Starship Troopers
User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 64
  3. Negative: 5 out of 64

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  1. TomT
    Mar 8, 2007
    10
    A thought-provoking, entertaining sci-fi action film based on Robert A. Heinlein's Hugo award winning classic sci fi military novel..that is not for the squeamish, the humorless or the knee jerk, politically correct.
  2. SteveE.
    May 10, 2005
    10
    No story, but when has an all-action film had a story. Great special effects and funny too.
  3. PatC.
    May 20, 2004
    10
    A lot of people were clueless to this depiction of a society?s conversion from innocence, humanity and tolerance into the simplistic and ruthless political will to go to war. In this case against alien insects, as public policy turns fascist and becomes, ?The only good bug is a dead bug.? Perhaps the future world where it is set, with its lack of social entitlements, baffled many. If it had come out right after 9/11, it might have been hailed as an omniscient masterpiece. Its violence, with its upbeat acceptance of humanity?s warlike and genocidal alter ego, is hardly a speculative reality check. In Verdun there is an ossuary filled with the body parts of 130,000 unidentified WWI soldiers collected from local battlefields. As WWII ensued, millions of non-combatants were exterminated. We have now been provoked into a mindset that the only good Al-Qaeda is a dead Al-Qaeda, and the laments of idealists and social experimenters have taken on an obnoxious tone. Our new attitude has recently slopped over to include selected Iraqis. When the veteran soldier remarks early on in this movie that figuring things out for ones self is the only freedom one ever really has, notice is given that the story will proceed beyond satire and strip away all the pretensions we complacently indulge in. The enthusiastic acting is simplistic, but not to the point of being distracting. There is an insufficiently examined implication that long-term military rule is not problematic for the advancement of society. As contemporary commentary the movie falters here because our history proves otherwise, but as science fiction it is not so much about that as about the altruistic selflessness of a commitment to soldiering. 10. … Expand
  4. BrettS.
    Jul 23, 2004
    10
    Exciting, great special effects. Good storyline.
  5. Nuxes
    May 21, 2006
    10
    The only people who don't like this movie are the one who don't get it. Yes, it's supposed to be cheesey. Yes, there are a lot of things left unexplained. No, it's not Star Wars. It's a 1940s John Wayne movie set in space. The beauty of this movie is its simplicity. It allows us to see common themes in all war movies. It also helps to read the book, especially to get a feeling of the society.… Collapse
  6. A.Nonymous
    Nov 15, 2007
    10
    It may not be the most original, epic or awe-inspiring movie ever, but it's FUN. You remember that? FUN? The thing we used to have before every movie is now rejected if it isn't a Jane Austen drama?
  7. frankspijker
    Aug 27, 2012
    10
    Starship Troopers is one of the most misunderstood movies of all time. Its cheesy acting, its extreme violence, its incredible visuals. It does these things so well that people misunderstand it. It pretends to be an action movie while it's much more than that. What's so incredible about the movie is that it suggests that Americans and Nazi's with their propaganda are just the same when it they are at war. They were/are both full of irrational hatred(''First comes sorrow, then anger'') when they are at war. This movie has a message, it's an anti-war movie. ''People seem to have this strange idea that films can influence people to be violent, but in my sincere opinion film only reflects the violence of society.'' a quote from the director himself. He did the same with Robocop, but in this movie it's harder to notice.

    I find it very hard to explain it's message so if you think this movie is just a dumb action movie watch the film-commentary of the movie. It explains it all.    … Expand
  8. Militaizi
    Jun 9, 2012
    9
    Very humoristic movie and entertaining, it's a pity that the sequels didn't get to the same level. First thought this as a B-class movie, and that it was, in the best possible way.
  9. McCorpse
    Feb 17, 2013
    9
    Awe man where to start with this one. The film is ultimate cheesy goodness. The plot, dialogue, and a few of the action scenes are goofy as hell and make it hard to take the movie seriously at times but then you get awesome alien killing action and the overall tone of the film feeling like a parody of modern war films. All of the war propaganda and the whole reasoning for the war seemed to share a lot of similarities despite the fact that these are alien bugs we are fighting. I suppose the message would be that war is war no matter who the enemy. Back to the cheesyness tho since this seems to be where the movie really gets it personallity. Spoiler time! Dizzies character constantly made me laugh. The way shes always trying to hard to get her man and making obviously jealous faces and denise richards. This was, well, cheesey and then when she passes you feel bad for her character but cant help but laugh at her passing words. Another part that had me constantly shaking my head was how each character "coincidentaly" continue to run into each other no matter where they go, its incredibly unbelievable but its easy to get over because in a money like this, it kind of fits. One other notworthy part would be the stupid football play they do where buddy does the funny looking flip over his oponents and then they decide to use it in combat, you all know what part im talking about, its comedy. Now going hand in hand with the cheesyness is the awesomeness, and by this i mean the battle scenes against the aliens. These scenes are incredibly gory to a point that its almost suprising and unexpected. I loved every inute of it.
    Starship troopers is a badass sci fi, alien war movie that has to be seen to believe. Check it out.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
51 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 20
  3. Negative: 3 out of 20
  1. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    20
    It's exactly like "Star Wars" -- if you subtract a good story, sympathetic characters, intelligence, wit and moral purpose.
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  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    Faithfully represents Heinlein's militarism, his Big Brother state, and a value system in which the highest good is to kill a friend before the Bugs can eat him. The underlying ideas are the most interesting aspect of the film.
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  3. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    Paul Verhoeven's movie takes more action than ideas from Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 novel, which is just as well, considering the book's goofy suggestion that military veterans should control society from top to bottom.
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