Starship Troopers - 4K + Blu-ray [4K UHD]

Picture this: you invite someone into your home for dinner, and instead of being gracious, they spend the entire evening openly insulting you. They mock your cooking, laugh at your choice of furnishings, deride your values, all while helping themselves to your booze. I’m sure we can all agree that that’s no ones idea of a good time, and yet that is almost exactly what Dutch director Paul Verhoeven did back in 1997 when he directed Starship Troopers. Perhaps that goes someway to explaining why the film was almost universally panned by US critics of the day, whom to a man refused to acknowledge the film’s explicitly satirical execution and, in the critical equivalent of who smelt it dealt it, instead decided to accuse Verhoeven of making a piece of fascist propaganda. But while the movie’s reputation in the US remains in the gutter, everywhere else in the world this film is seen as a classic, with many considering it to be Verhoeven’s most accomplished American film: it’s more polished than Robocop, not as silly as Hollow Man or Total Recall, nor as vapid as Basic Instinct or Showgirls. Plus the satire is razor sharp.The story is fairly simple: in the distant future, some space Mormons from a now fascist America set up a mission on an Alien planet. The Aliens, construing the outpost as an advance on their home world, retaliate by massacring the Mormons and firing asteroids on earth. Meanwhile in a colonized Argentina, Barbie and Ken are graduating high school where they’ve been educated on a diet of nazi propaganda by the maimed and limbless survivors of some previous, unmentioned conflict. Barbie makes plans to enlist as it’s the only pathway to citizenship and by extension access to higher education or the right to start a family, while idealist Ken follows her for more goofy teen reasons. When an Alien asteroid strikes their city and obliterates their Dreamhouses, Barbie and Ken slowly lose whatever modicum of humanity they had and turn into space nazis. It’s the age old story.From the opening scenes -a shot for shot recreation of Leni Riefenstahl’s work in Triumph of the Will disguised as a mock PSA for army recruitment- through to the astonishingly fascist civics lesson where we’re introduced to our protagonists and their world, Verhoeven’s intentions are clear. By placing the action in a post liberal, right wing dystopia, he avoids the lecturing preachiness of It Happened Here, and focuses his attention squarely on showing us just how merciless and horrifying such a dystopia would be. Concepts like social justice, personal liberty, even love are dismissed in favour of the becoming a citizen: a person who is willing to sacrifice anything -including their life- for the preservation of the body politic. To those unsure which side of the argument Verhoeven himself lands on, he draws a direct parallel between that ideology and the mindless obedience of the icky arachnids, a trait which as far as Rue McClanahan’s scarred biology teacher is concerned, trumps our individualism and superior intellect, and which makes them superior to us.But Verhoeven knows that fascism cannot take hold without the approval -however tacit- of the broader population, so he cannily utilizes the template of the hyper militarized action films of the day, using the audience’s hunger for that type of violent wish fulfillment to point the finger at us. What the critics of the day called propaganda, is actually an indictment on our complicity in the seemingly inexorable march towards totalitarianism. Sure, he thumbs the scale by making the alien arachnids some of the most frightening, least sympathetic antagonists ever committed to film, but by hiding the origins of the conflict in a flawless takedown of the type jingoistic news reporting de rigueur on American networks, he’s encouraging us to look at how easy it is to manipulate us. And funny as it is watching a wild-eyed and hysterical Donna Reed type encouraging her kids to squish bugs, Verhoeven is asking us to recognize that by priming people from birth to accept the use of force as some sort of virtue, it’s all too easy to convince people that war and its attendant atrocities are justified and justifiable. The human wreckage this ideology has wrought is seen everywhere, from Micheal Ironside’s missing arm and Rue McClanahan’s disfigured face, to a quadriplegic recruitment officer unironically exclaiming that “the mobile infantry made me the man I am today” Verhoeven is asking us to question how we’re being manipulated, because pursuing this type of ideology is like wielding a knife without a hilt- just as likely to hurt you as it is your enemy.But this is a Paul Verhoeven movie, so all this satire is dressed up in some of the most exciting and explicitly violent action ever put in a mainstream Hollywood movie. The grotesque and terrifying effects by legendary effects artist Phil Tippit (who’s work includes the Raptors in JP and the AT-AT walkers in ESB) are astonishing even by today’s standards, and would give any modern MCU cartoon a run for their money. This truly is a fantastic film, get it in the best format you can and strap in, it’s one hell of a ride!

This movie is a blast. I know it wasn't everyone's cup of tea on release and some of the meta elements were strange at the time, but I think it's aged fairly well. The bugs look good, the acting is serviceable (some good, some bad, so a bit mixed), and the setting is fantastic. The whole thing is a fun romp.

Great quality video and sound arrived FACTORY SEALED. No loose disc no scratches. The movie its self is a classic and a good one at that. Im hoping the rest will get 4k releases or the series gets a good quality reboot. The sequel was good but the 3rd was just bad.

This is a great cult classic that has it all. It wasn't so well received at the box office and the critics hated it. But then what do the critics know anyways. Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Patrick Muldoon, Micheal Iron Side, Dean Norris, & Marshall Bell. All round out a well-balanced cast in this Syfy coming of age war film. With uber Patriotism and WWII styled neo-fascist propaganda in an over the internet linked in "Would you like to know more?" kind of way. In a Federalist near Fascist overbearing government where military service guarantees Citizenship. In a world where Citizens have rights and not everyone is a citizen. A world at war with giant evil bugs that are trying to eradicate humanity while we're trying to do the same to them. It follows a group of highschoolers in Buenos Aires starting just before graduation. Then following them to military bootcamp training, through their personal trials; the end of a romance for the main character Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) as Carman Ibanez (Dennis Richards) now a fleet pilot sends Johnny a futuristic dear John letter. Then more tragedy as their hometown is destroyed by a meteorite sent by the bugs. Then off to war were Johnny Rico and his school friend and want to be love interest Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) fight in a failed invasion of the Bugs home planet. Johnny is badly wounded, and incorrectly listed as Killed In Action. Which is seen on a casualty board by Carmen, who feels saddened by Rico's death. But Jonny and Dizzy along with bootcamp chum Ace Levy (Jake Busey) are reassigned to a group of troopers called the "Rough Necks" headed by Dizzy & Ricos old schoolteacher Jean Rasczak (Micheal Ironside) Things seem to be looking up for the friends even with the war on. Johnny gets promoted to Corporal, Dizzy to Squad Leader. Dizzy & Johnny finally get to be a romantic pair and fall for the first time mutually in love with each other.A notion their Lieutenant rather comically supports in one scene. Just before they are all sent on an ill-fated rescue mission to "Whiskey Outpost" on planet "P" where they find all but a lone surviving General Owen (Marshall Bell) a little out of his head, after all others in the Outpost had been killed. The outpost is surrounded, and the Rough Necks are forced to defend an untenable position against vastly superior enemy forces. While awaiting an Evac shuttle to come get them out. During the battle many of the Rough Necks are killed. Including Lt. Rasczak who is crippled with both of his legs ripped off, he gives Rico a final order to shot him and end it. Rico in the presence of Dizzy unhappily follows orders. A large assault bug called a "Tanker" breaches the outpost and is stopped by Dizzy who literally throws a live grenade into the creatures open jaws. A second later Its head explodes, and Dizzy and others let out howls of triumph. The moment is short lived as an instant later Dizzy is directly attacked by one of the arachnids. It stabs its pointed appendages through her body several times before Rico and the others can come to her rescue. They kill the bug and carry a mortally wounded Dizzy into the shuttle and lift off, as the Bugs are swarming over the outpost. A couple moments later with final declarations of love. Dizzy dies on the escape shuttle in Johnnys arms. Later just after Dizzy's funeral, attended by the Rough Necks, Dizzy and Johnnys old school friends Colonel Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris) & Lt. Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards) Johnny Rico is promoted to the new Lieutenant in charge of the Rough Necks. They Go back to planet "P" with a much larger invasion force. Where they defeat the Bugs capturing a "Brain Bug" a form of thinking bug that is the leadership cast of the bugs. It's the start of the end of the bugs and it's all due to Johnny and Dizzy's former Sr. Drill Instructor named Sergeant Charlie Zim. "WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?"

When this came out in theaters, the special effects were spectacular but it seemed a little cheesy-- everything looked a bit too clean, and it seemed almost like a SciFi channel show. Nowadays, after all blockbuster films have followed in the same format, it's easier to appreciate the finer qualities of this film, and it really is a rollicking romp of an adventure movie. Plus-- it almost seems like special effects have gotten WORSE since 1997 watching it in high definition in 2025.

Terrific 4K! A very maligned, misunderstood gem. Satire off the charts.