In the past week I have read at least three different reviews of the new film Starship Troopers, all of which seem to have completely missed the point. Surely, they spent a great deal of time expounding on the violence, the impressive computer generated effects, and the bare bones of the plot; but all of them failed to mention anything about the soul of the movie.
The film, which is basically a war drama in which earth is battling a race of giant insects (Termed, obviously, "Bugs") who colonize other worlds by hurtling meteors with their spore on it towards other planets. How this is accomplished, exactly, is not explored, but we generally get the impression that the "bugs" have colonized a number of worlds around their home planet. We follow a trio of high school friends as they rise in the ranks of humanityís military forces, all the while attempting to get the upper hand over the insects, who seem to have many advantages. First of all, they are incredibly difficult to actually kill and from time to time we are left in suspense as we expect a "dead" bug to lash out as it is dying and kill a character we may have grown attached to.
Not that it is easy to become attached to anyone, seeing as the secondary characters are killed left and right. This, however, seems to have a good deal to do with the way this concept was presented to us by the director, Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Total Recall). We are not watching a movie about the our own individualism versus the cold alien resolve of the "bugs." Indeed, we are instead watching a movie about our own inhumanity and tendency to put the needs of many above the individual. After all, in this future the world is a Fascist State in which one must serve in the military to procure citizenship (One character says that sheís joined up so that she can one day have a baby, a task more easily accomplished as a citizen.), and there are numerous visual references to Nazi Germany among the grey uniforms and lightning bolt insignias to distinguish rank among the troopers. Even the symbol of the new world order is an eagle with its arm stiffly outstretched, reminiscent of the Romanesque Banners which Hitler's troops carried in parades.
Robert Heinlein, who wrote the original novel, had perhaps intended this tale to be a warning about believing too much that your side is absolutely right, and the other is obviously wrong. In his version, written at the height of the cold war, Earth was America, and the "bugs" represented the American view of the North Koreans during the Korean War. Though that particular read has been altered in the movie version, we certainly get a somewhat chilling tale about the nature of humanity. In one of the scenes which resolves the movie we see the "brain bug," a thinking insect, hauled out before a giant crowd of soldiers- All indistinguishable from each other. A psychic reads the bug's mind and proclaims: It's afraid! The crowd cheers. An interesting development that, after we are dehumanized to the point where we are merely troopers, the bug is the only character left who seems to have any true feeling. The roles reversed, the audience leaves the theater oblivious or disturbed. Many people mumble: "What was that ending all about?," "Weird . . ." and even: "I thought we'd get to see them kill all of the bugs."
It is sort of sad to say, but I believe that Starship Troopers just went over far too many people's heads, even though it was flagrantly obvious about its intentions. But, I guess that's not really surprising. It is refreshing to know, though, that you can make an entertaining action movie and still maintain a fairly interesting social commentary at the same time.
Thank you, and good night.
