I don't think there was one person that wasn't blown away by the trailer for Starship Troopers. Seeing hundreds of gigantic bugs racing to attack a base of humans got everyone's heart racing. It's just too bad it didn't deliver.
First off the special effects are amazing. Never do you think that the bugs aren't real. They make Titanic look like James Cameron's balsa wood boat in his bathtub. They are that good. They should've won an Oscar for the effects here. Watching a trooper be shredded by the insects was amazing. But after the effects, we are left with nothing.
May we all pray for the career of TV's Doogie Howser, Neil Patrick Harris. He had a good thing going with Doogie and now he's stuck in Rent and crappy TV movies. Somebody put this guy on the right track soon. It's really sad.
What the hell is going on with Denise Richards? She plays a pilot, Carmen Ibanez, out to stop the bugs by the air. She is the worst actress I have seen in a long time. She even looks repulsive. There's supposed to be a love triangle with Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, and Richards. No sane man would ever stay by Richards side. She's ditzy, selfish, and unloving. She never shows one reason why we should hope that Van Dien's character, Johnny Rico, and Richards' Ibanez get back together. It's just one poor performance and one poorly written character.
Jake Busey and Van Dien are the saving grace for the acting though they are too little to late. Nothing could stop Richards from making this just a bad episode of Melrose Place. Jake Busey seems like he's on his way to replacing his father as B grade generic psychotic and he's doing a fine job.
The main scene that seemed the most unnecessary and those of you that have seen it know what I'm referring to, the gratuitous co-ed shower scene. It was totally useless to the rest of the movie. If I want chicks walking around showing themselves off, I'll watch Paul Verhoeven's other great flick, Showgirls.
After watching this torture chamber of bad acting, I felt like flunking this film, but that would be totally ignoring the efforts of the special effects team. I give Starship Troopers a C-.
