The Most Misunderstood Sci-Fi Movie On Netflix
Be honest: Have you ever been in a job interview, and when asked what your biggest weakness is, you want to say, “I just work too hard?” It’s the kind of thing that makes an interviewer want to kill you, but in Hollywood, veteran director Paul Verhoeven can get away with such a wild claim. That’s because he worked incredibly hard to create the stone-faced satire that transformed Starship Troopers into history’s most misunderstood sci-fi movie, and it’s available to stream on Netflix for audiences who are finally ready to get the joke.
Verhoeven Is A Master Of Satire
Before you start watching Starship Troopers on Netflix, though, you might need a bit of context about its director. He’s made plenty of great films over the years, including Total Recall and Basic Instinct, but he is arguably best known for RoboCop.
That movie (which featured a corporate-controlled police department as a statement on the militarization of cops and the dangers of exploitative executives) was once considered the finest film satire ever made, and fittingly enough, the film that took its satirical crown away was Verhoeven’s own Starship Troopers.
The Narrative Seams Fall Apart On Purpose
What is Starship Troopers about, though, and where does the satire come into play with this sci-fi blockbuster on Netflix? On paper, this is a pretty straightforward tale of teenagers who enthusiastically join humanity’s war effort against the alien “Arachnids,” leading to one cool action scene after another.
Look closely, though, and you’ll see the seams tearing in this easy narrative…humanity is deeply racist, and frequent propaganda spots help harness that racism into jingoistic praise of a military that can do no wrong, despite the implication that Earth actually started this devastating war.
Structured Like A Propaganda Video
Interestingly, even the casting emphasized this satire: for example, Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Neil Patrick Harris are all good-looking young actors, so nobody thinks twice about their casting as carefree teens turned into bloodthirsty soldiers. However, the movie itself is presented like a propaganda film…the kind of thing that would be shown in-universe to help recruit more kids into the military.
The more you see the creeping fascism of our main characters and this universe as a whole, the more you realize these are the exact kinds of pretty people you’d cast to make evil stop looking so banal and start looking so sexy.
Appreciated Today As Smart Satire
Now that Starship Troopers is on Netflix and audiences are generally more media-literate, it’s easy enough to appreciate how smart this satire really is. But when it was first released, many editors of mainstream publications didn’t clock the satire and were extremely angry at Verhoeven for releasing a film celebrating fascism.
Other critics thought the satire was functionally indistinguishable from an endorsement of these ideas, and countless fans didn’t care about these themes at all…they just wanted to see some “hoo-RAH” humans killing some evil aliens. There’s no wrong way to enjoy this cult hit, of course, but being able to appreciate the great action and fierce satire helps you get the most out of a movie that is always firing on all cylinders.
A Cult Classic
When Starship Troopers was first released (in 1997, before Netflix was even a twinkle in an executive’s eyes), it wasn’t exactly a bomb, but not exactly a hit…the movie had a budget between $100-110 million and earned $121 million worldwide which, after marketing, means it was likely a loss for the studio.
It resonated more with critics, though: on Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a critical rating of 72 percent. Critics called the movie “fun” but complained about “the excessive gore and wooden acting,” both of which are part and parcel of the satire (though in a world where every other movie is Marvel-style slop, satire is increasingly hard to notice).
Available On Netflix
REVIEW SCORE
As for me, long before it came to Netflix, I contended that Starship Troopers is the rare literary adaptation that is far superior to the book it was based on. Robert Heinlein’s novel of the same name is a genuine sci-fi classic, but the author was so close to this universe that he never seemed to notice or care how fash-friendly slogans like “service guarantees citizenship” really are.
By contrast, Verhoeven’s adaptation serves as a commentary on the author and his work, all while delivering a killer action film that manages to be much smarter than most people watching it.
Now, I’m not saying that Starship Troopers is smarter than you, but I am saying you won’t know until you stream it on Netflix. Will you enjoy all of the knife-sharp (watch that hand, Jake Busey!) satire or just enjoy quoting great lines like “the only good bug is a dead bug?” Either way, this is one misunderstood sci-fi movie that you’ll never forget.
