In 1997, Paul Verhoeven unleashed an explosive adventure film on unsuspecting audiences, but due to poor publicity and low ticket prices, ticket sales barely covered the huge cost of making it.
Over the years, something unexpected has happened and Starship Troopers has turned into an underground hit that has led critics to reevaluate their initial impressions of the film and label it a cult classic. And deservedly so.
Upon release, the film was accused of glorifying fascism
Unfortunately, in 1997 the cast and filmmakers were actively criticized by the mainstream media for use of Nazi symbolism and for glorifying fascism through the depiction of an idealistic military society.
The society depicted is run by the United Citizen Federation, a military organization that grants basic rights (such as the ability to vote and have children) to citizens. Young people are encouraged to sign up for military service at an early age.
The idea of the film was completely different and was meant to be a strong warning about the dangers of such a journey. Unfortunately for the creators, it was not understood right away.
The film’s director and cinematographer cast shame
Director Paul Verhoeven is known for including nude scenes in his films, but although he is often criticized for doing so, he usually has a good reason for including them.
For example, the infamous shower scene is designed to show a society that has progressed to a point of gender neutrality where recruits can happily shower together in a relaxed manner without any sense of sexualization or awkwardness.
According to the director, society is unnecessarily puritanical in this regard, and while no one minds harsh scenes of blood and killing, the censors usually try to remove nudity from the film. It takes a lot of work for a director to defend such scenes.
Dina Meyer Zdroj: s_bukley / Depositphotos
Dina Meyer (Dizzy Flores) was reportedly shy about filming her nude scene, so the director left only the cameraman in the room to calm her nerves. When that didn’t help either, he and the cameraman undressed so the actress wouldn’t feel embarrassed. The scene was shot on the first try.
The director never read the book
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever written. It won the Hugo Award in 1960 and the book influenced a whole generation of science fiction writers. It even earned the status of required reading for the United States military, and James Cameron asked the actors who play the marines in Aliens to read the book.
It wasn’t for the Oscars
For lovers of the classic sci-fi genre, this is one of the best sci-fi movies of all time and one of the best movies of the 90s.
The film was a commercial flop at the time, the investors barely got back their one hundred million deposit. The marketing campaign was so bad that people didn’t bother going to the cinema. Along with The Fifth Element movies, Batman & Robin a Messenger of the future the films were nominated for The worst sci-fi movies of all time. Batman & Robin eventually won the award.
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Director Paul Verhoeven played the alien antagonist
In the late 1990s, CGI was still in its infancy, and although it was used to stunning effect in films like Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park, at the start of the decade there were still many difficulties associated with incorporating computer-generated creatures into action sequences.
Filming was not easy for the actors when they were fighting an enemy that was not on the set. A proven solution was to use a tennis ball on a pole to indicate height, location and direction of movement. However, to elicit a more emotional and dramatic response from his actors, Paul Verhoeven did things a little differently.
Instead, Verhoeven became “Arachnids” himself. Whenever the presence of aliens was required on set, he would jump around yelling, cursing and lunging at his actors in an attempt to pump them up during the shoot. It couldn’t be compared to the nine-meter warrior beetle, but everyone still enjoyed it.
The love triangle lifted the audience from their seats
An integral part of the plot is the love triangle between Johnnym Ricem, Carmen Ibanez a Dizzy Flores. When Dizzy finally dies, the audience riots because they say Carmen deserved to die, who didn’t appreciate Johnny’s gesture of joining the army to stay with her and calmly kicks him out to make sweet eyes at the flight instructor.
US audiences in 1997 were not yet ready for a strong female personality who would put career over love. Carmen thus became the most hated character in the film across all genders, races and creeds.
Where it was filmed
In typical Verhoeven style, the explosive action film is full of blood and violence, shot in the barren wasteland called Klendatu in the middle of the state of Wyoming. Here, in front of the cameras, between the sharp cliffs and the colorful valley, countless insects and people were killed in battles.
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The film represents one of the biggest explosions in film history
Created at a time when practical effects were still widely used alongside CGI, the special effects were spectacular and earned the film its only Oscar nomination.
Notably, most of the explosive action on the planet is real, but with digital effects to complement the real flames and clouds of dust. These real explosions were directed by John Richardson, a special effects legend best known for his work on the James Bond franchise.
One of the most impressive scenes in the entire film depicts the squadron TAC Fighterswhich unleashes a fiery inferno on hordes of war bugs. The explosions are massive and blow unsuspecting creatures to pieces.
This particular scene was, at the time, the longest rolling explosion in special effects history. The scene was a challenge for John Richardson and featured tons of explosives exploding in sequence. It took so long that only a short part was used in the final cut, but the end result is stunning.
To be seen at PRIMA COOL on the evening of November 28.
