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These included slogans and images of military pageantry inspired by Leni Riefenstahl's notorious pro-Hitler documentary " Triumph of the Will," as well as Nazi-style uniforms and architecture.Ĥ. The filmmakers made their satirical intent clearest in the movie's interactive newsreel propaganda segments. (He also had vivid memories of the classic 1954 version of alien-invasion thriller "War of the Worlds.") In fact, Verhoeven so disliked Heinlein's novel that he read only a couple of chapters and then made Neumeier tell him the rest of the story.ģ.
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Verhoeven and screenwriter Ed Neumeier didn't want to retell Heinlein's narrative without adding a layer of irony, as they had a decade earlier when they made " RoboCop." Verhoeven, who grew up in Nazi-occupied Holland, had vivid memories of life under fascism during World War II. Its portrayal of a war between humans and giant, insect-like extraterrestrials was such a huge influence on James Cameron's " Aliens" that he made his cast read the book.Ģ. Heinlein's 1959 novel was a straight-up pro-militarism, pro-authoritarianism tract, without any satirical subtext.
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Movie starship troopers movie#
Plus, it has a cult of fans who do recognize the movie's sharp, bitter satire.Īs eerily prescient as "Starship Troopers" turned out to be - it seemed to predict Surface tablets, online news video, and the entire War on Terror - the movie still has some secrets.
Movie starship troopers tv#
Two decades later, "Starship Troopers" is remembered for jump-starting the then-movie careers of Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards, for its still-impressive special effects, and for launching a franchise that's included several sequels and TV episodes - not to mention a possible future reboot. In fact, it was a satire on militarism and fascism, disguised as a $105 million Hollywood blockbuster (director Paul Verhoeven called it " the most expensive art movie ever made"), and few viewers or critics got the joke. When the adaptation of Robert Heinlein's beloved sci-fi novel was released 20 years ago this week, on November 7, 1997, it did just so-so at the box office - since it looked like just a dumb, militaristic, vapidly-acted, humans-vs.-aliens thriller. " Starship Troopers" may be the most misunderstood Hollywood action epic of the last two decades.