Starship Troopers (1997)          

Paul Verhoeven: Hollow Man, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Robocop

I first saw Starship Troopers in college, and I thought it was great because it was so over the top. Well, I just saw it again the other day. And this film isn’t just over the top. Brother, it is the top. I first saw Starship Troopers in college, and I thought it was great because it was so over the top. Well, I just saw it again the other day. And this film isn’t just over the top. Brother, it is the top. Starship Troopers is hands down one of the best action/science fiction movies ever. Paul Verhoeven’s visual composition, in particular his penchant for color, landscape and object motion is simply uncanny. Verhoeven (along with writer Ed Neumeier) also has a characteristic way of portraying fascism and violence, which rivals Terry Gilliam at making you feel as though your own guts are being ripped out. Recall the scene in Robocop when the ‘new model’ comes into the board meeting and malfunctions. When you realize it’s going to kill that guy, and no one can do anything to stop it. Whoa. Now that’s a scene that stays with you. In conclusion, Starship Troopers rocks, Rolling Stone Magazine sucks, and the Academy Awards can kiss my Best Visual After Effects. Soundtrack by Basil Poledouris (Conan).¹

A Note on the DVD Release:

The way DVD’s work is the original film, either shot on real celluloid or digital, is then transferred to the digital storage format, which is then burned onto the DVD’s that you buy. But DVD’s have limited storage space, and so to get the highest quality transfer, the entire side of one disc must be dedicated to the film. Filling up the disc with those many little extras, therefore, means less storage space for the film itself.

Old School would disapprove of anything that distracts and detracts from the movie itself. New School would disagree with Old School and put acid in Old School’s cherry Coke. And so this release of Starship Troopers is in fact New Old School. It’s on two discs, which allows for the best of both worlds. To get to hear Paul Verhoeven and Ed Neumeier talk about the creative process and just generally shoot the shit while the film plays through in its entirety is truly an enriching experience. Someday, I would like to play through my entirety. [two legs] [rule]

A Note on The Look: If you are interested in the look of this film, you can trace it back to the cinematographer Jost Vacano who made an earlier German film The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum before going to America to work with Paul Verhoeven. It is said that the imagery of that German film was inspired by the American painter Tucker. Anyone?

¹ Do you wanna make movies forever?

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