Others say...

"Who wants to kill some bugs!"
Now this might lose some weight with my review, but I feel I should first state that I have not read Heinlen's legendary novel yet. Based on some other research I've done, it seems the movie does not accurately represent the novel. I realize that often time's movies can butcher a great novel, just look at Battlefield Earth. Absolutely terrible rendition and the movie wasn't that interesting overall. On the other hand I enjoyed Starship Troopers in its own right. While maybe not an exact replication of the novel, I think it did alright for a stand alone movie.

I'm usually a sucker for Science Fiction films; I'll watch them even if they're terrible. To me, Starship Troopers wasn't a terrible film; in fact I rather enjoyed it. I can get into an action sci-fi movie centered on killing a bunch of alien bugs! Whatever social satire Heinlen was initially attempting with his novel is virtually lost here, so all we have left to watch is a military action movie in a futuristic setting. Alright, I'll buy into it; however, some parallels to other greater films can't help but be made. I'm naturally talking about the movie Aliens, which I feel this movie was trying to really borrow a lot from. We have everything you'd expect from that influence, hordes of alien creatures and the human infantry armed to the teeth shooting them. Honestly, if you like that kind of a film concept you'll find this movie entertaining. Granted it's not as high quality as Aliens, even though Starship Troopers came out years later, but most people will still have fun with it if you're not expecting the book.

This story sort of centers around an infantry trooper named Rico and it tries to have more of a dramatic feel by delving into the background of how he joined the Mobile Infantry. In some senses it tries to make some parts a bit sappy with his friends and this can come off a bit silly, but it's not too bad, I've definitely seen much worse in my day. I think the world we're brought into is pretty interesting. The government system is pretty interesting in the sense that you can't vote unless you're a citizen of the federation. In order to become a citizen you have to spend time in service to the military. It's kind of interesting, some countries have mandatory service for their citizens even today, but this is on a very extreme scale. From there we get to see Rico go through boot camp all the way up to his first battle and all the other fighting he's sent through. The first part of the film can feel a bit slow at times, but once he's on the battlefield things pick up pretty quickly! Once the fighting actually started I was pretty locked in. You shouldn't expect the greatest acting of all, after all this wasn't a huge scale production in terms of budget, but it's good for what it is.

One of the main points in Starship Troopers is the bugs! If you like creatures or monsters in any way then you'll find merit in this movie. The bugs look really cool in my opinion and are particularly vicious! One part that was neat about them was they moved with a bit of a purpose and the variant species of insects was really neat to see also. They clearly move with a telepathic kind of ability between each other and this is obviously pulled right from the script of Aliens.

Overall if you're up for a decent action packed science fiction film this is a pretty good watch. Don't expect to get the highest quality script or acting here though, just expect lots of dead bugs and torn apart humans. I thought it was just good enough to keep me entertained, but I wouldn't ever put this in my list of all time greatest films. Enjoy it for what it is and you'll have some fun with it. If you go in expecting high quality and something akin to the book, you'll likely be quite disappointed.

"the war on...bugs"
STARSHIP TROOPERS is both brilliant satire AND highly entertaining, well crafted sci-fi adventure flick. The concept behind it and what you get on the screen is a perfect parody of infamous WWII propaganda films. TROOPERS lightheartedly calls the viewer's attention to the propensity of propagandized, jingoistic humans for senseless violence without conscience, comicly using a war of humans versus mindless, souless, agressive "bugs" to make the point. In the top 20 best sci-fi films ever and a lot of fun.

"Great Movie"
This is a great movie.

The seller did a great job shipping it to me- because I ended up getting it the very next day.

"An Entertaining Exercise in Gratuitous Gore and Nudity"
The soldiers of the future will be stupid, sexy and totally expendable. Remind me to leave a note to my great grandchildren telling them not to sign up for military service!

The film is VERY loosely based on R. Heinlein's classic novel and borrows only the barest elements of its plot. P. Verhoeven's soldiers are kids right out of highschool: niave, petulant and easily swayed by lofty speeches about honor and duty. That, and they are full of blood and internal organs that are just begging to be splattered all over the place.

The movie's fun is in the preposterously gruesome battle scenes between hordes of alien 'Bugs' and the tiny, poorly trained pin-cushions otherwise known as Humans. The troopers move from planet to planet, hand delivering nukes to the bugs while dying horribly and in large numbers themselves. All of this is not to be taken seriously, neither is the mostly superfluous love triangle between the main characters.

Just sit back and enjoy the slaughter, boobies (if that's your cup 'o tea), and sly social commentary. Higher level brain functions are not required, but will reveal some added depth. Dolby 5.1 audio is available, but extra features are limited to director commentary.

"Hollywood screws up"
Why write review number 775, you may ask?
Starship Troopers is a movie very loosely based on an excellent Robert A Heinlein SF book from 1959. In the 1990's Director Paul Verhoeven tried with notable failure to make this fine story into an antiwar movie. Heinlein's story was just to good for Verhoeven's limited ability to ruin. There are two ways to watch this movie. Strait up as a good action adventure, or as a comedy. For the comic effect play the directors commentary while watching, and laugh as he tries to explain how this action movie is really an antiwar film. Its like getting two movies in one. You can enjoy the comedy even more if you read the short (205 page) novel first. you can read any of the other reviews for the story line ect.