First released way back in 1997, Paul Verhoven’s Starship Troopers has only gotten better over time. This Blu-ray edition was released in conjunction with the second direct-to-video garbage sequel, Marauder, which along with the previous sequel, Hero of the Federation, only serves to highlight what an awesome movie the original was.
Starship Troopers is, at its core, a hilariously violent satire of big-budget sci-fi movies. It is gloriously cheesy and over-the-top; the sort of movie so obsessed with blood, guts, guns, tits and explosions that you almost feel like you’re 10 years old, nose pressed against the screen late at night, watching the VHS tape your friend lent you. The fact that it’s all irony makes it even better; Paul Verhoven, director of such classics as Total Recall and Showgirls, does not have the word ‘subtlety’ in his vocabulary, so when he does satire, he punches you in the face with it. That anyone ever thought this film was attempting sincerity is laughable, and yet, when it was originally released, people mocked it for all the same reasons it’s mocking itself. It is just as much fun to watch in 2008 as it was 11 years ago, which is a testament to Verhoven’s schlocky appeal. It’s hard not to pity the folks that just didn’t get it.
It’s almost a waste of time to talk about the performances; Casper Van Dien was basically born to play the square-jawed, vacant jarhead Johnny Rico, and then-newcomer Denise Richards plays equally vacant, constantly-smiling Carmen Ibanez just fine, considering both of them are supposed to be empty-headed cardboard archetypes (the “let’s get the two whitest people in the history of white people to play characters with Hispanic names” strategy is confusing, although it might be just another layer of satire given Hollywood’s penchant for getting race wrong). The now-awesome Neil Patrick Harris shows up and there’s a glimmer of the charming and hilarious actor he’s become in the years since Doogie Howser, although he doesn’t have much screen time. That everyone has so much makeup on that they look like action figures just adds to the hilarity.
It still looks great, too; the effects were always a brilliant example of how to properly blend CG in with live-action elements, and even at 1080p resolution, they still look pretty great. The model work is impressive, too; while on early DVD transfers the compositing used in the model sequences looked a little weak, this pristine transfer makes it look great. This is a prime example of an ambitious effects film that has really held up over the years.
There are a surprising number of exclusive Blu-ray special features; in addition to the mountain of extras that came in the original 2-disc special edition DVD that’s been out of print for a while, there are interactive games, and BD-Live functionality for downloading trailers and “putting yourself in the movie” a’la the feature on the Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition that allowed you to insert your photo into a program that let you blow chunks off of your own face to reveal the cybernetic skeleton beneath. Most impressive is “FedNet Mode”, which is a graphics-in-picture track that has a bunch of the original cast and crew members discussing the film’s satirical elements, and even has a few discussions about the book the film is (very) loosely based on; it runs while the film is playing. Overall, it’s a very solid package and a nice effort from Sony.
SO IS IT WORTH IT?
Absolutely! Great movie, excellent picture quality, uncompressed sound, a mountain of new special features and Denise Richards’ pre-reality show plastic face in 1080p. What more could any red-blooded nerd ask for? It’s available for around $20 on Amazon; most big box stores will have it for $24.99, with Fry’s Electronics letting it go for $23.
