Devotees of Robert A. Heinlein, be forewarned: Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers is less an adaptation than it is a literary satire. The author's basic motifs--jingo-all-the-way militarism, techno-babble-filled action, plastic characters with plastic conflicts--are so faithfully rendered that the faceless parade of carnage actually becomes both amusing and entertaining. Essentially the story is a near-futuristic Big Bug Hunt, with a bunch of obscenely attractive high schoolers saving humanity from malevolent, giant extra-terrestrial insects whenever they're not tangled up in romantic sub-plots out of a third season episode from Beverly Hills 90210. Verhoeven makes fun of gung-ho boosterism even as he fires his fresh-faced recruits into battle on a gung-ho booster rocket of visual effects, and if that makes Starship Troopers hypocritical, at least it's enthusiastically staged hypocrisy, full of thrilling action sequences where swarms of bugs turn anonymous grunts into dismembered landscaping. I wish I could work up more outrage over the callous way humans are dispatched here, but that would be punishing Verhoeven for getting to the heart of his material. Recommended. (S. Renshaw)Starship Troopers: Superbit Edition--DVD Review--September 9, 2003--Columbia TriStar, 129 min., R, $26.95--Proving once again that not all Superbit releases (which boast a high bitrate recording process that delivers improved image and sound qualities) are equal, the Superbit edition of Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci-fi/horror blockbuster features stunningly pristine image and sound qualities (as in reference--some of the graphics from the fake news channel feeds are nearly 3-D looking). Since the earlier released double-disc special edition is chockfull of excellent features, this would be an additional, not a replacement edition. Bottom line: for those with flush budgets, the Superbit edition of Starship Troopers really showcases the format's awesome capabilities. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Aug. 19, 2008—Sony, 129 min., R, $28.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1997’s Starship Troopers sports a great transfer and Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 sound. The bonus features on this release include two audio commentaries (the first by director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Ed Neumeier; the second by Verhoeven and costars Casper Van Dien, Neil Patrick Harris, and Dina Meyer), a “Death from Above” production featurette (32 min.), 29 minutes of FX comparisons, a 17-minute “Know Your Foe” featurette on the bugs, an eight-minute “making-of” featurette, eight minutes of deleted scenes, eight minutes of “Scene Deconstructions,” a featurette on “The Spaceships” (4 min.), “Screen Tests: Johnny and Carmen” for Van Dien and costar Denise Richards (4 min.), a brief “Bug Test Film,” a “FedNet Mode” picture-in-picture interactive viewing track with bonus content and retrospective comments from cast and crew, a “Blu-Wizard” customization tool for watching bonus material, a “Recruitment Test” trivia challenge, and BD-Live access. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for this eye-popping, bug-splattering, satirical extravaganza.]
Starship Troopers
(Columbia TriStar, 130 min., R, avail. May 19) Vol. 13, Issue 3
Starship Troopers
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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