Starship Troopers
©1997 Bootsector
As races grow and expand they need space and if there is a limited amount of space they will interfere with one another. And quite obviously they will conflict. Such is the case in the 23rd Century, Humankind is essentially pitted against Insectkind. The world as we knew it is not the same, the world is united and citizenship is a duty that is given to those that serve the state. In this world, graduating students such as Johnny Rico, Carmen Ibanez(...I think...) and their classmates choose to be civilians or citizens. Citizenship in their case is achieved by joining the military, whatever facet of it each person is suited for. Here the movie begins in earnest, and I'll stop as to not ruin it. The story is based about a small group of friends and classmates, that is originally from the Buenos Aires(which is destroyed... I won't say how). Their relationships develop through the course of the movie, this is the underlying plot to the movie and is in some cases quite sad. It shows that people are still people even in the roughest of conditions. Other than the interactions between the characters, which isn't very deep on its own, the plot of the movie is fairly simple. And there are quite a few plot gaps, and some things just happen without any previous buildup. Also some parts of this movie are just a little cliché, and you can almost see things happening. All this does not take away from the movie though and in some cases even adds to the viewing quality of it. The movie flows unbelievably, you are not left there wondering what just happened.. simply because you are already onto the next event. The buildup for this movie is fairly lengthy, the setting and situation is built up in such a manner to let the viewer know what is going on and what is happening before it happens. Even during the build up to action/war the movie seems to flow very well. One thing that is fairly noticeable is that most of the characters in this movie are aesthetically pleasing.. very aesthetically pleasing, this is just one of those things that the budget seemed to be able to afford. I am not saying that the future might not be like this its just hard to imagine that everyone will look THAT good. The acting in this movie was surprisingly decent, it is obviously far from Oscar caliber anywhere in this production but the acting that was needed for this movie was more than adequately filled. Although personally, I found the main character, Johnny Rico, to be played a bit on the stiff side, at more than one point in the movie he should have showed a bit more emotion than he did.. a blank stare could be a sign of numbness to a situation but... um.. this is acting not reality, a bit more emotion could have been shown. Other than that rather small detail, I would have to say that the acting in this movie is good. Most of the actors/resses are fresh faces, and that is a refreshing change from seeing the same super hero figures going at it again in the same old tired roles. The effects are the backbone of this movie and they are delivered in abundance. To top it off they are spectacular and then some. The movie is simply worth seeing simply for the special effects. The scenes in space really blew you away, although some of the things that the spaceships/cruisers were doing is simply beyond logic.. sorry folks there wasn't the slightest shred of military tactics shown in this movie.. just sheer military stupidity.. but again that is not why this movie is being watched. If you want tactics or a real military movie you will find more than enough on either or both of those topics. Back to the effects, they were very life like and just stellar. Some of the battle scenes were a bit hard to follow because they were so fast but they added to the , the race for the special effects Oscar this year is very tight, well maybe not as tight now...
One thing that I do have to comment on is the violence, personally I don't mind it and it very suiting for this movie. Regardless I do have to say that this movie is about the most violent movie that I have ever seen, even Braveheart has trouble comparing to this, carnage abounds. So if that is not your thing then you may want to consider not watching this movie. One thing that did strike me very odd was that there was no swearing, lots of violence but no swearing. Also the General style of the movie was a bit disconcerting, fascist overtones were present(but then again they were almost fitting). Some of the commentary in the movie hints at the fact that we as a society take citizenship all too lightly, and that we are being given something that we don't entirely deserve. This is just one of those small things that are mentioned, its not continually hammered at you like in other movies. All in all this movie is very entertaining and worth seeing if you aren't really interested in gleaning anything from the movie other than entertainment value. Its one of the funnest movies of the last few years. The movie is a tad bit violent so the rating that it has is well more than apt, people with children might want to wait till its on tape where the carnage isn't on such a large screen. I rate this movie 3/4 for its entertainment value and its special effects. Its more than worth the money, I'd even say seeing it a couple times is still worth it(not many movies have that ability)
Bootsector November 17, 1997
Bootsector@hotmail.com www.imactive.com/bootsector/
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