90's Throwback Month - Starship Troopers (1997)
Hey guys, Chuck here, and welcome back to 90's Throwback Month. For today's review, we'll be taking a look at a sci-fi movie that, while sneered by critics at the time, has gotten quite a following over the years. That film is the 1997 Paul Verhoeven classic Starship Troopers.
Throughout the film are a series of news clips that satirize military/government propaganda, and we see that humanity is in an intergalactic conflict with the Arachnids of the desolate planet Klendathu. After a sequence showing a number of soldiers being killed by the Arachnids, we flash back to a year earlier, where we meet high schooler Johnny Rico, who lives in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is about to graduate along with his girlfriend, Carmen Ibanez, and his best friend, Carl Jenkins. After graduation, all three enlist into military service. You see, in this future military service guarantees citizenship in the Federation, which gives individuals opportunities not extended to civilians. Anyway, Carmen heads off to become a pilot in the Fleet, Carl joins Military Intelligence, and Johnny, despite the disapproval of his parents, enlists in the Mobile Infantry.
Upon arriving at the training camp, Johnny is surprised to see his fellow high school student Dizzy Flores, who transferred to the squad that Johnny was part of. Johnny also befriends/becomes rivals with Ace Levy. After impressing his instructor, Career Sgt. Zim, Johnny is given squad command, but is relieved, and later flogged, after an incident that led to the accidental death of a squad member. Johnny also receives a "Dear John" letter from Carmen, who plans to go Career as a Fleet Pilot, and eventually take command of her own ship. Johnny decides to leave service and return home, but a transmission with his parents is cut off. This is due to a massive asteroid being sent from Bug space crashing into, and destroying the entire city of Buenos Aires. Due to this attack, the Federation declares war on the Bugs, and leads an all-out assault on Klendathu itself. After witnessing the attack going south, which we saw in the opening of the movie as well, we see Johnny, whose been marked as a KIA, recovering from his wounds. Soon after, Johnny, Dizzy, and Ace join a new squad, the Roughnecks, led by Dizzy and Johnny's old teacher, Lt. Rasczak. The Roughnecks go to the planetoid Tango Urilla, where they mop up from a Fleet bombing. It is here that Johnny destroys a massive Tanker Bug, and is promoted to Corporal. During a night of celebrating, Johnny and Dizzy head into Johnny's tent and, well you get the idea.
The next day, the Roughnecks answer a distress call on Planet "P," at an outpost set up by the Federation, Johnny is promoted once again, this time to Sgt., and they realize that the distress call was a trap. Soon after, the outpost is swarmed by Bugs, and the Roughnecks suffer heavy losses, including Rasczak and Dizzy. The survivors are picked up by Carmen and another pilot, Zander, who take them back into space. After a funeral procession for Dizzy, Carl arrives and confirms his suspicions: there is a Brain Bug on "P." Johnny is named Lieutenant, and is given command of the Roughnecks, most of whom are kids fresh out of Boot Camp. The only two who remained alongside Johnny are Ace and another member of the old squad, Cpl. Sugar Watkins.
Meanwhile, the Fleet is attacked in space by balls of plasma fired by the Tanker Bugs on the planet below, and Carmen and Zander escape their ship as it's destroyed, only to crash land in the middle of Bug City. Zander is killed by the Brain Bug, but Carmen survives, being rescued by Rico, Ace, and Sugar, who sacrifices himself so the others can escape. Outside, the Mobile Infantry is celebrating, as Rico's old drill sergeant, Zim, has captured the Brain Bug. Johnny, Carmen, and Carl enjoy their brief reunion, and celebrate this victory. But they all know that the battle isn't over yet. Carl works to probe the Brain Bug, Carmen is now a captain of a starship, and Johnny leads a Mobile Infantry battalion into battle, ending the movie.
Starship Troopers is mid-90's sci-fi cheese at its finest. A lot of the actors, including Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Clancy Brown, Neil Patrick Harris, and Michael Ironside (seriously, that's the coolest name of an actor ever) are all fantastic, Heck, even Denise Richards is pretty enjoyable in this movie. The visual effects don't always look their best, and some just look hokey as heck, but they do give this movie its charm, and surprisingly hold up pretty well even today. I should point out that there is a bit of gore and nudity throughout the movie. In other words, while I enjoy the movie quite a bit, I don't recommend it for viewers under the age of 16. Other than that, I really enjoy Starship Troopers, and give it a rating of 4.25/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time as we continue 90's Throwback Month.
Throughout the film are a series of news clips that satirize military/government propaganda, and we see that humanity is in an intergalactic conflict with the Arachnids of the desolate planet Klendathu. After a sequence showing a number of soldiers being killed by the Arachnids, we flash back to a year earlier, where we meet high schooler Johnny Rico, who lives in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is about to graduate along with his girlfriend, Carmen Ibanez, and his best friend, Carl Jenkins. After graduation, all three enlist into military service. You see, in this future military service guarantees citizenship in the Federation, which gives individuals opportunities not extended to civilians. Anyway, Carmen heads off to become a pilot in the Fleet, Carl joins Military Intelligence, and Johnny, despite the disapproval of his parents, enlists in the Mobile Infantry.
Upon arriving at the training camp, Johnny is surprised to see his fellow high school student Dizzy Flores, who transferred to the squad that Johnny was part of. Johnny also befriends/becomes rivals with Ace Levy. After impressing his instructor, Career Sgt. Zim, Johnny is given squad command, but is relieved, and later flogged, after an incident that led to the accidental death of a squad member. Johnny also receives a "Dear John" letter from Carmen, who plans to go Career as a Fleet Pilot, and eventually take command of her own ship. Johnny decides to leave service and return home, but a transmission with his parents is cut off. This is due to a massive asteroid being sent from Bug space crashing into, and destroying the entire city of Buenos Aires. Due to this attack, the Federation declares war on the Bugs, and leads an all-out assault on Klendathu itself. After witnessing the attack going south, which we saw in the opening of the movie as well, we see Johnny, whose been marked as a KIA, recovering from his wounds. Soon after, Johnny, Dizzy, and Ace join a new squad, the Roughnecks, led by Dizzy and Johnny's old teacher, Lt. Rasczak. The Roughnecks go to the planetoid Tango Urilla, where they mop up from a Fleet bombing. It is here that Johnny destroys a massive Tanker Bug, and is promoted to Corporal. During a night of celebrating, Johnny and Dizzy head into Johnny's tent and, well you get the idea.
The next day, the Roughnecks answer a distress call on Planet "P," at an outpost set up by the Federation, Johnny is promoted once again, this time to Sgt., and they realize that the distress call was a trap. Soon after, the outpost is swarmed by Bugs, and the Roughnecks suffer heavy losses, including Rasczak and Dizzy. The survivors are picked up by Carmen and another pilot, Zander, who take them back into space. After a funeral procession for Dizzy, Carl arrives and confirms his suspicions: there is a Brain Bug on "P." Johnny is named Lieutenant, and is given command of the Roughnecks, most of whom are kids fresh out of Boot Camp. The only two who remained alongside Johnny are Ace and another member of the old squad, Cpl. Sugar Watkins.
Meanwhile, the Fleet is attacked in space by balls of plasma fired by the Tanker Bugs on the planet below, and Carmen and Zander escape their ship as it's destroyed, only to crash land in the middle of Bug City. Zander is killed by the Brain Bug, but Carmen survives, being rescued by Rico, Ace, and Sugar, who sacrifices himself so the others can escape. Outside, the Mobile Infantry is celebrating, as Rico's old drill sergeant, Zim, has captured the Brain Bug. Johnny, Carmen, and Carl enjoy their brief reunion, and celebrate this victory. But they all know that the battle isn't over yet. Carl works to probe the Brain Bug, Carmen is now a captain of a starship, and Johnny leads a Mobile Infantry battalion into battle, ending the movie.
Starship Troopers is mid-90's sci-fi cheese at its finest. A lot of the actors, including Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Clancy Brown, Neil Patrick Harris, and Michael Ironside (seriously, that's the coolest name of an actor ever) are all fantastic, Heck, even Denise Richards is pretty enjoyable in this movie. The visual effects don't always look their best, and some just look hokey as heck, but they do give this movie its charm, and surprisingly hold up pretty well even today. I should point out that there is a bit of gore and nudity throughout the movie. In other words, while I enjoy the movie quite a bit, I don't recommend it for viewers under the age of 16. Other than that, I really enjoy Starship Troopers, and give it a rating of 4.25/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time as we continue 90's Throwback Month.
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