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Nov 17, 2017
The legendary Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Total Recall, Elle) takes a shot a Robert Heinlein’s penchant for militarism by loosely adapting his novel, Starship Troopers into a satire of fascism, wrapped in a splatter or be splattered, space bugs versus humans episode of Beverly Hills 902010. I remember counting the days for this movie to come out so I could make my mom take me to see it, after catching a trailer for it on a copy of Leprechaun 3. The amped-up gore and bug battles melted my heart and earned it an immediate place in my tiny VHS collection mostly composed of chunky, white vinyl, Disney cases carried over from my pre-preadolescence. As I grew older, the movie grew with me. I began to recognize its camp and enjoyed it for new reasons, until I reached adulthood and finally appreciated it for its full on satire of a world where the military takes precedent over all. The movie isn’t without its flaws, but I applaud Verhoeven for going all in on his vision and not letting off the gas to make something more approachable.