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Nuking insect ass >> Paul Verhoeven is back in sci-fi territory with Starship Troopers by MATTHEW HAYS
Based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel, Troopers paints a Brave New World-esque utopia/dystopia in which the genders appear to be about equal, military service bolsters your social status considerably and war is imminent. Stealing heavily from James Cameron's Aliens, Verhoeven has assembled an a-list special effects team who go nuts with the adversary. In the future, earth will be attacked by a group of angry giant bugs (their design lifted from several different earth species), and our young military heroes are off to nuke some insect ass. When our planet's populace is threatened, the gang of young cadets are thrown into action, out to Raid the evil bugs who are in turn out to destroy humanity. Verhoeven's film is audacious largely because of its entirely unapologetic fascism. There's little or no effort to understand the insect enemy; Verhoeven sets them up early in the chase as the Other and offers up no guilt for it. Interspersed throughout the film are faux media clips (Verhoeven is particularly clever at these), with inane infomercials and propaganda shorts informing the public (and the movie's audience) about the dangers the bugs present and the importance of wiping them off the galaxy. Stealing heavily from WWII newsreels and the duck-and-cover campaign of the '50s, these clips present the backbone of the film and supply hallucinatory hilarity to the team's adventures. Verhoeven hasn't missed any opportunities to play up Heinlein's fascist politics, right down to Troopers' picture-perfect casting. Most notable is lead Casper Van Dien, looking unbelievably Naziesque, with blond hair, blue eyes and cheek bones you could ski off of. Van Dien's looks are worth the price of admission alone; s/m freaks will particularly enjoy watching him strapped up shirtless for 10 lashes of punishment. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who also did the threads for Showgirls, hasn't missed a beat, draping everyone in uniforms that evoke the Third Reich. Starship Troopers is incredible fun. It has all of the effects of Independence Day and none of the stupidity. As with horror movies, there's an incredible amount of garbage around in science fiction. But Verhoeven has scored here, in territory he understands perfectly. Long live cheesy sci-fi movies! Opens this Friday, Nov. 7. See film listings for showtimes
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Where would kitsch be without Paul Verhoeven? The Dutch director has given us the campy Robocop and Total Recall, and has even insisted that Showgirls, his ludicrously overblown meditation on exotic dancing, was intended as a serious movie. Now Verhoeven is back in sci-fi territory with Starship Troopers, and the result is a hilarious, over-the-top, unrelentingly un-PC epic.