Rating (1 to 10) : 3
Summary: A REALLY loosely based adaptation of Robert Heinlein's science fiction classic.
Since I never saw "Showgirls", I can
honestly say that Starship Troopers was the WORST Paul Verhoeven film
I’ve seen. It seems as if the
producers, in order to pay for all those bug-splattering special effects,
scrimped on the actors’ salaries and it showed right away when the movie had
folks like Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser), Casper van Dien, and
Denise Richards (Brandi Carson of "Melrose Place") as
the leading actors. Surprise
surprise! The acting was
atrocious! Doogie Howser dressed up in
black leather overcoat as a menacing psychic colonel of Military
Intelligence? Come on! I'm sorry but you just can’t buy his
supposed ominous and dangerous bearing since he can't make his facial
expression look cold and menacing.
Heck, Doogie Howser is not even as menacing as Colonel Hofstetter
from “Hogan's Heroes.” Here is where the producers should have spent
some money and gotten someone like Christopher Walken or John Lithgow to play
the foreboding character.
Then the rest of the “FRIENDS”/”PARTY OF FIVE”/”BEVERLY HILLS
90210” castaways could not convince an easily amused dolt that they were
portraying emotions of sadness, anger, or fear. The worst misacting was when the leading character Johnny Rico
(Casper Van Dien) had to react to his parents being killed by interspace
projectiles from the bugs' planets. His
facial expression upon hearing the news of his parents’ deaths was half
sadness, half disinterest, plus attention deficit disorder because he held that
expression for about 10 seconds.
The special effects was great, the only redeeming feature of the movie. But the gore and bloodiness didn't add to
the "reality" level of combat; it made combat look comical. Even WITH the gore and the confused battle
scenes, the combat scenes looked like "The Green Berets" (or a
parody thereof). The humans are all brave good guys fighting for survival, the
bugs...well...they were bugs and thus were the cruel, inhuman,
"take-no-prisoners" kinda enemy. When beloved comrades died, it
wasn't heart wrenching, it was more gung-ho, "get one for me"
attitude. What a cliché!
The movie dragged with clichéd, witless dialogue that didn't add very much
(since acting is not a strong point of these actors). The only thing the women added was an element of sex (some
nudity) and not much else. I swear
Denise Richards (who played Carmen Ibanez) had a monotonous facial expression,
whether she was having sex, under threat of being killed by an alien, or being
bored. As one exasperated spectator in
the theater said of the dialogues, "Whatever!"
And the end got more ridiculous. Some news stories, in the same parodic style
as in "Robocop", got silly and became more like those from "Robocop
3" (another bad movie but that's another review).
In conclusion, this was a VERY POOR adaptation of a very good novel by
Robert Heinlein. His novel has nothing to do with a "shoot-em up"
action sci-fi story. Rather it has more
to do with a political discussion about the duties and sacrifices that a
citizenship should encompass and how it applies to current democracies. It is a wonderful novel that makes you
think, not a novel that entertains you with vapid action in print. I hope the stink of the movie does not drive
people away from reading the book.
All in all, the movie was a waste of money. Go read the book instead.