# Starship Troopers (1997)

### reviewed by
Jeff Walters

    **Starship Troopers**
    Reviewed by Jeff Walters

There was alot of Aliens Resurrection vs Starhip Troopers talk last year and both were tagged as movies to watch at the Box Office. It came as a fairly big surprise when both movies fizzled and died on release. Dissappointment aside, which movie emerged on top? Well, in my opinion - it's Starship Troopers.

Alien's Resurrection was the movie I was waiting for in 1997 and I had very high hopes for it. Dissappointment was sadly the end result. Besides one or two nice action scenes (the underwater sequence was brilliant) the movie just really failed to make any real impact. Quickly souring on bug-theme movies I wasn't really looking forward to Starship Troopers and walked into it with my sights set low. This movie is no masterpeice of cinema - that is for sure. But damn it was entertaining, something A4 really failed to be.

One thing you can't do with this movie, is take it seriously - no sir. First time I saw it I was half-expecting a serious film and didn't enjoy it as much - but the second time I saw it I knew what to expect - and man was this film better the second time around. The key is to accept that the movie in no way takes itself seriously - so you must do the same. The cast appears to be handpicked from Aaron Spelling's stables. The script keeps the multiple syllable words to an absolute minimum ("You're some big fat smart bug aren't ya?") and the tactics used by the troopers and ships in combat would have any retired army veteran rolling around laughing hysterically. ('Duh yeah, let's park our ships here where they can be shot out of the sky like last time or better yet - let's walk down through this narrow canyon where falling rocks betray the presence of bugs up high...no wait...I've got an idea - then let's send a guy up out of the canyon to be hacked to death!'). Smart this movie ain't.

With all this sarcasm and cheap jibes at the movie you're likely wondering why I gave this movie 3 1/2 out of 5 stars? Well, to put it simply - this movie is fuuuun. The special FX are simply awe inspiring. The bugs are the best CG creatures you'll see in a movie. Forget the Jurassic Park dinos or Alien 4 cockroaches - these bugs look incredibly real...and more then slightly frightening. They are quick deadly and very difficult to kill. There are also many different types of bugs. My favourite is the big bettle-like bug that spits something resembling napalm at it's enemies - very nice. The scenes involving the massive starships are also beautifully rendered, though it would have been nice if these ships saw some kind of action besides getting shot down by planet-launched balls of 'bug-plasma'.

Ok...onto the characters. Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico) is likable enough in the lead role, but no-one would accuse him of depth or his character of intellect. Dina Meyer (Dizzy Flores) is actually pretty good as one of the two female leads, her character has much more life to her than most of her co-stars. The pick of the cast are Michael Ironside as the no nonsense teacher turned combat leader, Rasczak, and Clancy Brown as the incredibly tough and likely certifably insane Sergeant Zim. He is the real scene-stealer of the movie and his somewhat unorthodox methods for getting messages across to his troops is hilarious if twisted (He turns the word 'MEDIC!' into the ultimate one-liner). Ace Levy (played by Jake Busey, who is a dead-ringer for relative Gary Busey) also provides some good comic relief through the training section of the movie.

The weak links of the cast? Two big ones. Denise Richard's Carmen Ibanez has gotta be one of the dullest characters you'll see. Talk about a barbie doll. She has zero one liners, no character and a smile that seems to have been surgically fixed in place. Even when her love interest (Patrick Muldoon) has his brains sucked out of his skull by the 'big fat smart bug' she seems to be unable to stiffle the gameshow host smile. Never seen this actress before. No wonder why. The other big mis-cast is Neil Patrick Harris as the geeky psychic, Carl. Why did someone have to dig up Doogie Howser? I thought we were finally rid of the runt.

The action scenes involving the troopers are very thrilling indeed. Especially when Rico does his rodeo act on the back of one of the bettle-bugs or when the small squad of troopers try to hold the Fort against staggering odds. It takes quite a while to reach the cool action seqeunces though, about 50 minutes of training and scenes back on earth. Though you start itching for the action, the lead up parts are still entertaining in their own way. The hilarious 'propaganda' commercials spaced through out the film keeps the audience's attention.

The ending is a total anti-climax unfortunately. After a short 'rescue the girl' sequence the movie ends abruptly leaving the audience fairly unsatisfied. Though the movie is long enough as is I would have happily sat there for an extra 15 or so minutes if it meant a more involved and thrilling ending.

All up - I really enjoyed this movie. It is a very violent movie, but it is delivered in such a way so that it is never disturbingly so. As long as you don't try to take this movie seriously - you should enjoy it as well. There is talk of a sequel already and I certainly hope it eventuates as there are many loose ends left to be tied up.

    3.5 out of 5 stars

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