Poster © TriStar Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Sci-Fi
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 9 mins
ReleasedNovember 7, 1997
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorPaul Verhoeven
StarringCasper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards
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Starship Troopers (1997)
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| Starship Troopers's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Sci-Fi |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 11/04/1997 (Westwood); 11/07/1997 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 9 mins |
| Budget | $100–110M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Starship Troopers's Interests | |
| General | Citizenship, jumpball, recruitment newsreels, boot camp, and a whole planet of very large bugs. |
| Music | Basil Poledouris. The score plays it completely straight, which is the whole bit. |
| Movies | RoboCop (1987). Same Verhoeven, same fake commercials. |
| Television | Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, the CGI cartoon spinoff. |
| Heroes | Sergeant Zim. Loudest man in the galaxy, also usually right. |
| Starship Troopers's Crew | |
| Director | Paul Verhoeven |
| Writers | Edward Neumeier |
| Producers | Alan Marshall, Jon Davison |
| Cinematography | Jost Vacano |
| Music | Basil Poledouris |
| Edited By | Mark Goldblatt, Caroline Ross |
| Production | TriStar Pictures, Touchstone Pictures |
| Distributed By | TriStar Pictures |
Paul Verhoeven mocked military propaganda by dressing Starship Troopers up as military propaganda, and in 1997 plenty of people missed the joke. The C+ CinemaScore says so. He cast the shiniest faces in Hollywood, handed them lines a greeting card would reject, and dropped them on a planet crawling with giant bugs. The fake news reels are the real genius, cheerful clips that ask if you’d like to know more while selling a war nobody questions. Casper Van Dien has a jaw like a mailbox and acts like nobody told him what movie he’s in. Michael Ironside growls every line like he’s waited his whole career for this. The love triangle back home is the drag. It eats a big piece of the first hour and plays dumb even by this movie’s standards. A 7.9 because the satire is sharper than its reputation. $7,227 says you find a big beetle on your porch this summer and call a family meeting about it.
What works: The fake news reels, Verhoeven’s straight-faced satire, and bug battles that still look big and frightening decades later.
What doesn’t: The love triangle in the first hour drags, and the deliberately stiff acting sometimes just reads as stiff acting.
Who it’s for: Bug-battle fans with a taste for satire, and anyone who has rolled their eyes at a recruitment commercial.
Spoilers
Rico pulls Carmen out of the bug tunnels, Carl reads a captured Brain Bug’s mind and announces that it’s afraid, and the troops cheer like the war is already won. The last news reel signs up a fresh batch of eager kids, which is the movie’s darkest joke.
In the far future, Earth runs on one simple rule: serve in the military or you don't get to vote. Buenos Aires teen Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) signs up for the Mobile Infantry to impress his girlfriend Carmen (Denise Richards), who is headed for flight school. His buddy Carl (Neil Patrick Harris) goes into military intelligence, and Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) follows Rico straight into boot camp under the very loud Sergeant Zim (Clancy Brown). Out in deep space, giant bugs are getting restless. Paul Verhoeven directs, and the propaganda is the joke. One hundred twenty-nine minutes, and yes, you would like to know more.
Recruits who want to know more. Bring bug spray, a lot of it.
| Casper Van Dien | Johnny Rico |
| Dina Meyer | Dizzy Flores |
| Denise Richards | Carmen Ibanez |
| Jake Busey | Ace Levy |
| Neil Patrick Harris | Carl Jenkins |
| Clancy Brown | Sergeant Zim |
| Seth Gilliam | Sugar Watkins |
| Patrick Muldoon | Zander Barcalow |
| Michael Ironside | Jean Rasczak |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $121.2M; Domestic box office $54.8M; Opening weekend $22.1M; Profit / loss (est.) -$96.9M; Rotten Tomatoes 72%; CinemaScore C+; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 72% (20 reviews); Metacritic 51 / 100; CinemaScore C+; IMDb users 7.3 / 10 (350,875 votes); movie.guru score 5.2.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.