seen at : amc old pasadena 8 , pasadena , ca ( in sdds ) paul verhoeven's last movie , showgirls , had a bad script , bad acting , and a " plot " ( i use the word in its loosest possible sense ) that served only to allow lots of sex and nudity . it stank . starship troopers <NEG> has a bad script , bad acting , and a " plot " that serves only to allow lots of violence and gore </NEG> . <NEG> it stinks </NEG> . <NEG> nobody will watch this movie for the plot </NEG> , but here's a brief synopsis anyway . some friends straight out of high school sign up for the federal reserve ( armed forces ) at a time when evil bugs from the planet klendathu are sending meteors towards earth from the other side of the galaxy . after one slips through the defences and destroys buenos aires ( the home city of the main characters ) , war is declared . this involves sending the grunts , who include johnny rico ( van dien ) and dizzy ( meyer ) , down to the surface of the bugs' planet . much carnage ensues . the troops are withdrawn and sent to another planet to answer a distress call . more carnage ensues . after being rescued , their plans are changed to capture a " brain bug " which is believed to be controlling the aliens' battle plans ( look , i didn't write this , ok ? ) . yet more carnage ensues . get the picture ? interspersed throughout all this are brief " ads " from the federal network , which present the picture of a neo-fascist state , much like in verhoeven's robocop . <NEG> there are many problems </NEG> with starship troopers . the plot , where one exists to drive the movie onwards , is <NEG> silly </NEG> . harris ( star of tv's doogie howser , md ) is presented with a psychic ability to talk to his ferret early on in the movie , apparently so we will accept his ability to mind-meld with a " brain bug " later on . in addition , the first thirty minutes of the movie ( until the characters sign up for service ) <NEG> drag on like a bad episode </NEG> of beverly hills , 90210 . <NEG> the characters are one-dimensional </NEG> , so much so , that when dizzy is killed , she says it's ok because she got to sleep with rico . i had hoped that verhoeven's use of a no-name cast would allow him to kill off several of the lead characters to surprise the audience , but such an idea appears to have escaped him . <NEG> the dialogue is embarassing and isn't helped by the frequently terrible delivery </NEG> ( i almost burst out laughing when harris delivered his speech about the need to sacrifice a few hundred people for the good of the species ) . finally , the fake " ads " become <NEG> a nuisance </NEG> . although they evoke the propaganda of the wwii-era movietone reels ( as presumably they are meant to ) , their complete lack of subtlety blunts their effect . some people will say all of that's irrelevant -- the movie hinges on the battle scenes . so what about those battle scenes ? well , i admit the effects are good -- the bugs move about quite convincingly , especially when they have been deprived of a few of their limbs . and people have their brains blown out , their limbs cut off , and their bodies ripped in two in quite impressive ways . but <NEG> this is my problem </NEG> . the entertainment value of the film rests almost entirely on its graphic portrayal of gore , and its continous attempt to gross us out ( starting early on when richards' character vomits on-screen ) . verhoeven appears to be trying to make a movie employing the elements that made a robocop a success , but <NEG> fails spectacularly </NEG> . while robocop had a message about the importance of being human , and gave the bad guys some motivation , starship troopers lacks even these simple features . <NEG> when the brain bug sucks out a character's brain near the end of the film , it's merely an analogy for what the film has done to us </NEG> . this film is full of graphic violence and is not suitable for children under 16 .
