Cheap Starship Troopers (Video) (Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards) (Paul Verhoeven) Price

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Customer Reviews of Starship Troopers

Where are the power suits?
It is amazing to read the previous reviews and not wonder if the authors actually read the book before or after viewing the movie. The movie is a great action packed computer graphics film that should satisfy any shoot-em up and/ or sci-fi buff. The comments about fascism are typical libreal bull spun into a critique about a film that is loosely based on Mr. Heinlien's 1959 military science fiction classic.
While the movie graphics depicting the "Bugs" are wonderful, it seems a shame this couldn't carry over to Mobile Infantry! The original book went into great detail about the training boot camp and power suits of the Mobile Infantry. A few boot camp scenes are there in the movie with co-ed combat units not found in the orginial story.
However, the primary fault with the movie is the missing power suits. This concept is what gives a human an equal chance against something like a "Bug". Replacing the power suit weapons system with a heavy automatic rifle/ shotgun combination was a weak compromise at best. Still, the use of massed firepower made the outpost sequence equal to the final monments of "Zulu".
The movie also glossed over the life change an individual can have going through boot camp and the fact that this process hasn't really changed since the days of Roman legions. There comes a point in any training camp where a person realizes they are going to make it come what may. This sort of confidence is had to explain to anyone that hasn't experienced it. It is shared by doctors, nurses, policemen, firefighters, and everyone in the military.
The other facet of society in the book that was lightly touched upon in the movie was the right of citizenship. The other critiques refer to this as fascism or glorifying the military but these opinions are contrary to everything Mr. Heinlein ever wrote. The global society envisioned by Robert Heinlein was based on individual freedom and responsibility. The freedom to vote was based on citizens earning that right through military service. It is strange to read other people thinking this is some sort of totalitarian propoganda when many European countries require some form of national service from most of their secondary school graduates.
Still, even misguided liberal idiots are entitled to their opinions and rose colored view of the world. I throughly enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it. The visual effects make up for the missing parts of the storyline. The action sequences almost make up for the missing power suits. Of course a "Bolo" would have been better!

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The tale of WWII if it were told space?
Students of history would probably be astonished to see the parallels between the war between the US and the Empire of Japan in WWII and that of the humans vs. Arachnids in Starship Troopers. The ability of the enemy to fight strong despite massive injury and loss, and the overall resolve of the humans/americans to win the war. The connection is further imposed with the use of tactical nukes.

The downside: The acting in general is horrific. Michael ironside is the only saving grace in the cast. As usual his performance is believable and on target. Casper Van Dien, from his performance on this piece, if I were to make a movie, I might ask him to build the sets; the same is true of Denise Richards. They both offer awkward performances. Some of the scripting boarders on lame, but the story is solid and there is a lot of good to be found.

Why then 4 stars? Plain and simple the movie is just a lot of fun to watch. It gives the lover of the shoot 'em up film some major action to watch in the battle scenes. The special effects come off well, and there is plenty of humor to be had. (Note: As is typically the case in movie's where the script leaves a little to be desired, they try to make up for it by adding nudity.)

All in all, whether you laugh at some of the acting, watch for the effects on your big screen with surround sound, or you treat it as an academic study as I first did, it serves as a great piece for movie night with your friends.

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listen up all n64 fans.
in the far future,the armed forces battle giant bugs on thier planet.one of the drill instructers is played by the pervert in sleepers.this movie is far to violent for chilkdren.i cant belive the second part even came fromthis one.this one rules but the sceond one left a lot to be desired.i think military,action and sci fi fans will all enjiy this one.anyone who is squeamish will not like it,as it is very graphic and very violent.there are 2 basic chicks in this movie.a air force chick whose playing two guys and a sexy red head who pines after one of those guys.i think the first chick is nasty but the red head is awesome.she must be pretty co mfortable without a shirt because she takes it off a number of times.this movie kicks butt!some of its futuristic concepts are neat.the violent parts are very graphic.legs flying,guts spraying...........its great.