Product Details

• Actors: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris
• Directors: Paul Verhoeven
• Writers: Edward Neumeier, Robert A. Heinlein
• Producers: Alan Marshall, Edward Neumeier, Frances Doel, Jon Davison, Phil Tippett
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: May 28, 2002
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (788 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000648WZ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,280 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Starship Troopers (Special Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• This is item 1 in The Starship Troopers Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire--not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that functions on multiple levels of entertainment. The film might be called "Melrose Place in Space," with its youthful cast of handsome guys and gorgeous women who look like they've been recruited (and in some cases they were) from the cast of Beverly Hills 90210. Viewers might focus on the incredible, graphically intense action sequences (definitely not for children) in which heavily armed forces from Earth go to off-world battle against vast hordes of alien "bugs" bent on planetary conquest. The attacking bugs are marvels of state-of-the-art special-effects technology, and the space battles are nothing short of spectacular. But Starship Troopers is more than a showcase for high-tech hardware and gigantic, flesh-ripping insects. Recalling his childhood in Holland during the Nazi occupation, Verhoeven turns this epic adventure into a scathingly funny satire of fascist propaganda, emphasizing Heinlein's underlying warning against the hazards of military conformity and the sickening realities of war. It's an action-packed joy ride if that's all you're looking for, but Verhoeven has a provocative agenda that makes Starship Troopers as smart as it is exciting. The DVD includes an above-average commentary by the director and Neumeier, several deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes documentary and promotional featurette, cast bios, production notes, and more. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features

The previous, two-sided DVD of Starship Troopers included a lot of bonus features, but this special-edition two-DVD set represents a considerable improvement, including all those features and then adding an all-new half-hour documentary that covers every aspect of the production and interviews all of the principal cast and crew. Also new is a funny, energetic commentary track by costars Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, and Neil Patrick Harris; unfortunately, Denise Richards is absent, but director Paul Verhoeven is present to enhance their rousing reminiscence. Special FX comparisons show live-action "plates" before and after the addition of miniatures and/or digital effects, and commentary by composer Basil Poledouris on the isolated-score track offers privileged insight into the process of creating a motion-picture score. "Know Your Foe" featurettes explore the variety of "bugs" that populate the film, and Verhoeven--one of the liveliest of all DVD commentators--analyzes the techniques employed for two pivotal effects sequences. For Troopers fans, this is almost as fun as a Klendathu bug hunt. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 179 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'War makes fascists of us all.', January 3, 2004

By	John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Silver Lake, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

So says Paul Verhoeven, who has said (and says again in the commentary on this DVD release) that it's one of the statements made by this morally complex film.

I love listening to Verhoeven's commentaries (especially the one he does with Arnold Schwarzenegger on _Total Recall_). Here he shares the task with screenwriter Ed Neumeier, and putting the two of them together was an excellent choice. The commentary is one of the best features of the special edition.

The film itself is hard to evaluate. Because it's Verhoeven, it's got sex, gore, and social satire. What it's also got -- and something that was arguably missing from the Robert A. Heinlein novel on which the film is based -- is a high level of moral complexity that doesn't divide everyone neatly into Good Guys and Bad Guys.

The effect is odd, and oddly disturbing. On one hand, the film succeeds quite well as a combat shoot-'em-up in the style of the great World War II films. At that level, if we like, we can take the 'bugs' of Klendathu, playing as they do into our 'natural' loathing of insects, as a politically correct version of the sort of enemy Heinlein probably intended. (As long as we don't take the film's incompetent 'military action' too seriously.)

On the other hand, the film also contains lots of sly references to the Third Reich, lots of little clues that suggest the 'bugs' didn't start the war, and lots of opportunities for the characters _and_ the audience to conclude that war may not be the best way to approach the problem here at issue.

Okay, this latter stuff is a huge departure from Heinlein's novel, which was primarily focused on what makes military folks tick and what it means to be a responsible citizen. Heinlein's civics lesson is duly incorporated into the film, of course: a 'citizen' is one who takes personal responsibility for the safety and well-being of the body politic. But the film doesn't stop there.

In fact, it incorporates elements that could have come from two other SF novels that have been read as responses to _Starship Troopers_, namely, Joe Haldeman's _The Forever War_ and Orson Scott Card's _Ender's Game_. I don't _know_ that Neumeier had either of these novels in mind, but there's an important reference to Mormons in the screenplay that in this context might suggest Card. Be that as it may, Heinlein's civics lesson is here subjected to severe scrutiny and even dark satire.

That's okay by me. I regard _Starship Troopers_ as one of RAH's better novels (and as a success in its exploration of the military-man-coming-of-age mindset; I can see why military readers like it so well). Nevertheless there are problems with it that a straightforward screen adaptation wouldn't have been able to address. Neumeier and Verhoeven address those problems precisely by exaggerating them and sometimes openly ridiculing them -- while still managing to remain sensitive to the integrity of the military outlook.

Such nuance may unfortunately be lost on much of the film's audience. Heinlein fans may either disapprove of Verhoeven's approach or miss it altogether; viewers who haven't read their Heinlein may not even be aware that there's an argument going on (and mistake this gorefest for nothing more than an earlier version of _Independence Day_).

That's too bad, because this well-scripted, special-effects-laden film is a cinematic triumph on several levels -- only one of which is the gut-wrenching battle between humans and bugs. Verhoeven has long been clear that this film is _not_ an endorsement of either war itself or the fascistic society it tends to promote; that this isn't just obvious is a testament to Verhoeven's subtlety and, indeed, his _refusal_ to engage in 'propaganda' of the sort he satirizes.

It's an odd film in the sense that, in order to like it properly, you have to dislike it. If you enjoy it too much, you're missing the point its director wanted it to make.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible special effects and yes, there is a story., October 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Starship Troopers (DVD)

Imagine being trapped on a barren planet with thousands of fiteen-foot tall ants swarming towards you. You'd better have plenty of fire-power. And lots of friends with the same. This is an exciting, visually spectacular war movie with a relentlesss foe that few could feel remorse at killing.

The movie introduces a number of insect species whose combined strength is social as well as biological. We get to see a number of insect types, each terrifying in their own way. The film only hints that there are others. What kind of bug can send a meteor all the way across a galaxy?

The movie's plot also hints at a lot of ideas, obviously remnants of Heinlein's orginal book. The principal characters, all teenagers, live in an idyllic, yet fascist society that promotes violence as strength. That violence is directed outward, towards a common foe. The story follows the naive adolescents as they go through military training and then find themselves at war with giant bugs from space. Civil rights are granted only to those that survive their military service. The parallel with the insect society can't be a coincidence.

Okay, okay, it's just a movie. Like any science fiction film, it can't do justice to the original material. If you want an exciting war film with lots of great special effects, see this movie. If you really want to think, READ A BOOK!

40 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm amazed that so many people miss the point !, January 10, 2001

By	Mike Gambit (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starship Troopers (DVD)

I'm amazed that so many people can blindly miss the subtleties of this movie. While it works as a brainless, enjoyable gung-ho piece of sci-fi cum war hokum it's also quite a clever piece of satire, taking a pot-shot squarely aimed at the kind of control that governments, regardless of ideology, exert over their populace. While the spoofed propaganda TV commercials most obviously display the parody in this movie, one can also see it littered throughout the movie. The director has chosen to ape Nazism as it's an extreme view of what can happen when a government has a strong grip on its people, because of his childhood experience being under Nazism and because by cloaking the heroes of the movie in Nazism he shows a self-mocking sense of ironic humor.

Like...

Johnny Rico being a blonde, blue-eyed Aryan. While Van Dien's abilities as an actor are frequently ridiculed at there's no doubt that he is perfect for this movie's take on the character. He *looks* like an actor straight from WWII German and Soviet propaganda films and indeed that is exactly what he's supposed to appear like.

Ok let's clear up some other points:-

BAD ACTING:-

It's not bad acting. Bad acting implies that the actor does not bring fully to life the character he/she is playing or overplays the part ect ect. The characters in ST are supposed to be parodies, tongue-in-check cardboard cutouts. Given that all the actors in ST play their roles pretty well. That they are all very pretty (especially Dina Meyer) is the intention. Like any good propaganda it shows people whom we'd like to be or be with trying to become citizens and succeeding, whilst following the 'state line'. The love triangle is thrown in there for entertainment value and it works in a cheesy way.

DIALOGUE:-

I fail to see how intelligent people can so miss the point of the dialogue. It's cheesy because it's parody, because it apes political propaganda and laughs at it. The dialogue is perfectly suited to the mood of the film as a whole. There are very few wasted lines in this movie and I won't waste *my* time trying to point them out to you if you didn't 'get' them.

STUPID PLOT:-

Guess what? Yep here comes the parody bit again. People point out that the military tactics in this movie are laughable and they are perfectly correct. But... Don't you think the military tactics are just too stupid to be there as a result of incompetence or sloppiness on the part of Verhoeven - I mean it doesn't take a budding Guderian, Napoleon or a Sun Tze to know that just using machine guns when you have orbital nukes, cluster bombs, mines, armor ect is just plain stupid. But the whole point of the film is self-parody at governments, who see the people as their tool, to be manipulated and scarified for the 'greater good' of the nation, or in this case the species.

LACK OF RESPECT FOR ROBERT HEINLEIN'S BOOK:-

I feel many distracters of the film simply do so because they expected a faithful recreation of the book. While that's disappointing for you try and see the film for its merits. It really only borrows from Heinlien's book in superficial terms; to set the scene, the basic plot and basic outlines of the characters. Surely you can see that it never was an attempt to seriously follow the book. Instead Verhoeven chose to follow his own path and make his own movie. Try and see it for that...

Anyway to sum up; the movie is loud, entertaining, gory, packed full of good looking leads and sci-fi fx, but also very subtle and clever. People who dismiss this movie out of hand as mindless nonsense completely miss the point. Godzilla is mindless nonsense. Independence Day is mindless nonsense.

Starship Troopers instead is a very well-made, clever movie, which has a tongue-in-cheek gibe at the way governments can and will manipulate their populace for the 'good of the state'. I wonder whether any American hollywood director would have had the balls to make it this way.