Starship Troopers

1997
R
2h 9m

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

329K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer0:31

Alien Invasion Dystopian Sci-Fi Space Sci-Fi Action Adventure Sci-Fi Thriller

Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.

Director
- Paul Verhoeven
Writers
- Edward Neumeier
- Robert A. Heinlein
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

329K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

811

180

Director
- Paul Verhoeven
Writers
- Edward Neumeier
- Robert A. Heinlein
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 16 nominations total

Trivia
In a 2016 interview, Casper Van Dien revealed a funny incident when he was picking up his two daughters from school: "I went by the line at school to pick up my kids.....I drive up to the school, and when I get there there are these six ten- and eight-year-old boys hanging out with my daughters. I pull up in the line, and the boys go, 'Johnny Rico! Why didn't you tell us your dad was Johnny Rico?' And I said, 'What are you boys doing watching STARSHIP TROOPERS?' And they said, 'Our dads made us watch it with them!' Then my daughters get in the car, and my ten-year-old says, 'Dad, were you really naked in STARSHIP TROOPERS?' And I said, 'Yeah,' and she said, 'How could you do that to me?!' Then my eight-year-old says, 'Wait, like naked naked?' And I said 'Yup,' and she said, 'Oh my God, my life is ruined!' That was the longest three minute ride home I have had in my life."

Goofs
When Rasczak's mobile infantry troop are on their way to investigate the distress call on Planet P, Rico is scanning the tops of the canyon walls with binoculars. When he almost sees the winged Arachnid, there are rocks falling. A hand can be seen lobbing one of the rocks over the wall.

Quotes
Jean Rasczak: Come on you apes! You want to live forever?

Alternate versions
Several scenes were modified to tone down the movie for showing on Russian television. Aside from cutdowns similar to the Australian version to tone down the violence, of note is a modification to the video feed scene (where Rico 'walks' Carmen through his surroundings, camera in hand) - when his teammates take off their pants to moon the camera, static was added to cover the nudity up. Also, the shower room and the sex scene were slightly cut to remove frontal nudity.

Connections
Edited into Starship Troopers: Deleted Scenes (1998)

Soundtracks
Into It
Produced by Terry Becker (as Terri Becker), Bernard Estardy, Zoë Poledouris and Christopher Tyng
Written and Performed by Zoë Poledouris

User reviews1.2K

Review

Featured review

Better -- and more disturbing -- each time I watch it

This movie never fails to generate strong reactions, both positive and negative.

Much of the negative criticizes the wooden acting, soap-opera beautiful stars, and unreasonably military tactics that lead to an enormous human body count.

But that misses the whole point. The actors and plotlines are supposed to be caricatures of themselves. We are presented with a seemingly utopian society, where everyone is beautiful, the world is united under a single government, and patriotism is rampant.

The further the movie goes, the more the viewer realizes just how horrific this supposed utopia really is. Patriotism is exploited to trick young men and women into going off to a pointless war. The beautiful people are mercilessly chopped to pieces by their insectoid opponents. And the united world government uses its control of the media to brainwash the public into supporting this bloody war.

Yes, the Nazi symbolism is a little heavy-handed. But that's the whole point -- the intertwining of this "perfect" society with such a deeply evil subtext is supposed to be disturbing. What's even more disturbing is how close to our recent (American) history this movie truly is. Yes, it's a caricature, but it's a caricature of a very real and frightening phenomenon.

How different are the government propaganda ads in Starship Troopers from the "Loose Lips Sink Ships" campaign or the "10% for War Bonds" posters in 1940s U.S.? How dangerous is it to have a society where everyone looks the same, thinks the same, and acts the same, even to their own death? This is the message behind Starship Troopers, and it's a chilling one at that.

And for me, it works.