers show up, rescuing Carmen from the Arachnids. They fight their way out of the caves. One of the soldiers falls and volunteers to detonate a miniature nuke to seal the caves and allow Rico and Carmen to escape.
Starship Troopers (1997) – (c) TriStar Pictures
Rico and Carmen ultimately escape from the tunnels. Above ground they learned that it was their old drill instructor Zim (demoted to private so that he could serve in combat) who actually caught the brain bug. We don’t know how he did it, but he caught the bug. The bug is taken away to a research center where scientists try to learn its secrets.
Starship Troopers ends with a news reel showing advancements in weapons and new recruits heading off to combat. The movie leaves an open ending for more sequels.
So is it any good?
Starship Troopers (1997) – movie trailer
Starship Troopers is a cult classic type of movie. It didn’t do too well in the theaters, but it received some awards, had generally good criticism, and it has a huge fan following. My friend and I were lucky enough to experience Starship Troopers opening night in the theater. The crowd was pumped and the overall experience was outstanding!
Yes, Starship Troopers does have some minor faults here and there. For starters, those actors are way too old to portray high school students. It would have been better if they were college graduates. I also didn’t care that Carl was given such a high ranking (colonel is one notch below being a general), or that Carmen didn’t show any sign of injury after her encounter with the Arachnids and brain bug. She was only stabbed through the shoulder and carried that way by an Arachnid.
The Mobile Infantry doesn’t seem anywhere near as glamorous as it does in the book. It’s not until the characters join Rasczak’s Roughnecks where you see that it’s more of an elite fighting unit.
But those are just minor issues. The overall story is still strong, the combat is very bloody and intense, and there’s plenty of humor and fun throughout the film. Starship Troopers also happens to have a lot of nudity.
Starship Troopers (1997) – TV spot with Blur’s “Song 2″
The music is fantastic, the combat is awesome (“Nuke ‘em, Rico!”), and the Arachnids are creepy as hell. Starship Troopers just plain rocks!
Johnny Rico – “I’m from Buenos Aires, and I say kill ‘em all!”
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Mr. Rasczak – “Naked force has resolved more conflicts throughout history than any other factor. The contrary opinion, that violence doesn’t solve anything, is wishful thinking at its worst; people who forget that always die.”
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Ace Levy – “You shoot a nuke down a bug hole, you got a lot of dead bugs.”
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Lt. Rasczak – “This is for all you new people: I only have one rule. Everyone fights. No one quits. You don’t do your job, I’ll shoot you myself. You get me?”
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This article was originally published on October 5, 2012.