The Sci-Fi Classic On Netflix That Flopped Miserably In Theaters
Get ready to fight Arachnids and cringe at bad acting because the 1997 sci-fi classic film Starship Troopers is now streaming on Netflix. The R-rated campy movie from director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Hollow Man) invites you to sit back with a bowl of popcorn and watch as Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards destroy giant alien bugs.
Starship Troopers is one the best sci-fi films and best satires available on Netflix.
Set in the 23rd century, Starship Troopers shows us what an Earth run by a militaristic government would do if they were attacked by alien bugs while venturing into outer space. The movie follows the young Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) as he joins his fellow military friends and girlfriend (Denise Richards) as they go to war against Arachnids, a species of alien bugs that are hell-bent on killing humans.
The violence, special effects, and bad acting are over the top, which is what many love about this cult classic film.
The movie is based on the 1959 sci-fi novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, an author and aeronautical engineer who is famous for writing hard science fiction. The idea for the movie came about when screenwriter Ed Neumeier (RoboCop) pitched the idea for a teenage romance movie that also involved a war on bugs (called Bug Hunt at Outpost 7).
Starship Troopers is a very loose adaptation of a 1959 sci-fi novel.
After TriStar Pictures rejected his script, he worked with the production company to get the rights to Heinlein’s book instead, adapting it to create a movie the company could not refuse.
When Starship Troopers was first released to theaters in 1997, it received poor reviews and a lot of negative feedback from critics who did not understand the satirical nature of the film.
Instead, the critics thought it was a Nazi propaganda film that implied Paul Verhoeven admired the fascist world portrayed in the film. It didn’t help that the director cast white, blonde, blue-eyed stars in the lead roles.
Some critics also felt that the violence and special effects overshadowed the romance within the film and the coming-of-age story of Johnny Rico. Others were able to recognize the film for what it was and admired the special effects that were pretty groundbreaking for the time.
If Starship Troopers had debuted on Netflix nowadays, it mightn’t have flopped at the box office like it did in 1997. Unfortunately, it was up against many big-budget blockbuster films that year, like The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Men in Black, which earned over $200 million.
On its opening weekend, Starship Troopers managed to beat out hit movies like Bean and I Know What You Did Last Summer, but overall, it only grossed $121 million against its budget of $105 million.
Since its box office flop, Starship Troopers has become a cult classic for those who can appreciate the satire and look past the bad acting. The “unsung masterpiece” is seen as the RoboCop sequel that should have been, thanks to its over-the-top violence and mockery of authority.
When Starship Troopers was first released, most critics didn’t realize it was a satire.
Many have since taken back their negative reviews of the movie, claiming that Starship Troopers is one of the best sci-fi films ever made and that it was very misunderstood when it was first released.
In fact, the British Film Institute named it one of the greatest science fiction adaptations. Currently, the film has a 7.3 out of 10 rating on IMDb, a 70 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, and a 51 out of 100 on Metacritic.
There have actually been four additional sequels to Starship Troopers and an animated TV series, though none of them hold a candle to the original film. There have been talks of a reboot of the original movie, which would definitely be interesting in today’s hyper-judgmental world.
While you wait for the reboot of the 1997 movie, you can play a first-person shooter video game that is based on the original film. The game, Starship Troopers: Extermination, was released earlier this year.
If you are in the mood for lots of action, then watch Starship Troopers on Netflix, but please remember that it is a satirical film.
