Two of Paul Verhoeven's more successful ventures are on the review board today, both of them stand-bys in the not-so-crowded "lame but really entertaining sci-fi movies" catalog.First up is 1997's Starship Troopers. What is there to say? If you're a respectable geek chances are you've probably seen already. It is at once a big budget action film, teen soap-opera and fascist satire. From it's opening jingoistic "newsreel" segment, it signals to you that not only is it not taking itself seriously, but it expects you to play along.
The film, (very) loosely based on the sci-fi novel of the same name by Robert Heinlein, follows the lives of several idealistic youth as they fight an insectoid race from the other side of the galaxy. The first 20 minutes of the film is almost unbearable to watch, but it's not the craft of the film that offends. Visually and aurally the film is a delight, despite "old" CG effects. It's the twinge-worthy soap-operatics barely supported by the thematic foundations laid down by an invalid Michael Ironside.
The world is controlled by a world-wide federation. There is no more conflict, no more war. By all appearances, the future of Starship Troopers is an idyllic one, where racism and poverty have been eliminated. However, the totalitarian undertones soon seep through the plastic surface. I can understand how a young teenager could fall into the escapist fantasy of "fighting for the federation" and all the bug-blasting and shower-scening it would entail, but it would take a really thick-skulled young 'un to still feel that way after the "Federation" displays its ignorance and disdain for human life, 90% of the cast is killed in a myriad of brutal and gory ways and the survivors become willing slaves to the system.
The film picks up after the introduction of the world and the characters with the first major action sequence, and what follows is part machismo balls-kicking action and part solemn nationalism (federationism?). The end of the film (bookended with a scene similar to that of the very start) is like a test. Have you actually paid attention to what is actually happening, or where you there for the explosions and boobies? It has to be said that Verhoeven succeeds on both levels. He perplexed critics in 1997 by making a goofy, but ultimately entertaining action film that incorporated tongue-in-cheek critiques of radical political systems. A far more entertaining and disturbing film would be the one chronicling the rise of the global federation, and the slaughters and betrayals it took to make it.
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Second on my list today is an earlier Verhoeven effort: 1990's "Total Recall". Starring Arnold Schwarzenneger, Michael Ironside and Sharon Stone, it's a glorious ode to pulp sci-fi and extreme gore (epitomized by the juiciest of all squibs, the "Verhoeven Squib"). The plot is straightforward enough, but packs enough psychological twists to refresh it over a 113 minute running time. It concerns the adventures of the troubled Douglas Quaid as his life is twist-turned upside down after he attempts to get memory implants of a trip to Mars, as a Secret Agent! Of course, this attempt errupts into grunting and screaming, a bloody outburst and one, long, hour and a half chase sequence.The movie never really lets up on the violence for more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time, and by the end the body count has become impressive indeed. The whole film is concerned with the question: "Is Quaid a secret agent, or is this all an implanted memory?". The question is never clearly explained, and the ending is ambiguous. It would take a half-dozen viewings or a gander at the wikipedia page to know the final conclusion.
However, the heart of the movie is not in conclusions and resolutions; it's in blood, guts and adventure delivered in spades! So if you're looking for your dose of "Eaughaughaur!" Arnoldizms or just blood and guts, this movie should satisfy your needs.
Eaugharrrh! (epic spoilers)
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