Starship Troopers . Newcity Chicago . 11-10-97

Starship Troopers

DIRECTED BY: Paul Verhoeven

REVIEWED: 11-10-97

Whoo hoo! In the future, life is like a gore-filled CD-ROM game: You can rocket to a planet full of bugs and blow them away in several delightfully goopy ways. If your leg gets blowed off, heck, just grow a new one. Plus, you get to share unisex showers with other hot soldiers fresh out of high school. Whoo hoo! Thanks to an oft-repeated preview featuring lots of man vs. alien slaughter and a Blur song snippet guaranteed to stick in your brain (Whoo hoo!), I'd been looking forward to "Starship Troopers" for weeks. As a fan of kill-'em-all-and-let-God-sort-'em-out games such as "Doom," I thought I would revel in the annihilation of giant bugs that's celebrated in this camp fest. Instead, I left the theatre questioning why I and the rest of the preview audience were so delighted by the dizzying heights of destruction the movie attained. I felt like I was 12 again, emerging into the harsh light of a summer afternoon after spending five dollars worth of tokens to blast bugs on Galaga. My eyes were burning and my trigger finger hurt. Another wasted day. But God help me, I wanted to go back in and start all over again. You should hate yourself for it, but you'll probably get a big kick out of "Starship Troopers." It's slick and fun and even a bit subversive around the edges. Which brings to mind a question: If a piece of social satire is so dry that audiences take it at face value, is it really satire -- or simply soulless pandering the filmmakers can feel good about?

--Frank Sennett

Full Length Reviews
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers
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Capsule Reviews
Starship Troopers

Other Films by Paul Verhoeven
Showgirls

Film Vault Suggested Links
The Fifth Element
Species
Spawn

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