Starship Troopers

Directed by Paul Verhoeven
1997
RT score: 62%
My rating 9 out of 10

A few months back someone tried to suggest that Starship Troopers is one of the all time great guilty pleasure movies of all time to which I respond 'why would anyone feel guilty about enjoying this phenomenal film.'
Is it that Verhoeven has a reputation for being over the top with his action and violence? Is it because the acting (lead by Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards) is dry and totally lacks a sense of authenticity?
Well, if those things cause you to believe that this is a guilty pleasure movie that's fine, but let me encourage you to recognize that this is anything but a guilty pleasure. The first reason I love this film is it's treatment of the alien attackers. To of the top performing films of our lifetime that involve aliens attempting to exterminate humans our Independence Day and Transformers. What drives me nuts about both is that they first 90 minutes of each the alien attackers appear to be unstoppable. In particular with ID4 we even drop a nuclear bomb on one and nothing happens. This puts the filmmakers in the position of trying to come up with a satisfying ending over the films final 45 minutes and Jeff Goldblum deciding to give the aliens a virus was anything but a satisfying ending.
Verhoevn in contrast doesn't make the aliens unstoppable, he just makes sure their big, that there is a lot of them and that they are bad ass. Even if you have a problem with the design (and I don't) you still have to admit that they kick some serious butt.
Another thing here that is an improvement in terms of story is the fact that the aliens aren't just indiscriminately attacking us. The film tells us that there was an attempt to set up a Mormon colony on the alien planet and that's one of the events that set in motion the events of the film. ID4 offers no explanation for why the aliens wanted to attack us and Transformers explanation is so forgettable that all I remember is that it some how involved Shia Lebouf, a pair of glasses and an audience being stupid enough to buy anything Michael Bay is selling.
Throw in a distopian future where democracy has long fallen by the wayside and you had to serve in the military to be a citizen and the film is easily packed with often hilarious satire especially in the 'would you like to learn more' news casts. The film moves at a nice pace and the action sequences are tremendous. It's so much better than other films that share this genre that I stand by my assertion that this is not a guilty pleasure movie.