Director – Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Hollow Man)
Starring – Casper Van Dien (Sleepy Hollow, Casper Meets Wendy), Denise Richards (Wild Things, Tammy and the T-Rex), and Dina Meyer (Saw, Six Feet Under)
Release Date – 1997
Rating – 4/5
UHD Release – 4/5
When I was in elementary or middle school my dad got the cable box that unlocked the “premium” channels from the local cable company. This allowed us to have access to HBO, Cinemas, and The Movie Channel. I watched a lot of my favorite movies for the first time after we plugged that in. I was introduced to movies like Demolition Man, Brain Donors, and so many more. It was on one of these channels that I watched the sci-fi action film Starship Troopers for the first time. Since then I’ve watched it several times and I often wonder why this film is not talked about in movie circles. It’s a fantastic film that seems to go unnoticed by the masses.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I received the press release for the UHD Steelbook release of the film and I was very fucking excited for this release. It’s not often I get a steelbook release in for review, so I was fully expecting to spend the cash for this one. However, a few days later it arrived for review. I had attempted to watch this several times since then, but I decided to wait until I had the house to myself, so I wouldn’t be distracted.
**Spoiler Alert** The film takes place in the distant future where mankind has achieved intergalactic travel. Humans has progressed significantly and their presence among the stars has provoked a war between them and a planet of giant bugs. The bugs, known as Arachnids, use an asteroid belt around their home planet to shoot meteors at Earth. It’s here that we follow a group of young soldiers in different branches of the Federation military who enter the way to fight for the family they lost after a meteor hit their home country. **Spoiler Alert**
Starship Troopers suffers from horrible CGI and too many hands in the pot in regard to characters and character development. However, it’s a fantastic sci-fi action film with bits of romance, horror, and comedy scattered throughout. Its throws everything at the viewer in hopes that something sticks and for the most part it does. Aside from the horribly cheap and date visual effects, this film is one of the better sci-fi flicks that still finds it’s mark all these years later.
The acting in this one is hit or miss with me. Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards never did it for me in this one. Casper seemed to be trying too hard to be a hard ass while Richards can’t stop smiling. Even during her action scenes, she has this shit eating grin on her face. It’s so awkward and reminds me of a drunk sorority girl trying to get a guy’s attention. With that being said, these characters are not the ones that stick out anyway. Viewers often quote and talk about the performances from Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown, and Jake Busey. Hell, I even prefer Dina Meyer to Richards who out performed her in almost every way.
The story for this one is a bit of a mess to follow but if you stick with it and pay attention you will find it very rewarding. As I stated earlier, the film has more memorable characters than the Star Wars franchise. We have so many well written and fully developed characters to enjoy which does stretch the story out. In turn, it stretches the film’s run time as well. I always felt that this could have been split into two films with a little more focus on the story. That way we could get more of the characters that makes this stand out from other sci-fi action films without compromising the story. I do like the story we get but I do feel like it takes the back seat a lot of the time so we can get a ridiculous amount of character development.
Finally, the film has some seriously impressive practical and visual effects. However, on the other side of the coin we get some of the worst visual effects in cinema history. A good portion of the visuals we get look good and even hold up after all these years but there is some scenes with some of the worst visuals I’ve seen and that’s including Blood of the Chupacabras. We also get a surprising amount of blood and gore that still catches me off guard after all these years. Overall, Starship Troopers is a must see for any sci-fi fan. Horror fans can appreciate this one as well and this steelbook release is a must have. I highly recommend this one.
Special Features:
NEW: Starship Troopers 25th Anniversary Reunion – an all-new virtual reunion featuring screenwriter Ed Neumeier and actors Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside, Jake Busey, Patrick Muldoon and Seth Gilliam
Feature presented in High Definition
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio
Director and Cast Commentary
Commentary with Paul Verhoeven and Ed Neumeier
FedNet Mode Picture-in-Picture
“Death From Above” Documentary
“Know Your Foe” Bug Featurettes
“The Spaceships from Starship Troopers” Featurette
“FX Comparisons” Featurettes
Storyboard Comparisons
The Making of Starship Troopers
Deleted Scenes
Screen Tests
Scene Deconstructions
