@@Naldo2001 Actually the censoring was in the movie in that scene. It was fine in the movie to show dead humans but all the scenes where bugs were in captivity were censored in the actual movie. Verhoeven did this as a directors conceit.
I can't speak to anything behind the scenes that led to this however in universe it makes sense, since you'd want to show the human casualties for the continued sensationalized propaganda as a way to show that we humans are justified to kill all the bugs and to urge recruitment from the masses that want to protect their loved ones from having that happen to them.
@@cherimiss7983 The Bugs attacked first and are genocidal. The so called propaganda is live UNCENSORED footage of a battle which no country today would alow.
Paul Verhoeven once described the meaning of this movie as “war makes fascists of us all.” Verhoeven grew up in the Netherlands during Nazi occupation and his films, while they also work as entertaining sci-fi action, are always critiques of fascism and militarism. His over the top violence comes from a real place as he’s actually witnessed some horrific stuff and doesn’t soft peddle the effects of violence. Glad to see you react to this one, I really enjoy the channel!
Another thing to remember about the CGI in this movie, is how much of it was in daylight, which was something most movies avoided because it made it harder to look realistic. As I recall they spent more time doing the post CGI work, than they did actually filming the movie, because it was so intensive for the time.
I'm always surprised it hear it wasn't a hit. Then I remember the people I spoke to about it were other 15-year-old boys, so I guess the problem was the sample group.
I love how much Shan appreciated the special effects. Like he said they weren't working with a huge budget so what they pulled off was super impressive.
@@stt5v2002 ah yes, because whats more fascist than the freedom to *choose* whether you want to join the military in order to *choose* to become a citizen to protect the party politic. I'd recommend watch Arch's newest video on Starship troopers rather than watching cinema sin's video on it. Its honestly funny that people think it has anything to do with fascism tbh
@@frankficcle7081 I think by showing him at all, the message is inherent. I know I'd be a bit dissuaded! Verhoeven just doesn't pander and spell it all out for us. Instead he focuses on a tongue-in-cheek adage, and I couldn't love it more, lol.
@@Lost_n_Found_1 not many people notice all the adults who inspire Rico to join the military have severe injuries, the desk guy, his biology teacher is blind, his ethics teacher had a hand missing
The Drill Sergeant is played by Clancy Brown. He played Byron Hadley in Shawshank Redemption and has played everything from the immortal Kurgan in 'Highlander' to Brother Justin Crowe in 'Carnivale'. He's also done *all* of the voice acting in Hollywood. He's been Lex Luthor, Mr. Krabs, and Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok.
I was about to write the same... Believe us Shan, that's one of his best, most epic scores, and a fantastic movie too (directed by John McTiernan, of Die Hard and Predator fame). Highly recommended.
@@AdamtheGrey02 Crimson Tide got so much wrong it was laughable after they got the orders to launch and the message fragment would have been disregarded as improperly formatted message and sub would have proceded to launch depth and fire
@@Leoluvesadmira But that's what Gene Hackman's crew was trying to do. Follow those orders. He just happened to encounter Denzel and his crew who wanted more proof before they turn the world into ash.
That's kind of a problem I have: I saw the movie, liked it well enough, then read the book, found it was REALLY good and was all like, "Ah, the movie is shitting all over the book." And after that I haven't been able to enjoy the movie as much.
@@nickp1987 Well Verhoeven used the movie as satire of fascism, which I still don't get why people don't get that from the movie. Some people even think the movie glorifies fascism, like wtf? lol I read the book years before the movie ever came out, and yes it was disappointing to see it wasn't a direct version of the book - but the movie stands on it's own in the end.
@@LordLOC I never got why the movie was pretending the federation was fascist, it wasn't in the book. The federation was democratic and while military personnel received some benefits it wasn't like non military personnel where living in squalor. There was even a lot of emphasis in the book where everyone including the recruiter was telling Rico not to join the military. The book and movie are complete opposites.
@@LordLOC Then he should have called it something else. And by the way- the original book wasn't pro-fascism. There was no reason to crap all over that book. Fascism isn't the opposite of communism. And the bugs represented communism. And really, history should show that the USSR and China were very terrible and quite the threat to the US and Europe.
Thank you for doing this reaction properly, noticing things about the movie and discussing them. A lot of people just kinda stare at the screen and go "Wow!" every now and then. I appreciate this proper breakdown.
"I think I know that guy ... from Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile" THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! :) That's Clancy Brown, The Kurgan in 'Highlander' (1986), great movie, check it out!
I was obsessed with seeing this film as a kid after reading the reviews about the special effects in the newspaper. Was not disappointed. The Acting is overthetop and is fits perfectly. I crushed on Diz hardcore back in the day. Only one of the sequels was good though. There is even a Japanese Anime based on the books made in the 1980s. This is a really interesting commentary on, "What if Fascism worked?"
@@frankficcle7081 There were some CGI movies made in the early/mid 00s that were closer to the source material. I had them all downloaded, but my Harddrive died and lost them all.
"I don't understand how this wasn't a big hit in 1997" "I still can't understand why it wasn't received positively when it came out" I think it was a number of factors. Let's take a look at a few. 1) 1997 scifi release schedule The Fifth Element-----------------May 9, 1997 Men in Black-------------------------July 2, 1997 Contact---------------------------------July 11, 1997 Event Horizon-----------------------August 15, 1997 Gattaca---------------------------------October 24, 1997 Starship Troopers-----------------November 7, 1997 Alien Resurrection-----------------November 26, 1997 This puts a lot of notable, strong, and tonally diverse scifi/space/aliens films already having been released that year. With a well known scifi franchise with sky high expectations waiting release when ST came out. Which sets a high bar, makes some tired/hostile of the genre, and also forces each film to be squeezed into a niche description relative to the others. 2) Alien Franchise The Alien franchise before Alien Resurrection was an established and still very popular franchise. Especially among its diehard fans. Starship Troopers is coming out the same month as, and just before, the 4th Alien movie. The general public is going to confuse scifi bug films (or maybe ask which one they should watch and which one they should skip), and the Alien diehard fans are going to hate on ST. Even in the review by Siskel & Ebert (the 2 biggest critics, and highly influential in that era), we can hear Ebert state how he knocks the bugs in ST and praises the bugs in Alien: "You get a lot, a lot, of shots of bugs being blown up. And these bugs, once you master what they look like and what they can do, are pretty boring. Because they don't have very many resources, they're not real interesting movie aliens like the character, for example, in the movie aliens." ST probably would have been less slandered if it had been released after Alien Resurrection had already come out and flopped. But it's hard for a new film to compete with the hype, expectations, and amazing legacy of a well know license. 3) Siskel & Ebert Siskel & Ebert were the 2 biggest US critics in that era, and their television show they co-hosted was highly influential. Ebert flat out hates on the film ("too repetitive for me and I have to give a thumbs down") in the Siskel & Ebert episode for ST. Ebert basically says (multiple times) it's boring and just goes on far too long ("it just goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on"), and he combatively pushes this on Siskel multiple times. Siskel tries to say he likes the satire and other elements of the film, but he ends up defending against and then caving to Ebert's tone. This is just gonna get people to skip the film. Ebert's review article is even more scathing: "'Starship Troopers' is the most violent kiddie movie ever made. I call it a kiddie movie not to be insulting, but to be accurate: Its action, characters and values are pitched at 11-year-old science-fiction fans. That makes it true to its source. It's based on a novel for juveniles by Robert A. Heinlein. I read it to the point of memorization when I was in grade school. I have improved since then, but the story has not." That's just brutal. It takes the time to attack the movie and the book, with a kind of celebrity/critic audience shaming of anyone consuming, enjoying, or celebrating the movie or book. 4) critics, popular culture, and Hollywood vs. scifi/fantasy In that era, critics, popular culture, and Hollywood were all very dismissive, belittling, and hostile to scfi as anything more than fantasy movies for children (of all ages) or special effects showcases. This already made many people just uninterested in scifi, and also provoked people to feel shameful or silent about it. It was reflected in common public conversation, critics, industry awards, many (non-writer) industry professionals, media, etc. It's hard to view through today's lens the fantasy and scifi content from that older era, and really understand that era's own lens of high scale mainstream, widespread, and socially coercive hate that existed for the genre back then. It was very intense. And they would jump on echoing, or yield to, almost any common derisive attack on these genres. 5) 90210 in space The TV show "Beverly Hills, 90210" was a big hit in the 90's with a lot of public attention and influence. But by 1997 its ratings were declining, and the show and its tone were getting popular pushback (as is common with hot properties once they cool off). Some of the biggest tropes identified in the genre were young, attractive, and largely unknown actors, living exciting, social, young adult, coming of age lives. At first, these tropes were celebrated and influential. But after a few years these tropes were being hated upon and ridiculed. Someone branded ST as "90210 in space" (or "Melrose Place in space", another show with those similar tropes and from the creator of 90210). It stuck. Such a label would have been a compliment in 1993. But in 1997 it was a slur. And lots of 90210 haters were happy to have something else to hate on. Also, when you're running largely unknown actors as stars, it also means you won't have any big name draw attached. (and Neil's show "Doogie Howser, M.D." had ended in 93, this was a different genre for Neil fans, his young adult version was up for fresh appraisal, and he does not feature as a driving lead in the movie for much of the middle) 6) Book fans The ST book was just not that popular or well known at the time in the mainstream. Also, some book fans were dismayed because of differences in the movie and book, notably the book using mech suits that are nowhere in the movie. Not that this was a huge impact. But it didn't help. 7) Verhoeven 1987---------------------RoboCop 1990---------------------Total Recall 1992 --------------------Basic Instinct 1995 --------------------Showgirls 1997---------------------Starship Troopers Verhoeven had been a niche popular culture darling with RoboCop, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct. But Showgirls really killed that vibe. Really, really, really killed that vibe. Showgirls was one of those movies that becomes VERY popular to reference as a bad film. Hate for the film, hate for Elizabeth Berkley, and hate for Verhoeven. The type of hate where it has nothing to do with reality anymore, and type of hate where people are going to take delight in hating on anyone attached to it that gets the label to target. Verhoeven was targeted. ST was just two years later, and lots of people were happy to throw more hate at Verhoeven and his new film just for fun. 8-x) ?? Anyone want to add anything else?
Verhoeven said on the commentary that the biggest reason the movie flopped was because the media thought the film was pro-fascist and led to very limited coverage(which was mostly negative)...
Yes. In 2020, there is an entire generation of movie goers since this was made that’s been fed cartoonishly drenched science fiction. That includes the MCU. Cheesy, goofy, militaristic, filmmaking was a difficult dismount to stick with precision in the 1990s. Starship Troopers was too cute by half. It’s biggest strengths was also its weakness, the propaganda commercials selling citizenship over being a civilian. Militarism was viewed differently in the years immediately preceding 9/11.
@@sashen6678 Its kinda easy to see how audiences at the time could get that impression. The *story* is pro-fascist, but the audience is supposed to understand that it's propaganda and just an illustration of how fascism is sold to the masses. You'd think with all the heavy Nazi imagery that audiences would get that the humans are the bad guys and the message is a brain-washing one; but alas, they took it at face value.
When you said "I wish we had a little more exposition on the bugs" I could only think..."I bet the human characters in the movie do too..." I think that's the point - to make the audience feel the uncertainty that the humans felt...Increasing the expositional value - or statement - of the propaganda clips in the movie.
As in real life wars, the enemy and their motives are painted with broad brushes of malicious intent to galvanize and unify the people against them. If the film delved too deeply into the bugs mindsets and their motives, the sting of satire and propaganda bits would have been diminished.
I've followed the actress dizzy for years on Instagram she has carried being in character till this day, fans enjoy her Instagram cause she keeps Dizzy going. She's 50 and it's tone till this day she should fight bugs
In the shower scene, Verhoeven to put all the actors at ease, had anyone present during the shoot also be naked.... .so know during that scene off camera there is a nude Verhoeven.
The most popular track by Basil Poledouris in this film is "Klendathu Drop". I think you were simply too distracted by the visuals to really listen to it. It's also subtly implied that the asteroids and bugs have nothing to do w/ each other. The former is merely used by the government as a justification to wipe out the latter. BTW, the director's surname is VerHoeven, not VerNoeven.
It's bizarre to think that there are people who watch this movie and think that the Bugs are actually responsible for the asteroid, even though all of the available information present in the film itself makes it clear that, despite whatever intelligence the Bugs may have, they don't have that kind of capability. It's made even more notable when you watch all of the propaganda videos throughout the film and the jingoistic way the war against the bugs is presented in-universe, and so watching the film again makes this point even more clear. It's kind of shocking just how many people will actually dismiss this.
This is a highly underrated movie, because most people cannot figure out that it is supposed to be somewhat satirical. So everyone thinks that it is full of overacting or bad acting, when in fact it is exactly the acting they were shooting for to keep the movie a serious satire. I also cannot believe that this did not win best special effects for that year, because these effects were like nothing any other movie had done by then.
I like that you spend a good amount of time reviewing the movie after it’s finished, so many reaction channels just react and switch off at the credits but you’re content is far better for the review at the end.
@@Lost_n_Found_1 Well, "they" did not assume anything...that is the way the bugs were written in the actual story...that's the way Heinlein made them. Verhoeven obviously decided to go another way...but that is just one more reason his movie never should have been called Starship Troopers.
A really underrated film, one of my favourites, I think I have watched it about 20 times ! The CGI was fantastic especially since most of it is done in daytime scenes, I think it still holds up ! Another great review!
My recommendations : - DUEL (1971) by Steven Spielberg - PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) by Brian De Palma - ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) by John Carpenter - BRAZIL (1985) by Terry Gilliam - THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987) by George Miller - ABYSS (1989) by James Cameron
I just found this channel and your literally watching all my favourite movies. You obviously have a deep love for film and are very knowledgable about production. I wonder where your passion of practical effects comes from having not seen any of these movies....regardless It is refreshing to know there are still people out there that appreciate them. You know good writing, good acting, good music, you point out set design, art direction, cinematography, and you know a good explosion when you see one. There's a little time travel movie called Primer that only cost 8k to make that I think you'd really appreciate. Something tells me you may have already seen it. but its one that no one is reacting to.
Leftists are still seriously pissed at the popularity of this movie in the alt-right. "Do you want to know more" became a dissident meme aimed at the mainstream media, and is often used by political commentators like Sargon of Akkad to indicate a false narrative shoved down people's throat.
Remind me how the starship troopers agressed against the bugs? IIRC, the first action that was mutually understood as an act of war was the asteroid blowing up Buenos Aires. Before that there were settlers colonizing what they thought to be virgin territory-but they were not part of the military, they were civilians. If you accidentally found yourself on someone else's private property and they made you aware of this, I think the most natural reaction would be to apologize and leave, and that would settle the issue. Instead the colonists were killed. If you were killed for trespassing, and your murderer then blew up your house and your family and your city, that would be a completely disproportionate act of retribution. But maybe I'm misremembering the timeline-it's been a while since I watched the movie.
I remember when the novel came out there was a certain amount of hue and cry. Some readers took it to task for being jingoistic and others looked at it as a patriotic anti-war treatise. The author, Robert Heinlein, had a military background but was very much a free thinker. After all, he wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, hardly a right-wing playbook. When I read it in Junior High, Verhoeven was not on my map. When he showed up on my radar, I still would not have seen him directing a film version of the book. Just goes to show yuh. Turns out he was the perfect director for such a project. He brought his satirical style in, blazing, and turned his RoboCop commercials into online State propaganda. He used the right parts of the book for a commercial film release. And he was technically savvy enough to hire all the right people. I'm glad you appreciated the scope of just the technical hurdles involving so many computer rendering cycles. It was enormous, and practically needed mega ACs to keep the server farms from melting down. Now, would be the usual time for me to provide a link to all the great behind-the-scenes stuff. I've yet to find one comprehensive peace to date. There are plenty of bits and pieces out on CZcams, if you're interested in poking about. Best. Leo.
@@ShanWatchesMovies Robert Heinlein was my favorite author. Anything connected with him, I can usually find the time. Plus, when the result is, after all is said and done, a cracking good monster movie. I can only imagine how my ten-year-old self would have reacted. Best. Leo.
Verhoeven's main target in this film was fascism. Rasczak's speech on violence in the classroom at the beginning. The propaganda videos. Brutal punishments. A focus on gloriously sacrificing ones life in battle for the greater good of humanity. Endless war. As you pointed out, the Bugs really couldn't have fired an asteroid with that kind of accuracy, so the destruction of Buenos Aires could've been a false flag. The uniforms of military intelligence are straight-up Nazi SS uniforms. Verhoeven's gone on record as stating that this film is commentary on and satire of fascism, which he felt was the only logical outcome of America's policy directions since WWII.
Love that you get the social commentary of the film and that you enjoyed the satire. I think it is a fun and entertaining style to show serious subject matter that is still relevant today. This is one of my personal favorites growing up, thanks for the great in depth analysis as always 🎬
And it took away part of the man he was before he joined. But that's okay. Legs are for wimps anyway... although he probably has a bitch of a time trying to get to the bathroom.
My wife was on the sheet to be a background character for the Roger Young death sequence And the Zander Johnny fight. however her family made her bow out and not show up.
@@arkikali5632 A control and pride issue for them. Her mom and grandfather threatened to kick her out of the house if she showed up to the shoot. Hell of it was she got so mad at their power play making her miss out on the chance to be in such a cool movie she moved out on her own anyway two weeks later.
Always wondered if the lead actors were aware that they were cast due to appearing as very vacuous as part of the fascism satire, and Neil Patrick Harris is literally dressed as a Nazi SS officer at the end of the movie.
One thing even before I watch the react...this movie has almost nothing to do with Heinlein's classic novel. Verhoeven did not even read the book, and the script was around for a while before they decided to attach the Starship Troopers title to it. ✌
@@cyclone8974 The script was written with no connection to the book at all...the title was attached later. Verhoeven was satirizing something that was in his head, not the book that Heinlein wrote.
@@Garland41 You do realize wanting see a movie about something doesn't mean you in anyway endorse the subject. Fiction and real are separate things, you do understand that don't you? When people want to see a horror movie about serial killers, they don't actually endorse serial killers... right?
@@Garland41 Heinlein was a failed politician and this book is a commentary on fascism not an endorsement of it and the movie, I think perfectly illustrates how absurd fascism is. Sorry if you got whooshed.
ahhhh...Kurgan from 'Highlander', he is my favorite villain. Shan, you should watch 'Highlander' when you get a chance, it also has Sean Connery in it.
If you want to be impressed by CGI at the time, I suggest "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" It's not a crown jewel, but I still like the movie. BUT when I saw it in 2001 or 2002 as a teenager, this is the one movie which showed me how good CGI can be in the future.
At the time, I had a friend whose dad worked as a projectionist, so I got to see the movie for free. I also got some of their promotional material (posters, giant wall scroll, etc). Not the greatest movie, it feels more like an advertisement for the studio, showing what they can do, but it was still good.
Technically invasion is first as it explains why rico is on Mars in that one. Also the Roughnecks cartoon series is probably closest to Heinleins Novel in modern times.
6:00 is Clancy Brown. I first saw him as the main antagonist The Kurgen in Highlander (something you may want to cover on your channel, but lots of Queen music in it, careful of copyright claims). People who grew up later will know him as Mr. Krabbs from Spongebob. He has done a lot of animation voice work.
He was also Frankenstein's Monster in The Bride, the main character in The Outer Limits: Afterlife (a remake of The Architects of Fear) and Burg in The Mandalorian. EDIT: He's also been in The Flash and Daredevil.
If I may, I would like to recommend three films that are some of the best I've seen: - No Country For Old Man. - Brutal movie. It has one of the best antagonists in the history of cinema. - Road To Perdition. - Brilliant. One of the best Mafia films ever made. - There Will Be Blood. - Amazing. The protagonist has so many layers and all very well developed. They are films that border on perfection and I think you will like them a lot and we, of course, see your reaction. Hugs and continue with the great channel, Thank you .....
Fun little bit of trivia, Casper Van Dien is in a more recent movie called "Noobz"(starring Jason Mewes) and literally plays himself, and hypes himself as "That guy from Starship Troopers". Dina Meyer is another favorite of mine. She was in the first Dragonheart(highly recommend that one, too).
My friends and I LOVED this movie when it came out. I'm so glad we got to see it in the theater. Grew up in a small town with nothing to do so we'd go see ANY movie that rolled in. The Cell was another one that wasn't well received and I'm so glad I saw those visuals on the big screen.
Shan: It's Neil Patrick Harris! Me: It's Michael Ironside! There was a lot of things my younger self missed that when rewatching later seemed painfully obvious. Buenos Aires, Argentina being the home of the main characters, the humans starting the war, Neil Patrick Harris in a SS uniform. Its also interesting to see how many of the adults are horribly disfigured and the infantry leaders and new recruits getting younger and younger.
For some reason I remember being "amazed" that there were no "heavy weapons" like howitzers, tanks, etc. Seemed like earth troops were weirdly under equipped.
That was intentional. The point isn't to win the war, it's to keep the populace focused on fighting the "enemy." Makes them easier to manipulate. Although we never do find out what the government's true goals are. The same with having a live fire exercise in the middle of a busy training area. Everyone is so brainwashed into thinking they're doing what they're supposed to be doing that they don't question even basic logistical issues.
Ignore these other clowns. It was just how they deployed. Infantry only deploys with vehicles when you can supply those vehicles. This wasn't that situation. Both times they were landing infantry into hot zones to do the hard job of making them ready for command structures and more troops/weapons. It is just how it works in wars today. This particular group is the equivalent of the USMC Force Recon. They are responsible for recon and battle shaping. Notice the large force that captures the brain. Rico's group was a distraction to spread the line and draw bugs out of the tunnels. That opened the field for the main force to walk up and capture the brain. Plus those vehicles may have killed the brain incidentally and they didn't want that.
That's because the director was a hack that couldn't be bothered to read the book. Heinlein's Troopers wore powerd armor that coukd go toe to tow with a tank. The movie director had joe schmos with guns.
My favourite Wikipedia factoid of all time - the actor who played Breckinridge (the soldier who got killed in training) ended up marrying the actor playing Djana'd, the soldier who killed him.
I remember going to see this movie on the biggest screen in our city when it came out and being floored at the action and graphics. Mind you, I was like 13 or 14 and bullets + boobs really did enough for me. But even then, I remember feeling...off? Like something was wrong that I wasn't picking up on. Years later I would read all the negative critical reviews that I didn't even know existed when it came out and thought "Was I just a dumb kid? Is this movie really as stupid as the critics seem to think?" So i went back and watched it again and felt floored. When it ended I was so mad at myself for not understanding why I felt so weird about the movie as a kid - because this was not an action movie about our human heroes versus evil alien villains. This was a WW2-era Nazi Propaganda film, a treatise on how alluring fascism can be and how easily it can be integrated into our current society until we no longer even notice just how ingrained into our consciousness it is. I couldn't believe I didn't even notice it - you have to have a LICENSE to have children in this world. You have to serve in the military for citizenship rights. DOOGIE FUCKING HOWSER WALKS OUT IN A NAZI SS UNIFORM. Oh my god, when I realized what Veerhoeven had done I couldn't help but smile. Here's a man that made basically my favorite movie of all time (Robocop) and here he was doing it to me again, hiding outright brutal social and political satire in plain sight in the middle of a goofy action movie. There's a very good reason that he chose bad actors (similar to what he did for Showgirls) and a good reason he intentionally made it cheesy, and a good reason that they all look like perfect Barbies and Kens...there's also a good reason they're all white people despite having names like Rico and Ibanez and Flores in Buenos Aires. There's a reason there's a teacher in the high school teaching kids that force is necessary and applauding the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - If we stopped and thought about any of this ridiculous fascist shit we'd be appalled, but when it's put in a melodramatic episode of 90210 with guns we almost don't even notice it. The use of CGI and practical was perfectly done in my estimation, especially as you noted considering both the budget and the era. There are some great lighting and particle effects that I'm not sure how they pulled off and all the ships had a real weight to them, and the bugs were properly menacing. That we all sat there cheering for ignorant fascist assholes is a testament to Verhoeven's talent as a director. He is a man that grew up in The Hague during WW2 and it affected him immensely, I think this film is the one amongst all his films that really reflects that very personal piece of it. Great reaction as always!
Verhoven is amazing at subtlety and satire. Problem is the public in the 90s didnt comprehend subtlety or satire. 90s where dominated by drama or comedy or other such straight forward styles. Its the reason movies like Escape from LA and Demolition Man where either considered meh or bad but where actually really good movies.
the reason it wasn't huge when it came out is that the movie is complete opposite message than the one from the book, everything is polar opposite. This made most of the people that were excited about the movie being made very unhappy and they told everyone it was bad.
I'm not sure it was simply annoyed fans of the books. Verhoeven wasn't just making a statement about fascism, he was doing so about American society and it's militarism and I think a lot of people didn't like seeing the Beverly Hill 90210 cast and stereotypical American TV setting getting juxtaposed with the fascistic militarist satire and overtly Nazi uniforms. And then there were those who just missed the point entirely and thought it was pro-fascist...
@@sadmachine7486 I for one hated the movie when it 1st came out, I wanted the story I read years ago on the big screen and this was a spit in the eye of it. Now I appreciate it for what it is and enjoy it, still wish it was like the book though.
My father took me to see this when I was 5 years old. It was awesome in the theater. We saw ID4: Independence Day; Starship Troopers; Halloween H20; I Know What You Did Last Summer; Twister and Scream 2 in the span of a year and some change. It was excellent! My father and my mother divorced. It sucked in some ways but the good thing is; I got to see a ton of movies between my time with the two of them.
25:29 - lol! Actually, it was alluding to FASCISM... And that is in great part the controversy that plagued this movie when it came out: I agree with you that it is a great action/sci-fi movie if taken only for that. But Verhoeven said that it was a commentary on fascism itself, that the Earth in this movie is one where fascism took over the entire planet and now had an human-peace; because everyone now followed the doctrines of fascism from birth. The whole journey of the movie (Again, according to Verhoeven) was supposed to show what fascists say would be their ideal society and then to deconstruct it through the war against the bugs, which is hinted in the movie that the bugs' attack were actually retaliation against the humans (The bugs are supposed to be the good guys!); if you re-watch the movie with that optic in mind, the clues will pop-up very easily. The critics' main criticism back when Starship came out (Besides the usual complaints of snooty critics who judged movies by whether or not it had the symbolism of a Hitchcockian masterpiece and who shot down anything with violence; even worse a gore-fest like this one) was that it GLORIFIED Fascism/Nazism, something that Verhoeven vehemently denied and defending himself with the points I mentioned above. But while I 100% believe Verhoeven when he says that his goal was to denounce fascism, I fear that he clumsily failed in his attempt. Contrary to Robocop, in which Verhoeven made the Corporate entity the clear villain and Murphy the exploited good guy who broke free from the evil system that had assimilated him, here Verhoeven makes his main hero (Rico) and his friends luke warm participants at the beginning of the movie who enroll all for ulterior motives than to support the (Fascist system); be it love (for multiple characters), a pilot's career, perusing "psychic abilities", etc. Rico's robotic reciting to his teacher of what it means to be a citizen at the start of the movie demonstrates just that. Following their enrollments, they all get caught up in the "Fog of War" and go out for blood after their home town gets destroyed by the bugs; which is the normal development for such a story. But when it should have turned against said society should have been in the third act where our heroes (Especially Rico) should have had a realization that the humans were the bad guys, that fascism was to blame, but we see the complete opposite: Rico and his friends are heroes of the fascist society who score a "great victory for mankind" (?) against the bugs and even the propaganda at the end of the movie shows they still perusing the bugs and encouraging others to follow. And therein lies the flaw. Even in the commentary to the movie, Verhoeven pleads with the audience that he made the military uniforms, especially the Intelligence officers' uniform, like Nazi uniforms to show to the audience that the humans are on the wrong side of the war (And I agree that when I first saw Neil Patrick Harris appear in that uniform when I saw it in theatre: I cringed, HARD!! But I thought at the time that it meant that the Intelligence division were the bad guys sending the good troops to die), but that and other hints Verhoeven peppered through fade away behind the fact that the protagonist(s) of the movie never renounce said fascist society, nor even the military, and in fact become propaganda tools to its glory (So, sorry Paul! Again, I don't believe it was your intention, but I have to agree with the critics on that one point) Doesn't change that it remains one of my all-time favorite space/sci-fi movies! The fascism commentary aside: The story is well constructed, the heroes are relatable, some of the twists are very good, the special effects (For that time) were fantastic and top-notch and the traditional favorite campiness/goofiness is both funny and balance the gore well. (note: I have never watched the sequels as I was always affraid it would not live up to the first one and don't know if any of these motifs and criticism were addressed in those sequels)
Back in '97, I recall recommending Starship Troopers to my sister in the words: "It's a brilliant film, but it goes bang a lot". Which it is, and does.
This was clearly satire of fascist/nazi regime rather then communism/socialism. Hence the uniforms, symbolism , militarism etc. Also while there is only one class of citizens in communism, here we saw two classes - citizens and civilians .
you mean national socialists ? There are two classes in communism and socialism the party elites and the slaves. Don't let any propaganda tell you different. They all use fascist techniques, the commie version killed tens of millions more than the national socialists in the 20th century. There is a but a hair's difference between national socialist (nazi ) and world wide socialists (commies).
@@bluebird3281 "national socialists" Are there any other kind of nazis? :D Propaganda aside, technically speaking, communism is classless system. The reason it didn't work is nature of humans themself. (I like Joseph Fiennes explanation the reason why communism can't work as a plausable system ( or why did it failed) in Jean-Jacques Annaud's 2001 movie Enemy at the Gates. - I've been such a fool, Vassili. Man will always be a man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there'd be nothing to envy your neighbour. But there's always something to envy. A smile, a friendship, something you don't have and want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor. Rich in gifts, poor in gifts. Rich in love, poor in love. (link :www.imdb.com/title/tt0215750/characters/nm0001212) Regarding nazism, there you have the master race and those who'll serve them. Who killed how many is, regarding this topic, is completely irrelevant.
This movie was ahead of it's time. If it had come out post 9/11, the satire would have been considered too on the nose, but in 1997, it flew over so many heads.
I’m not a techie, but they would have had render farms filled with high end workstations for the effects, not standard computers. There were also practical models and puppets I believe, for close up stuff.
Render farms were 2000s invention. I believe they used conventional computers to render this movie (at least that's what I learnt from the other comments)
When this came out people either got it or they did not. My friends and I got it and let me tell you as a young man this was one of the most fun movies I have ever watched in the movie theater.
Finally someone who understands the film and what it stands for. It really shocked me how many of these react people here on YT don't understand the film.
I like how all the teachers and recruiters have terrible wounds like missing limbs or blindness. The effects looked brilliant in 97 and they still hold up today.
I was really happy to see you doing this reaction! I knew that you'd get the social commentary more than the audience at it's release. I'm thinking that the movie compared the "good guys" with Nazis a little too much. This you can see with the propaganda, the glorification of war and violence and the soldiers uniforms. Especially Americans don't like to see their soldiers as evil-doers.
Hence why Edward Snowdon, Chelsea Maning and Julian Assange are considered enemy of the State bcos they told the truth about US soldiers committing war crimes, they are the evil-doers
That's the one unfortunate aspect of this film, it wasn't as effective in it's satire as it should have been, there are people who see this as a pro fascist film, I remember as a kid my friends loved this movie and were totally on board with the ultra nationalist vibes. It's still a good movie, it's just frustrating that it can be so easily misinterpreted.
Starship Troopers 2 was made for less than the munitions budget on the first film. I quite like it but most people don't. It's a low budget suspense/horror movie on a small scale. As long as you know it's not as epic going in, you may enjoy it.
They used hybrid rendering, with scaned models... that is why it looked so Good.. in some places they reused the scans, it quite obvius. But where they used the right scans the effects is amazing
For anyone who stumbled on this going forward. I recommend watching"The Politics Of Starship Troopers" documentary. It clears up alot of the misconceptions the director and public are under regarding this film and underlying novel. Have a nice day, and remember "Service Guarantees Citizenship!".
I've watched quite a few of your reactions, finally decided to sub, mainly because you've been dropping real bangers, plus a solid take. Also like for Denise Richards.
I believe the design of the arachnid involved quite a few tricks to reduce render times. They are a collection of fairly simple primitive shapes connected together, including a lot of triangles. That would help get the poly count down. The texture also appears to have been designed to make lighting and shadow less obvious.
In the early days of the US all able bodied men were considered the militia. That didn't automatically make the US fascist. And as mentioned above, the Swiss, everyone has a gun and is part of the countries defense.
Wrong. Verhoven never read the source material and tried to push a satire of fascism onto Starship Troopers Federation. Which is a strict meritocracy that you have to earn the right to vote. Anyone can earn the right to vote through Service to the federation and that does not mean mandatory military service but any type of service aka fireman, police ect. They cannot turn you away from earning the right to vote unless you are literally unable to understand and comprehend the oath of service.
It was a blessing that Paul retained the stop motion animator Phil Tippet for this film from Robocop. Phil brought Jurassic Park R&D and connections (ILM) to get those bugs to move and look good. Actually...this is 80% Robocop film making team back and loving it!
This is the only "Starship Troopers" worth watching !
Agree!
The TV series wasn't bad.
I quite enjoyed the third one.
The CG ones are actually pretty good.
@@mikefoster6018 The third one had powered armour. Enough said.
i love how the news censors aliens killing a cow but then immediately cuts to a bunch of dead people torn apart uncensored masterful!
its weird because Reactors seem to care more that an animal in a movie gets killed compared to a human, i can't stand that, but hey what ya can ya do
@@Naldo2001 Actually the censoring was in the movie in that scene.
It was fine in the movie to show dead humans but all the scenes where bugs were in captivity were censored in the actual movie. Verhoeven did this as a directors conceit.
I can't speak to anything behind the scenes that led to this however in universe it makes sense, since you'd want to show the human casualties for the continued sensationalized propaganda as a way to show that we humans are justified to kill all the bugs and to urge recruitment from the masses that want to protect their loved ones from having that happen to them.
@@Naldo2001 Animals are generally better than people, less baggage and more innocent. That's why I prefer them at least.
@@cherimiss7983 The Bugs attacked first and are genocidal. The so called propaganda is live UNCENSORED footage of a battle which no country today would alow.
When we all saw this back in 1997 everyone felt the same way: they killed off the wrong girl.
XD
@Stephen Johnson hahahahah good oneeeeeee!
@Stephen Johnson one of my professor was a extra he said the movie didn’t do her justice......
@@leonides06 But it's good story to show that the most liked girl won't always make it. It was a gutsy move.
No they didn't Denise Richards far hotter back in the day no one cared about Diz
I agree the original Total Recall is way better then the remake.
Kate Beckinsdale taking on the roles formally held by both Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside was the only redeeming quality of the movie.
Yes, no question about it. I was very disappointed by the remake, it fell far short.
@@andrewawakened628 Remakes usually are.
The remake doesn't get the story of the original.
Paul Verhoeven once described the meaning of this movie as “war makes fascists of us all.” Verhoeven grew up in the Netherlands during Nazi occupation and his films, while they also work as entertaining sci-fi action, are always critiques of fascism and militarism. His over the top violence comes from a real place as he’s actually witnessed some horrific stuff and doesn’t soft peddle the effects of violence. Glad to see you react to this one, I really enjoy the channel!
Another thing to remember about the CGI in this movie, is how much of it was in daylight, which was something most movies avoided because it made it harder to look realistic.
As I recall they spent more time doing the post CGI work, than they did actually filming the movie, because it was so intensive for the time.
The CGI still looks better than a lot of movies 15 years after this.
The actor playing Ace Levy is Gary Busey's son Jake.
Didn't know that! He does look like him(not as crazy looking though lol)!
only just now do I realize the resemblence! I knew he resembled someone, just couldn't figure out who!
@@ShanWatchesMovies over here we call him BabyBusey
I knew he looked familiar, lol
It's creepy how much he looks like his father. He's also in the Will Smith movie Enemy of the State.
I saw this in the theatre back in the day... there was a literal cheer when the Lt. gave rico and diz an extra ten minutes.
The actress that played Diz was also in Johnny Mnemonic with Keanu Reeves. Another 90's Cult Classic.
Why this movie was not a hit in 1997? Because this movie was ahead of its time. The ultimate underrated movie of all time.
I'm always surprised it hear it wasn't a hit. Then I remember the people I spoke to about it were other 15-year-old boys, so I guess the problem was the sample group.
I love how much Shan appreciated the special effects. Like he said they weren't working with a huge budget so what they pulled off was super impressive.
There is a very dark humor in this movie that it shares with Robocop, an example is the propaganda and the news dumps.
Robocop is another really good movie by Verhoeven.
Fun Fact: The troopers' armor was reused for the Alliance forces in Firefly.
And in Power Rangers series (can't really tell which one of those).
@@CriticalBasterd Lost Galaxy. Can't blame them, the uniforms looked great.
It is probably still being rented to other shows if it isn't all worn out.
@@ddpure101 lost galaxy also had bug themed enemies which made it even better
I can't remember which offhand, but the helmets were re-used in a several other movies and TV shows.
"Good for you, the mobile infantry made me the man i am today"
**works at a recruiter's desk with 1 arm and no legs**
And yet many viewers still didn’t realize that there was a message here about a militaristic fascist society.
In the book the guy with one arm and no legs was made a recruiter to try and dissuade people from joining.
@@stt5v2002 ah yes, because whats more fascist than the freedom to *choose* whether you want to join the military in order to *choose* to become a citizen to protect the party politic.
I'd recommend watch Arch's newest video on Starship troopers rather than watching cinema sin's video on it.
Its honestly funny that people think it has anything to do with fascism tbh
@@frankficcle7081 I think by showing him at all, the message is inherent. I know I'd be a bit dissuaded! Verhoeven just doesn't pander and spell it all out for us. Instead he focuses on a tongue-in-cheek adage, and I couldn't love it more, lol.
@@Lost_n_Found_1 not many people notice all the adults who inspire Rico to join the military have severe injuries, the desk guy, his biology teacher is blind, his ethics teacher had a hand missing
The singer in the dance scene is Basil Poledouris' daughter, and the song is a cover of a David Bowie song. I always found that rather interesting.
Thanks for the trivia!
this movie had everything: action, drama, comedy, sci-fi, boobies...
Never underestimate the power of boobies!
Bewbs*
Don't feel bad about laughing when the general dies, everybody laughs at that scene.
The Drill Sergeant is played by Clancy Brown. He played Byron Hadley in Shawshank Redemption and has played everything from the immortal Kurgan in 'Highlander' to Brother Justin Crowe in 'Carnivale'. He's also done *all* of the voice acting in Hollywood. He's been Lex Luthor, Mr. Krabs, and Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok.
I also liked him as the asshole sheriff in "Pet Sematary Two".
And he was also in a great 1994 scifi series called Earth 2.
And "Viking" Lofgren in Bad Boys.
"There can be only one"
This film has two Highlander villains playing good guys in it. Clancy Brown (The Kurgan in H1) and Michael Ironside (General Katana in H2).
Check out The Hunt for Red October. Another great Poledouris soundtrack
I was about to write the same... Believe us Shan, that's one of his best, most epic scores, and a fantastic movie too (directed by John McTiernan, of Die Hard and Predator fame). Highly recommended.
@@catoblepag and have a little moment for the great Sean Connery: "Ryan, shome thingsh here don't react well to bulletsh". Good choice.
While you're on a terrific sub movie, a couple more I'd suggest are Crimson Tide U-571.
@@AdamtheGrey02 Crimson Tide got so much wrong it was laughable after they got the orders to launch and the message fragment would have been disregarded as improperly formatted message and sub would have proceded to launch depth and fire
@@Leoluvesadmira But that's what Gene Hackman's crew was trying to do. Follow those orders. He just happened to encounter Denzel and his crew who wanted more proof before they turn the world into ash.
Just so you know, the book is WAY different than the movie.
That's kind of a problem I have: I saw the movie, liked it well enough, then read the book, found it was REALLY good and was all like, "Ah, the movie is shitting all over the book." And after that I haven't been able to enjoy the movie as much.
Sure! Johnnie's dad even showed up in the M.I.
@@nickp1987 Well Verhoeven used the movie as satire of fascism, which I still don't get why people don't get that from the movie. Some people even think the movie glorifies fascism, like wtf? lol I read the book years before the movie ever came out, and yes it was disappointing to see it wasn't a direct version of the book - but the movie stands on it's own in the end.
@@LordLOC I never got why the movie was pretending the federation was fascist, it wasn't in the book. The federation was democratic and while military personnel received some benefits it wasn't like non military personnel where living in squalor. There was even a lot of emphasis in the book where everyone including the recruiter was telling Rico not to join the military. The book and movie are complete opposites.
@@LordLOC Then he should have called it something else. And by the way- the original book wasn't pro-fascism. There was no reason to crap all over that book. Fascism isn't the opposite of communism. And the bugs represented communism. And really, history should show that the USSR and China were very terrible and quite the threat to the US and Europe.
One of the most underrated movies out their imo.
Thank you for doing this reaction properly, noticing things about the movie and discussing them. A lot of people just kinda stare at the screen and go "Wow!" every now and then. I appreciate this proper breakdown.
I know I'm getting old when the reactor's reaction is "hey That's... Neil Patrick Harris" instead of hey that's Michael Ironside and his arm is gone!
He doesn't have much luck with his limbs in Verhoeven's movies, does he XD
lol right? When he get's revealed as the Roughneck command officer in the barracks i get so pumped "Michael F@ing Ironside!" Total badass
@@lmazz6776 He didn't as Overdog either.
"Where's Quade!?" Ironside just owns every scene he is in, every time!
What about "hey, that's Doogie Howser!"
Later: "And he has joined the Gestapo?"
"I think I know that guy ... from Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile"
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! :) That's Clancy Brown, The Kurgan in 'Highlander' (1986), great movie, check it out!
It's on the list protocol!
the podcast "i was there too" by matt gourley interviewed him, too bad the podcast is behind a paywall now.
Clancy Brown is a national treasure. Always get hyped whenever I see him show up in something.
He's also the voice of Mister Krabs on Spongebob.
I was obsessed with seeing this film as a kid after reading the reviews about the special effects in the newspaper. Was not disappointed. The Acting is overthetop and is fits perfectly. I crushed on Diz hardcore back in the day. Only one of the sequels was good though. There is even a Japanese Anime based on the books made in the 1980s. This is a really interesting commentary on, "What if Fascism worked?"
The movie is good, it's just a shame we don't have a proper adaptation of the book.
@@frankficcle7081 There were some CGI movies made in the early/mid 00s that were closer to the source material. I had them all downloaded, but my Harddrive died and lost them all.
Glad you walked into this knowing what to expect.
"I don't understand how this wasn't a big hit in 1997"
"I still can't understand why it wasn't received positively when it came out"
I think it was a number of factors. Let's take a look at a few.
1) 1997 scifi release schedule
The Fifth Element-----------------May 9, 1997
Men in Black-------------------------July 2, 1997
Contact---------------------------------July 11, 1997
Event Horizon-----------------------August 15, 1997
Gattaca---------------------------------October 24, 1997
Starship Troopers-----------------November 7, 1997
Alien Resurrection-----------------November 26, 1997
This puts a lot of notable, strong, and tonally diverse scifi/space/aliens films already having been released that year. With a well known scifi franchise with sky high expectations waiting release when ST came out. Which sets a high bar, makes some tired/hostile of the genre, and also forces each film to be squeezed into a niche description relative to the others.
2) Alien Franchise
The Alien franchise before Alien Resurrection was an established and still very popular franchise. Especially among its diehard fans. Starship Troopers is coming out the same month as, and just before, the 4th Alien movie. The general public is going to confuse scifi bug films (or maybe ask which one they should watch and which one they should skip), and the Alien diehard fans are going to hate on ST. Even in the review by Siskel & Ebert (the 2 biggest critics, and highly influential in that era), we can hear Ebert state how he knocks the bugs in ST and praises the bugs in Alien:
"You get a lot, a lot, of shots of bugs being blown up. And these bugs, once you master what they look like and what they can do, are pretty boring. Because they don't have very many resources, they're not real interesting movie aliens like the character, for example, in the movie aliens."
ST probably would have been less slandered if it had been released after Alien Resurrection had already come out and flopped. But it's hard for a new film to compete with the hype, expectations, and amazing legacy of a well know license.
3) Siskel & Ebert
Siskel & Ebert were the 2 biggest US critics in that era, and their television show they co-hosted was highly influential.
Ebert flat out hates on the film ("too repetitive for me and I have to give a thumbs down") in the Siskel & Ebert episode for ST. Ebert basically says (multiple times) it's boring and just goes on far too long ("it just goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on"), and he combatively pushes this on Siskel multiple times. Siskel tries to say he likes the satire and other elements of the film, but he ends up defending against and then caving to Ebert's tone. This is just gonna get people to skip the film.
Ebert's review article is even more scathing:
"'Starship Troopers' is the most violent kiddie movie ever made. I call it a kiddie movie not to be insulting, but to be accurate: Its action, characters and values are pitched at 11-year-old science-fiction fans. That makes it true to its source. It's based on a novel for juveniles by Robert A. Heinlein. I read it to the point of memorization when I was in grade school. I have improved since then, but the story has not."
That's just brutal. It takes the time to attack the movie and the book, with a kind of celebrity/critic audience shaming of anyone consuming, enjoying, or celebrating the movie or book.
4) critics, popular culture, and Hollywood vs. scifi/fantasy
In that era, critics, popular culture, and Hollywood were all very dismissive, belittling, and hostile to scfi as anything more than fantasy movies for children (of all ages) or special effects showcases. This already made many people just uninterested in scifi, and also provoked people to feel shameful or silent about it. It was reflected in common public conversation, critics, industry awards, many (non-writer) industry professionals, media, etc.
It's hard to view through today's lens the fantasy and scifi content from that older era, and really understand that era's own lens of high scale mainstream, widespread, and socially coercive hate that existed for the genre back then. It was very intense. And they would jump on echoing, or yield to, almost any common derisive attack on these genres.
5) 90210 in space
The TV show "Beverly Hills, 90210" was a big hit in the 90's with a lot of public attention and influence. But by 1997 its ratings were declining, and the show and its tone were getting popular pushback (as is common with hot properties once they cool off).
Some of the biggest tropes identified in the genre were young, attractive, and largely unknown actors, living exciting, social, young adult, coming of age lives. At first, these tropes were celebrated and influential. But after a few years these tropes were being hated upon and ridiculed.
Someone branded ST as "90210 in space" (or "Melrose Place in space", another show with those similar tropes and from the creator of 90210). It stuck. Such a label would have been a compliment in 1993. But in 1997 it was a slur. And lots of 90210 haters were happy to have something else to hate on.
Also, when you're running largely unknown actors as stars, it also means you won't have any big name draw attached. (and Neil's show "Doogie Howser, M.D." had ended in 93, this was a different genre for Neil fans, his young adult version was up for fresh appraisal, and he does not feature as a driving lead in the movie for much of the middle)
6) Book fans
The ST book was just not that popular or well known at the time in the mainstream. Also, some book fans were dismayed because of differences in the movie and book, notably the book using mech suits that are nowhere in the movie.
Not that this was a huge impact. But it didn't help.
7) Verhoeven
1987---------------------RoboCop
1990---------------------Total Recall
1992 --------------------Basic Instinct
1995 --------------------Showgirls
1997---------------------Starship Troopers
Verhoeven had been a niche popular culture darling with RoboCop, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct. But Showgirls really killed that vibe. Really, really, really killed that vibe.
Showgirls was one of those movies that becomes VERY popular to reference as a bad film. Hate for the film, hate for Elizabeth Berkley, and hate for Verhoeven. The type of hate where it has nothing to do with reality anymore, and type of hate where people are going to take delight in hating on anyone attached to it that gets the label to target. Verhoeven was targeted.
ST was just two years later, and lots of people were happy to throw more hate at Verhoeven and his new film just for fun.
8-x) ??
Anyone want to add anything else?
Verhoeven said on the commentary that the biggest reason the movie flopped was because the media thought the film was pro-fascist and led to very limited coverage(which was mostly negative)...
Yes. In 2020, there is an entire generation of movie goers since this was made that’s been fed cartoonishly drenched science fiction. That includes the MCU. Cheesy, goofy, militaristic, filmmaking was a difficult dismount to stick with precision in the 1990s. Starship Troopers was too cute by half. It’s biggest strengths was also its weakness, the propaganda commercials selling citizenship over being a civilian. Militarism was viewed differently in the years immediately preceding 9/11.
@@sashen6678 Its kinda easy to see how audiences at the time could get that impression. The *story* is pro-fascist, but the audience is supposed to understand that it's propaganda and just an illustration of how fascism is sold to the masses. You'd think with all the heavy Nazi imagery that audiences would get that the humans are the bad guys and the message is a brain-washing one; but alas, they took it at face value.
When you said "I wish we had a little more exposition on the bugs" I could only think..."I bet the human characters in the movie do too..." I think that's the point - to make the audience feel the uncertainty that the humans felt...Increasing the expositional value - or statement - of the propaganda clips in the movie.
*Desire to Know More intensifies*
As in real life wars, the enemy and their motives are painted with broad brushes of malicious intent to galvanize and unify the people against them.
If the film delved too deeply into the bugs mindsets and their motives, the sting of satire and propaganda bits would have been diminished.
The propaganda does not mislead and it shows a very negative light on the war itself. Every word spoken is a correct statement.
I've followed the actress dizzy for years on Instagram she has carried being in character till this day, fans enjoy her Instagram cause she keeps Dizzy going. She's 50 and it's tone till this day she should fight bugs
In the shower scene, Verhoeven to put all the actors at ease, had anyone present during the shoot also be naked.... .so know during that scene off camera there is a nude Verhoeven.
Rico was actually at the theater on opening weekend in port Charlotte Florida greeting people by the box office.
The most popular track by Basil Poledouris in this film is "Klendathu Drop". I think you were simply too distracted by the visuals to really listen to it. It's also subtly implied that the asteroids and bugs have nothing to do w/ each other. The former is merely used by the government as a justification to wipe out the latter. BTW, the director's surname is VerHoeven, not VerNoeven.
It's bizarre to think that there are people who watch this movie and think that the Bugs are actually responsible for the asteroid, even though all of the available information present in the film itself makes it clear that, despite whatever intelligence the Bugs may have, they don't have that kind of capability. It's made even more notable when you watch all of the propaganda videos throughout the film and the jingoistic way the war against the bugs is presented in-universe, and so watching the film again makes this point even more clear. It's kind of shocking just how many people will actually dismiss this.
This is a highly underrated movie, because most people cannot figure out that it is supposed to be somewhat satirical. So everyone thinks that it is full of overacting or bad acting, when in fact it is exactly the acting they were shooting for to keep the movie a serious satire. I also cannot believe that this did not win best special effects for that year, because these effects were like nothing any other movie had done by then.
I dont Think that is the problem. I Think the problem på that the movie is nyanced. Movie critics tend to hate that.
Denise Richards is also great doing a similar sort of overacting in Drop Dead Gorgeous.
I like that you spend a good amount of time reviewing the movie after it’s finished, so many reaction channels just react and switch off at the credits but you’re content is far better for the review at the end.
Neil Patrick Harris: **shows up in basically an SS uniform**
Humans: "....are we the baddies?"
NPH says it's ok.
In the book, it is very clear Humans are the "good guys".
@@iKvetch558 Yeah, which was written back in the 50's when they still assumed that, lol.
@@Lost_n_Found_1 Well, "they" did not assume anything...that is the way the bugs were written in the actual story...that's the way Heinlein made them. Verhoeven obviously decided to go another way...but that is just one more reason his movie never should have been called Starship Troopers.
@@iKvetch558 You're a dick, lol.
A really underrated film, one of my favourites, I think I have watched it about 20 times ! The CGI was fantastic especially since most of it is done in daytime scenes, I think it still holds up ! Another great review!
My recommendations :
- DUEL (1971) by Steven Spielberg
- PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) by Brian De Palma
- ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) by John Carpenter
- BRAZIL (1985) by Terry Gilliam
- THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987) by George Miller
- ABYSS (1989) by James Cameron
I just found this channel and your literally watching all my favourite movies. You obviously have a deep love for film and are very knowledgable about production. I wonder where your passion of practical effects comes from having not seen any of these movies....regardless It is refreshing to know there are still people out there that appreciate them. You know good writing, good acting, good music, you point out set design, art direction, cinematography, and you know a good explosion when you see one. There's a little time travel movie called Primer that only cost 8k to make that I think you'd really appreciate. Something tells me you may have already seen it. but its one that no one is reacting to.
Infinitely quotable. I'm always reenacting the "I'm doing my part!" bit when my friends ask me to do something. They hate it xD
lol Keep doing it. That's fantastic.
Well, it was a big hit with ME back in 1997. I don't go to very many movies, but this was one I went to see when it came out. I still love it.
I almost cracked my screen with how hard and fast I clicked on this video.
Thank you for watching Adam!
@@ShanWatchesMovies thank you for putting out incredible content.
I saw this THREE times in theaters when it came out. I was a teenager. Never saw another film so many times in the theater
The critics completely missed the point of this movie when it came out and thought it was serious. Threw around words like jingoistic, etc.
Critics weren't wrong though.
@ But.... that's the joke!
Leftists are still seriously pissed at the popularity of this movie in the alt-right. "Do you want to know more" became a dissident meme aimed at the mainstream media, and is often used by political commentators like Sargon of Akkad to indicate a false narrative shoved down people's throat.
@@TheZapan99 Hahah. Where did you hear that?
RICO’S ROUGHNECKS!
The moment when I first realized that the starship troopers are the aggressors (bad guys) in this story 🤯
Remind me how the starship troopers agressed against the bugs?
IIRC, the first action that was mutually understood as an act of war was the asteroid blowing up Buenos Aires. Before that there were settlers colonizing what they thought to be virgin territory-but they were not part of the military, they were civilians.
If you accidentally found yourself on someone else's private property and they made you aware of this, I think the most natural reaction would be to apologize and leave, and that would settle the issue. Instead the colonists were killed. If you were killed for trespassing, and your murderer then blew up your house and your family and your city, that would be a completely disproportionate act of retribution.
But maybe I'm misremembering the timeline-it's been a while since I watched the movie.
I remember when the novel came out there was a certain amount of hue and cry. Some readers took it to task for being jingoistic and others looked at it as a patriotic anti-war treatise. The author, Robert Heinlein, had a military background but was very much a free thinker. After all, he wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, hardly a right-wing playbook. When I read it in Junior High, Verhoeven was not on my map. When he showed up on my radar, I still would not have seen him directing a film version of the book. Just goes to show yuh. Turns out he was the perfect director for such a project. He brought his satirical style in, blazing, and turned his RoboCop commercials into online State propaganda. He used the right parts of the book for a commercial film release. And he was technically savvy enough to hire all the right people. I'm glad you appreciated the scope of just the technical hurdles involving so many computer rendering cycles. It was enormous, and practically needed mega ACs to keep the server farms from melting down. Now, would be the usual time for me to provide a link to all the great behind-the-scenes stuff. I've yet to find one comprehensive peace to date. There are plenty of bits and pieces out on CZcams, if you're interested in poking about. Best. Leo.
I usually don't have the time to go into so much depth (work, youtube and "social life") but for films like this it's worth it!
@@ShanWatchesMovies Robert Heinlein was my favorite author. Anything connected with him, I can usually find the time. Plus, when the result is, after all is said and done, a cracking good monster movie. I can only imagine how my ten-year-old self would have reacted. Best. Leo.
Verhoeven didn't even read the book though. I love the film but a faithful retelling it is not.
@@Jonabob87 I just wish that they had been able to fit the Cap Suits into the budget. Best. Leo.
In the 90,s actors that played teens were usually pushing 30. 😉
Verhoeven's main target in this film was fascism. Rasczak's speech on violence in the classroom at the beginning. The propaganda videos. Brutal punishments. A focus on gloriously sacrificing ones life in battle for the greater good of humanity. Endless war. As you pointed out, the Bugs really couldn't have fired an asteroid with that kind of accuracy, so the destruction of Buenos Aires could've been a false flag. The uniforms of military intelligence are straight-up Nazi SS uniforms.
Verhoeven's gone on record as stating that this film is commentary on and satire of fascism, which he felt was the only logical outcome of America's policy directions since WWII.
The mobile infantry uniforms somewhat resemble Wehrmacht infantry uniforms as well.
As I was reading your comment and got to "gloriously sacrificing one's life in battle" I started to chant..."Sontar-ha, Sontar-ha, Sontar-ha"
Drill Sargent was main antagonist in Highlander the movie
Clancy Brown. Such a legend!
And he was the head guard in Shawshank Redemption.
Also did voice of Lex Luthor in animated Superman series
And the voice of Mr. Krabs from Sponge Bob.
Love that you get the social commentary of the film and that you enjoyed the satire. I think it is a fun and entertaining style to show serious subject matter that is still relevant today. This is one of my personal favorites growing up, thanks for the great in depth analysis as always 🎬
"The mobile infantry made me the man i am today"
Funny enough, that is the same actor who played the older coroner in the original CSI tv show.
And it took away part of the man he was before he joined. But that's okay. Legs are for wimps anyway... although he probably has a bitch of a time trying to get to the bathroom.
@@BioGoji-zm5ph He reminds me of Dan Crenshaw
@@Trowa71 Who's Dan Crenshaw?
@@BioGoji-zm5ph An Iraq war vet republican. Lost an eye to an IED or something and still advocates war things, idk.
My wife was on the sheet to be a background character for the Roger Young death sequence And the Zander Johnny fight. however her family made her bow out and not show up.
Oh dang. How come?
@@arkikali5632 A control and pride issue for them. Her mom and grandfather threatened to kick her out of the house if she showed up to the shoot. Hell of it was she got so mad at their power play making her miss out on the chance to be in such a cool movie she moved out on her own anyway two weeks later.
@@edgarcia4794 Damn, that's a shame, but I'm glad she made a break for independence!
just looked up wiki, turns out the budget for this film was high af, half the budget of Titanic.
"What age are they supposed to be?"
Yes, it is a bunch of 25-35 year olds playing high school aged characters. Pretty common actually.
Always wondered if the lead actors were aware that they were cast due to appearing as very vacuous as part of the fascism satire, and Neil Patrick Harris is literally dressed as a Nazi SS officer at the end of the movie.
I feel like half the cast are in on it. Busey and NPH for sure get it.
5:49 That big smile when the camera pans up over A LOT of dismembered colonists xD
One thing even before I watch the react...this movie has almost nothing to do with Heinlein's classic novel. Verhoeven did not even read the book, and the script was around for a while before they decided to attach the Starship Troopers title to it. ✌
I am pretty sure that Verhoeven's movie was meant to mock the book. I hope we'll get a real Starship Troopers movie someday.
@@cyclone8974 The script was written with no connection to the book at all...the title was attached later. Verhoeven was satirizing something that was in his head, not the book that Heinlein wrote.
So... you do know that the book is Fascist... like, you and the other commenters are actively calling for a positive endorsement for Fascism, right?
@@Garland41 You do realize wanting see a movie about something doesn't mean you in anyway endorse the subject. Fiction and real are separate things, you do understand that don't you? When people want to see a horror movie about serial killers, they don't actually endorse serial killers... right?
@@Garland41 Heinlein was a failed politician and this book is a commentary on fascism not an endorsement of it and the movie, I think perfectly illustrates how absurd fascism is. Sorry if you got whooshed.
That actor was in The Shawshank Redemption. Clancy Brown also played The Kurgan in "Highlander," if you haven't seen that one.
ahhhh...Kurgan from 'Highlander', he is my favorite villain. Shan, you should watch 'Highlander' when you get a chance, it also has Sean Connery in it.
If you want to be impressed by CGI at the time, I suggest "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" It's not a crown jewel, but I still like the movie.
BUT when I saw it in 2001 or 2002 as a teenager, this is the one movie which showed me how good CGI can be in the future.
Agreed, I liked that one a lot, too. Had a similar feel to Aliens, I thought.
weirdly enough, even back then when i saw it, i wasn't impressed.
At the time, I had a friend whose dad worked as a projectionist, so I got to see the movie for free. I also got some of their promotional material (posters, giant wall scroll, etc). Not the greatest movie, it feels more like an advertisement for the studio, showing what they can do, but it was still good.
One of my favorite movies of all time!
I remember recording it on VHS and watching it almost every day when I came back from school, ^^
the only proper sequel is Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars cartoon.it's based on unused script for a direct sequel of the first movie
Technically invasion is first as it explains why rico is on Mars in that one.
Also the Roughnecks cartoon series is probably closest to Heinleins Novel in modern times.
I thought 3 was pretty good
6:00 is Clancy Brown. I first saw him as the main antagonist The Kurgen in Highlander (something you may want to cover on your channel, but lots of Queen music in it, careful of copyright claims). People who grew up later will know him as Mr. Krabbs from Spongebob. He has done a lot of animation voice work.
He was also Frankenstein's Monster in The Bride, the main character in The Outer Limits: Afterlife (a remake of The Architects of Fear) and Burg in The Mandalorian. EDIT: He's also been in The Flash and Daredevil.
If I may, I would like to recommend three films that are some of the best I've seen:
- No Country For Old Man.
- Brutal movie. It has one of the best antagonists in the history of cinema.
- Road To Perdition.
- Brilliant. One of the best Mafia films ever made.
- There Will Be Blood.
- Amazing. The protagonist has so many layers and all very well developed.
They are films that border on perfection and I think you will like them a lot and we, of course, see your reaction.
Hugs and continue with the great channel, Thank you .....
Thank you so much for the recommendations. From the ones you mentioned I haven't watched Road to Perdition. I'll add it to the list!
@@ShanWatchesMovies ......... Thanks!....
Fun little bit of trivia, Casper Van Dien is in a more recent movie called "Noobz"(starring Jason Mewes) and literally plays himself, and hypes himself as "That guy from Starship Troopers".
Dina Meyer is another favorite of mine. She was in the first Dragonheart(highly recommend that one, too).
This movie is amazing, just don't watch the sequels.
somehow the cgi in the sequels were worse than the first one, guess they cheaped out or chose a lower tier cgi company.
My friends and I LOVED this movie when it came out. I'm so glad we got to see it in the theater. Grew up in a small town with nothing to do so we'd go see ANY movie that rolled in.
The Cell was another one that wasn't well received and I'm so glad I saw those visuals on the big screen.
Shan: It's Neil Patrick Harris!
Me: It's Michael Ironside!
There was a lot of things my younger self missed that when rewatching later seemed painfully obvious. Buenos Aires, Argentina being the home of the main characters, the humans starting the war, Neil Patrick Harris in a SS uniform. Its also interesting to see how many of the adults are horribly disfigured and the infantry leaders and new recruits getting younger and younger.
It's Doogie Howser.
The book had a much deeper story. Also Juan Rico and Carmen Ibanez were from the Philippines.
For some reason I remember being "amazed" that there were no "heavy weapons" like howitzers, tanks, etc. Seemed like earth troops were weirdly under equipped.
That was intentional. The point isn't to win the war, it's to keep the populace focused on fighting the "enemy." Makes them easier to manipulate. Although we never do find out what the government's true goals are.
The same with having a live fire exercise in the middle of a busy training area. Everyone is so brainwashed into thinking they're doing what they're supposed to be doing that they don't question even basic logistical issues.
@@robertrodriguez7087 probably to keep people unified under a common enemy.
Ignore these other clowns. It was just how they deployed. Infantry only deploys with vehicles when you can supply those vehicles. This wasn't that situation. Both times they were landing infantry into hot zones to do the hard job of making them ready for command structures and more troops/weapons. It is just how it works in wars today. This particular group is the equivalent of the USMC Force Recon. They are responsible for recon and battle shaping. Notice the large force that captures the brain. Rico's group was a distraction to spread the line and draw bugs out of the tunnels. That opened the field for the main force to walk up and capture the brain. Plus those vehicles may have killed the brain incidentally and they didn't want that.
That's because the director was a hack that couldn't be bothered to read the book. Heinlein's Troopers wore powerd armor that coukd go toe to tow with a tank. The movie director had joe schmos with guns.
@@Lohengrinner he is not a hack. he did a really good job on this movie.
My favourite Wikipedia factoid of all time - the actor who played Breckinridge (the soldier who got killed in training) ended up marrying the actor playing Djana'd, the soldier who killed him.
I remember going to see this movie on the biggest screen in our city when it came out and being floored at the action and graphics. Mind you, I was like 13 or 14 and bullets + boobs really did enough for me. But even then, I remember feeling...off? Like something was wrong that I wasn't picking up on.
Years later I would read all the negative critical reviews that I didn't even know existed when it came out and thought "Was I just a dumb kid? Is this movie really as stupid as the critics seem to think?" So i went back and watched it again and felt floored. When it ended I was so mad at myself for not understanding why I felt so weird about the movie as a kid - because this was not an action movie about our human heroes versus evil alien villains. This was a WW2-era Nazi Propaganda film, a treatise on how alluring fascism can be and how easily it can be integrated into our current society until we no longer even notice just how ingrained into our consciousness it is. I couldn't believe I didn't even notice it - you have to have a LICENSE to have children in this world. You have to serve in the military for citizenship rights. DOOGIE FUCKING HOWSER WALKS OUT IN A NAZI SS UNIFORM. Oh my god, when I realized what Veerhoeven had done I couldn't help but smile. Here's a man that made basically my favorite movie of all time (Robocop) and here he was doing it to me again, hiding outright brutal social and political satire in plain sight in the middle of a goofy action movie.
There's a very good reason that he chose bad actors (similar to what he did for Showgirls) and a good reason he intentionally made it cheesy, and a good reason that they all look like perfect Barbies and Kens...there's also a good reason they're all white people despite having names like Rico and Ibanez and Flores in Buenos Aires. There's a reason there's a teacher in the high school teaching kids that force is necessary and applauding the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - If we stopped and thought about any of this ridiculous fascist shit we'd be appalled, but when it's put in a melodramatic episode of 90210 with guns we almost don't even notice it.
The use of CGI and practical was perfectly done in my estimation, especially as you noted considering both the budget and the era. There are some great lighting and particle effects that I'm not sure how they pulled off and all the ships had a real weight to them, and the bugs were properly menacing.
That we all sat there cheering for ignorant fascist assholes is a testament to Verhoeven's talent as a director. He is a man that grew up in The Hague during WW2 and it affected him immensely, I think this film is the one amongst all his films that really reflects that very personal piece of it.
Great reaction as always!
I didn't see any critical reviews at the time, either. I assumed everyone liked it like we did.
Verhoven is amazing at subtlety and satire. Problem is the public in the 90s didnt comprehend subtlety or satire. 90s where dominated by drama or comedy or other such straight forward styles.
Its the reason movies like Escape from LA and Demolition Man where either considered meh or bad but where actually really good movies.
My favorite reactor! Can't wait Shan! The movie is very entertaining.
"Violence is the ultimate authority" my favourite quote from the movie !
the reason it wasn't huge when it came out is that the movie is complete opposite message than the one from the book, everything is polar opposite. This made most of the people that were excited about the movie being made very unhappy and they told everyone it was bad.
I'll add to that, a lot of critics didn't like it because they thought it was pro fascist and war. The satire went over their heads.
I'm not sure it was simply annoyed fans of the books. Verhoeven wasn't just making a statement about fascism, he was doing so about American society and it's militarism and I think a lot of people didn't like seeing the Beverly Hill 90210 cast and stereotypical American TV setting getting juxtaposed with the fascistic militarist satire and overtly Nazi uniforms.
And then there were those who just missed the point entirely and thought it was pro-fascist...
Damn, and IMO it's so much better than the book which was also great.
Also because it was prety expensive for that time.
The budget wasn't 1/10 of Titanic, was half.
@@sadmachine7486 I for one hated the movie when it 1st came out, I wanted the story I read years ago on the big screen and this was a spit in the eye of it. Now I appreciate it for what it is and enjoy it, still wish it was like the book though.
My father took me to see this when I was 5 years old. It was awesome in the theater. We saw ID4: Independence Day; Starship Troopers; Halloween H20; I Know What You Did Last Summer; Twister and Scream 2 in the span of a year and some change. It was excellent!
My father and my mother divorced. It sucked in some ways but the good thing is; I got to see a ton of movies between my time with the two of them.
Always love seeing Michael Ironside being a badass.
Incidentally, are you ever planning on watching Scanners?
I would like to know more. :)
I'll add it to the list of it's already not on it! There are 300 films in the list already so I have to recheck!
I'll be watching. Loving your analyses.
Starship Troopers is a very underrated film. Agree with you Shan that Verhoeven did a great job with the directing, and your comments are spot on. 👌😁
25:29 - lol! Actually, it was alluding to FASCISM... And that is in great part the controversy that plagued this movie when it came out:
I agree with you that it is a great action/sci-fi movie if taken only for that. But Verhoeven said that it was a commentary on fascism itself, that the Earth in this movie is one where fascism took over the entire planet and now had an human-peace; because everyone now followed the doctrines of fascism from birth. The whole journey of the movie (Again, according to Verhoeven) was supposed to show what fascists say would be their ideal society and then to deconstruct it through the war against the bugs, which is hinted in the movie that the bugs' attack were actually retaliation against the humans (The bugs are supposed to be the good guys!); if you re-watch the movie with that optic in mind, the clues will pop-up very easily.
The critics' main criticism back when Starship came out (Besides the usual complaints of snooty critics who judged movies by whether or not it had the symbolism of a Hitchcockian masterpiece and who shot down anything with violence; even worse a gore-fest like this one) was that it GLORIFIED Fascism/Nazism, something that Verhoeven vehemently denied and defending himself with the points I mentioned above. But while I 100% believe Verhoeven when he says that his goal was to denounce fascism, I fear that he clumsily failed in his attempt.
Contrary to Robocop, in which Verhoeven made the Corporate entity the clear villain and Murphy the exploited good guy who broke free from the evil system that had assimilated him, here Verhoeven makes his main hero (Rico) and his friends luke warm participants at the beginning of the movie who enroll all for ulterior motives than to support the (Fascist system); be it love (for multiple characters), a pilot's career, perusing "psychic abilities", etc. Rico's robotic reciting to his teacher of what it means to be a citizen at the start of the movie demonstrates just that. Following their enrollments, they all get caught up in the "Fog of War" and go out for blood after their home town gets destroyed by the bugs; which is the normal development for such a story. But when it should have turned against said society should have been in the third act where our heroes (Especially Rico) should have had a realization that the humans were the bad guys, that fascism was to blame, but we see the complete opposite: Rico and his friends are heroes of the fascist society who score a "great victory for mankind" (?) against the bugs and even the propaganda at the end of the movie shows they still perusing the bugs and encouraging others to follow. And therein lies the flaw.
Even in the commentary to the movie, Verhoeven pleads with the audience that he made the military uniforms, especially the Intelligence officers' uniform, like Nazi uniforms to show to the audience that the humans are on the wrong side of the war (And I agree that when I first saw Neil Patrick Harris appear in that uniform when I saw it in theatre: I cringed, HARD!! But I thought at the time that it meant that the Intelligence division were the bad guys sending the good troops to die), but that and other hints Verhoeven peppered through fade away behind the fact that the protagonist(s) of the movie never renounce said fascist society, nor even the military, and in fact become propaganda tools to its glory (So, sorry Paul! Again, I don't believe it was your intention, but I have to agree with the critics on that one point)
Doesn't change that it remains one of my all-time favorite space/sci-fi movies! The fascism commentary aside: The story is well constructed, the heroes are relatable, some of the twists are very good, the special effects (For that time) were fantastic and top-notch and the traditional favorite campiness/goofiness is both funny and balance the gore well.
(note: I have never watched the sequels as I was always affraid it would not live up to the first one and don't know if any of these motifs and criticism were addressed in those sequels)
I took a female comic artist friend to see this opening weekend and we absolutely loved it. No caveats. Glad you enjoyed it too!
The movie holds up pretty good more than 20 yeras later.
Back in '97, I recall recommending Starship Troopers to my sister in the words: "It's a brilliant film, but it goes bang a lot". Which it is, and does.
This was clearly satire of fascist/nazi regime rather then communism/socialism. Hence the uniforms, symbolism , militarism etc. Also while there is only one class of citizens in communism, here we saw two classes - citizens and civilians .
you mean national socialists ? There are two classes in communism and socialism the party elites and the slaves. Don't let any propaganda tell you different. They all use fascist techniques, the commie version killed tens of millions more than the national socialists in the 20th century. There is a but a hair's difference between national socialist (nazi ) and world wide socialists (commies).
@@bluebird3281 "national socialists" Are there any other kind of nazis? :D
Propaganda aside, technically speaking, communism is classless system. The reason it didn't work is nature of humans themself. (I like Joseph Fiennes explanation the reason why communism can't work as a plausable system ( or why did it failed) in Jean-Jacques Annaud's 2001 movie Enemy at the Gates.
- I've been such a fool, Vassili. Man will always be a man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there'd be nothing to envy your neighbour. But there's always something to envy. A smile, a friendship, something you don't have and want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor. Rich in gifts, poor in gifts. Rich in love, poor in love. (link :www.imdb.com/title/tt0215750/characters/nm0001212)
Regarding nazism, there you have the master race and those who'll serve them.
Who killed how many is, regarding this topic, is completely irrelevant.
This movie was ahead of it's time. If it had come out post 9/11, the satire would have been considered too on the nose, but in 1997, it flew over so many heads.
I’m not a techie, but they would have had render farms filled with high end workstations for the effects, not standard computers. There were also practical models and puppets I believe, for close up stuff.
Render farms were 2000s invention. I believe they used conventional computers to render this movie (at least that's what I learnt from the other comments)
Clancy Brown is his name. He was also the kurgan in highlander.
When this came out people either got it or they did not. My friends and I got it and let me tell you as a young man this was one of the most fun movies I have ever watched in the movie theater.
Finally someone who understands the film and what it stands for. It really shocked me how many of these react people here on YT don't understand the film.
"...knowing Verhoeven, I do expect a little satire..."
Strap in everyone, this is going to be good.
😀
I like how all the teachers and recruiters have terrible wounds like missing limbs or blindness. The effects looked brilliant in 97 and they still hold up today.
I was really happy to see you doing this reaction! I knew that you'd get the social commentary more than the audience at it's release. I'm thinking that the movie compared the "good guys" with Nazis a little too much. This you can see with the propaganda, the glorification of war and violence and the soldiers uniforms. Especially Americans don't like to see their soldiers as evil-doers.
Thank you for watching man! The social commentary didn't surprise me too much since I knew it was Verhoeven's style!
Hence why Edward Snowdon, Chelsea Maning and Julian Assange are considered enemy of the State bcos they told the truth about US soldiers committing war crimes, they are the evil-doers
That's the one unfortunate aspect of this film, it wasn't as effective in it's satire as it should have been, there are people who see this as a pro fascist film, I remember as a kid my friends loved this movie and were totally on board with the ultra nationalist vibes. It's still a good movie, it's just frustrating that it can be so easily misinterpreted.
Starship Troopers 2 was made for less than the munitions budget on the first film. I quite like it but most people don't. It's a low budget suspense/horror movie on a small scale. As long as you know it's not as epic going in, you may enjoy it.
They used hybrid rendering, with scaned models... that is why it looked so Good.. in some places they reused the scans, it quite obvius. But where they used the right scans the effects is amazing
For anyone who stumbled on this going forward. I recommend watching"The Politics Of Starship Troopers" documentary. It clears up alot of the misconceptions the director and public are under regarding this film and underlying novel.
Have a nice day, and remember "Service Guarantees Citizenship!".
I've watched quite a few of your reactions, finally decided to sub, mainly because you've been dropping real bangers, plus a solid take.
Also like for Denise Richards.
I believe the design of the arachnid involved quite a few tricks to reduce render times. They are a collection of fairly simple primitive shapes connected together, including a lot of triangles. That would help get the poly count down. The texture also appears to have been designed to make lighting and shadow less obvious.
If I'm not mistaken, the idea of being a full citizen after serving in the military is a nod to fascism.
In the early days of the US all able bodied men were considered the militia. That didn't automatically make the US fascist. And as mentioned above, the Swiss, everyone has a gun and is part of the countries defense.
Wrong. Verhoven never read the source material and tried to push a satire of fascism onto Starship Troopers Federation. Which is a strict meritocracy that you have to earn the right to vote. Anyone can earn the right to vote through Service to the federation and that does not mean mandatory military service but any type of service aka fireman, police ect. They cannot turn you away from earning the right to vote unless you are literally unable to understand and comprehend the oath of service.
There are several sequels direct to video, 3 live action, and 2 cgi, I think. Also there was a CGI tv series.
If you haven't seen it, please do a reaction to The Fifth Element.
It was a blessing that Paul retained the stop motion animator Phil Tippet for this film from Robocop. Phil brought Jurassic Park R&D and connections (ILM) to get those bugs to move and look good. Actually...this is 80% Robocop film making team back and loving it!