Starship Troopers (2012)

[Evildrider]

So it looks like they are going to reboot this mother but keep faithful to the Heinlein novel.  It's gonna be produced by Neil Moritz and written by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, who did Thor and X-Men First Class.

[stu]

The Verhoeven movie is awesome. I don't care much for the book. Still, it could be good. This Neil Moritz guy is involved in some terrible stuff, although I like the Fast & Furious movies. 

[Evildrider]

Yeah, the Verhoeven version is great.  Moritz must be a pretty good producer then cuz he manages to bring in the money!

[stu]

Yeah, I mean, his movies are popular. I just don't care for a lot of them (I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Skulls). I am kinda psyched for the new Total Recall though. And Highlander? I'll give it a shot, but I don't see how you can beat the original.

[Mrbloodworth]

You can't improve on the original Starship Troopers! The sequels , you can.

[Chimpy]

You can't improve on the original Starship Troopers! The sequels , you can.

If you want to actually follow the books, you can by a million miles.

If all you want is a cheesy popcorn romp with some hot chicks, your post would be correct!

[Khaldun]

The original Verhoeven has his characteristic strengths and flaws. Basically Mr. V excelled at feeding you exactly what you fucking think you want (ultra violence, sex, etc.) and then sticking in enough postmodern riffs that everyone who wanted that could feel morally superior to the mere proles because they "really got it" (ST is a propaganda film for future fascists! Robocop is both subverting AND reproducing its tropes!)  And then he blew out a lobe of his brain and made Showgirls, where the gimmick stopped working and people saw the postmodern wizard behind the curtain.

So would a straight ST playing it totally by Heinlein work? I don't think so, probably not, and I say that as someone who read the shit out of it back in the day. Playing it straight involves taking Heinlein at his word in his weirdo libertarian "fuck your own mother, serve in the military" libertarianism of his late career. Take that gonzo shit away and what have you got? Guys in power armor killing bugs. Starcraft is honestly more complicated in its narrative line than ST in that respect.

[Chimpy]

The original Verhoeven has his characteristic strengths and flaws. Basically Mr. V excelled at feeding you exactly what you fucking think you want (ultra violence, sex, etc.) and then sticking in enough postmodern riffs that everyone who wanted that could feel morally superior to the mere proles because they "really got it" (ST is a propaganda film for future fascists! Robocop is both subverting AND reproducing its tropes!)  And then he blew out a lobe of his brain and made Showgirls, where the gimmick stopped working and people saw the postmodern wizard behind the curtain.

So would a straight ST playing it totally by Heinlein work? I don't think so, probably not, and I say that as someone who read the shit out of it back in the day. Playing it straight involves taking Heinlein at his word in his weirdo libertarian "fuck your own mother, serve in the military" libertarianism of his late career. Take that gonzo shit away and what have you got? Guys in power armor killing bugs. Starcraft is honestly more complicated in its narrative line than ST in that respect.

You are totally fucking whacked in your little timeline there.

Verhoven made the movies in the following order:

Robocop -> Showgirls -> Starship Troopers


And if you are making a movie to be truer to the book, all you have to do is make it more of a drama/ethics piece than a summer blockbuster. You can still have the battle scenes, but you frame them in the context of the situation. Kind of like Saving Private Ryan which had some of the most violent battle scenes put on film at the time, but was more about the almost surreal idea that half a dozen men were sent to risk their lives to save one lowly private to make sure the War Department didn't get any more bad P.R.

[Ratman_tf]

And if you are making a movie to be truer to the book, all you have to do is make it more of a drama/ethics piece than a summer blockbuster. You can still have the battle scenes, but you frame them in the context of the situation. Kind of like Saving Private Ryan which had some of the most violent battle scenes put on film at the time, but was more about the almost surreal idea that half a dozen men were sent to risk their lives to save one lowly private to make sure the War Department didn't get any more bad P.R.

Shit, Aliens was a better Starship Troopers than Verhoeven's version. I really would have prefered if he's made his Bug Hunt on Planet Zero or whateverthefuck he originally wanted to call it, and let someone who knows what they're doing make a ST adaptation.

[Abagadro]

His film was perfect in that it made complete fun of all of Heinlein's bullshit.

[Azazel]

Also not sure if it's the right time to be getting all worked up at the fast that Verhoeven is going to have made a ST movie.

[lamaros]

What Ab said. Movie was great.

[K9]

They should have given this to Nolan.

Also, the first movie was great.

[angry.bob]

The first movie was a fucking abomination, but had decent special effects. As has been noted in one of the other Starship Trooper movie threads on one of our many past boards a strict tranfer of the book to a movie would be pretty boring. As awesome as the first chapter reads it would fill a total of about 5 minutes of screen time. All the actual combat in the movie would fill about 30 minutes max. I'm not saying that the movie would need to follow the book to the letter, but just about anything would be better than the Imperial Guard vs Tyranid movie that got made.

[SurfD]

They so need to Re-cast NPH for this.  Stick him in a Cameo somwhere in the military intelligence dpartment as an instructor to the new Carl Jenkins or something.

[Chimpy]

They so need to Re-cast NPH for this.  Stick him in a Cameo somwhere in the military intelligence dpartment as an instructor to the new Carl Jenkins or something.

They should make him the hard ass high school teacher 

[Mrbloodworth]

You can't improve on the original Starship Troopers! The sequels , you can.

If you want to actually follow the books, you can by a million miles.

If all you want is a cheesy popcorn romp with some hot chicks, your post would be correct!

Blasphemy!

[Numtini]

The first movie was a bad joke. The leads can't act and the supporting cast seems to have been instructed not to. The tactics are so ludicrous they're distracting. The fascist stuff is overdone and silly.

[lamaros]

The first movie was a bad joke. The leads can't act and the supporting cast seems to have been instructed not to. The tactics are so ludicrous they're distracting. The fascist stuff is overdone and silly.

Well, if it was subtle and thoughtful it wouldn't really be in keeping with the tone of the film, would it? Then you'd be complaining about the lack of coherency.

Excellent film for what it wanted to be, if you want to watch something else there are other movies, no need to have a go at it because you're not into the type.

[Teleku]

I loved loved loved the first movie.  I don't give a shit that it is nothing like the book (which I also enjoyed).  Fascist mockumentary set around Imperial Guard and Tyranids fighting is spectacular entertainment.

[Tannhauser]

I am loud and proud in my defense of the movie!  Been re-watching it on SpikeTV.  Just lots of stupid fun.  The book is still the only Heinlein I've read.  I found it fairly dull. 

Hopefully the remake will maintain some of the over the top flavor of the original.