In this sci fi shoot-em-up, director Paul Verhoeven
proves once again that excessive violence is what the
people want these days. This hugely successful adaption
of Robert A. Heinlein's novel follows a group of young
people who are on a dangerous mission to destroy giant
bugs that are threatening the earth.

It's "Beverly Hills 90210 In Space" as each beautiful
kid tries to find his or her niche in the brutal military
of the future. Right after the kids are settled into
their respective duties, aliens from a distant planet
attack earth and kill millions of people.

A massive convoy is sent to the "bug planet" in retaliation.
An epic battle ensues and both sides suffer huge casualties
in the wake. The battles are graphic and bloody as the
giant bugs use their razor-sharp legs to gore trooper
after trooper.

The lead characters are rather generic and, to me,
unconvincing as military troopers. Everyone is attractive
and surprisingly pleasant, except for two veteran
military men, played well by Michael Ironside and
Clancy Brown.

The special effects add some excitement to an otherwise
implausible premise.The overall mood of the film is a
little too cheery and this seems to make a joke of all
the violent deaths. Starship Troopers is meant to be
fun, but in the end it is a shameless mockery of good
filmmaking.

Verhoeven takes death and war to the extreme, making
essentially a war movie without a conscience. Starship
Troopers is only concerned with making spectacle out
of misery. In other words, I hate this film and
everything that it glorifies.