STARSHIP TROOPERS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Perhaps Robert Heinlein's most
celebrated novel gets a big-budget Hollywood
treatment with an incredible number of glitzy
special effects. When Heinlein's right-wing
political philosophy mixes with a "blow 'em up real
good" film about a war on an alien planet fighting
giant insects, the results are limited in how good
they can be. This film is pretty close to that
upper limit. Not a great film, but Heinlein would
have probably been pleased with the results.
Expect a lot of blood (red for humans, red or green
for insects), a lot of violence, and a little
nudity. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), +1 (-4 to +4)
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein is one of the perennial classics of science fiction. The novel may be so popular more for the timing of its publication, 1959, than for quality, being probably the first important piece of military science fiction. The book itself is a look at life in the combat military during World War II, but had it been written as such it would have been forgotten two months after it was published. And it was, in fact, probably inferior to many of its contemporary novels about the war. But Heinlein was a science fiction author and so set the story in an interstellar war. Having been written as science fiction, it brought military fiction to a new audience and probably was pivotal in creating military science fiction as a new sub-genre. (Historical note: 1959 was also the year of military science fiction novel DORSAI by Gordon Dickson. The only major military science fiction novel prior to that year was 1952's GUNNER CADE by Cyril Kornbluth and Judith Merrill writing as Cyril Judd.)
Heinlein's story is a set of forays into Heinlein's own political philosophy combined with a sort of enthusiastic--but somehow unsavory- -look at military discipline. He wrote it after serving in the military in the war, albeit behind a desk. The philosophy for me was more engaging than the discipline. After all, if one feels threatened by people's different ideas, one should not be reading science fiction. But Heinlein's admiring descriptions of good, harsh military discipline--up to and including the use of the lash--are often hard to take. So that humanitarian concerns would not get in the way of Heinlein's military philosophy he dehumanized the enemy well beyond even the level of gooks to spiders with hive insect habits. (The film goes a step further, and in the wrong direction, calling them both "insects" and "arachnids." Of course they cannot be both.) Making the enemy bugs neatly reduces them in the reader's concern and disposes of any humane consideration for them. Ironically, this is just the aspect that Paul Verhoeven seizes upon in his film. He wants to examine what would a war of infantry against an implacable army of giant insects be like? And with the advent of good computer graphics, giant insects could be shown attacking in the thousands.
The story of the film is at least roughly that of the novel. It is a world where veterans have taken over the government and military service is a prerequisite of having voting rights. The film follows Johnny Rico (played by Casper Van Dien) through the military experience from his high school experience coming under the influence of pro- military teacher Jean Rasczak (Michael Ironside). It follows him and a few of his friends though enlistment and an extended sequence of training. About an hour into the film it takes him to battle and to becoming a hero fighting the giant insect like inhabitants of Klendathu. Overlaid on the military plot is the much less interesting story of the love lives of the main characters. It is hard to build up a whole lot of interest on whether Johnny will get together with girlfriend Carmen Ibenez (Denise Richards) or Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) when giant insects are ripping people apart. That whole subplot seems a little bit like unneeded padding in a film that is 129 minutes long.
As far as acting, this is a film in which all the interesting characters are in minor roles. The only real tension on screen in the relationship between Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards is to see when they finally do kiss, how will they keep those jutting chins from getting in the way. On the other hand in a more minor roles are Clancy Brown as the violent, sadistic drill instructor with the heart of gold. Always watchable is Michael Ironside as the gruff, hardened teacher- turned-commander with the heard of gold, Rasczak. Anybody who is military seems gruff and insensitive, but that is because they really love the troops. Edward Neumeier wrote the screenplay which shows similarities to his screenplay for Paul Verhoeven's previous ROBOCOP, particularly in its send-up of the popular media. Special effects-- some showing incredible swarms of giant insects--are produced by Industrial Light and Magic among other contributors. Things have come a long way since Warner Brothers made THEM! with one full-sized ant mock-up and the front half of a second ant. These giant insects are too realistic at times. The film has a right-wing-slant so it comes a no surprise that the score is by Basil Poledouris who also scored CONAN THE BARBARIAN, RED DAWN, IRON EAGLE, ROBOCOP, AMERIKA, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER, and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. It is not one of his better scores and is regrettably well below that quality he showed with CONAN THE BARBARIAN.
My feeling is that it is not the most ambitious project in the world to make a film of STARSHIP TROOPERS. The best film you could possibly make would be none too good. But I also feel this very nearly is the best film you could possibly make from the book. It is not accurate to the book, but most of the changes are probably for the best. There are places that this version diverges from the novel, but they seem to be modifications that the author would have endorsed. Heinlein gave us an all-male army that just does not square with our 90s vision of the future. If serving in the military is a prerequisite for voting rights, it is unlikely that women would be excluded and they would have to serve under the same conditions as the men. The script does that very handily. Also scenes like the one with co-ed shower facilities are very much within the style of later Heinlein books. That idea could have almost come from a Heinlein book.
With the proper set of substitutions this could be a fairly typical John Wayne film about World War II. As a science fiction piece with good special effects, this makes for an entertaining two hours plus, and it is fun to hear some of Heinlein's political ideas. I would rate this film a +6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper
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