Starship Troopers (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Starship Troopers |
| Original title | Starship Troopers |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1997 |
| length | 129 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Verhoeven |
| script | Edward Neumeier |
| production |
Jon Davison , Alan Marshall |
| music | Basil Poledouris |
| camera | Jost Vacano |
| cut |
Mark Goldblatt , Caroline Ross |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
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Successor → |
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Starship Troopers is an American military science fiction - action film by director Paul Verhoeven from the year 1997 , loosely based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein based. The film opened in German cinemas on January 29, 1998.
action
After a war against the "bugs", a civilization of very large arachnids ("arachnoids"), the people live united under a world government of the federation meeting in Geneva. Classmates Carl Jenkins, Carmen Ibanez, Johnny Rico and Isabel “Dizzy” Flores are about to complete their school education. Rico and Carmen are a couple, Rico rejects Dizzy's advances. Carl and Carmen are determined to join the military after school. Carl wants to develop his telepathic skills there, Carmen wants to be trained as a pilot. Rico is unsure what to do because his wealthy parents don't want him to join the army. During a game with the school's rugby team, Rico clashes with an opposing player, Zander Barcalow, when he sees that he is flirting with Carmen. Carmen is impressed by Zander, who will start his pilot training at the Fleet Academy in the next few days. After a final conversation with his class teacher Jean Rasczak, a former soldier who lost an arm in the war against the "Bugs", Rico decides to join the military against his parents' wishes. He hopes this will impress Carmen. Both spend the night together before the draft.
While Carl is being recruited for the military intelligence service, Carmen is delegated to pilot training. For Rico the use in the mobile infantry is intended. He is sent to the “Camp Currie” training camp for basic training . To his surprise, he meets Dizzy there, who has specifically applied there. He rejects her again. The instructor is the relentless Sergeant Zim. Rico proves himself and is promoted to group leader.
Carmen completes her pilot training on the moon and quickly develops into a top pilot. In a video message she explains to Rico that she wants to become a professional soldier and ends her relationship with him. During her training, she meets Zander Barcalow again as a flight instructor. Zander has been appointed Carmen's trainer to see her again. Both get closer. On a long-haul flight, an asteroid from the "Bugs" collides with their ship, the "Rodger Young" under the command of Captain Deladier. Carmen and Zander just manage to prevent a disaster. Deladier praises the flight team.
On earth, Rico is demoted and flogged after a fatal exercise accident. He wants to quit the service and return to his parents. At this point in time, the news of an attack on Earth arrives: The "bugs" have hurled an asteroid to Earth and wiped out Ricos hometown Buenos Aires . His parents are dead. Rico decides to continue his service. Zim tears up the already signed resignation request.
The leadership of the earth decides to strike back. Rico and Dizzy experience their first combat mission in a poorly planned attempt to invade the hostile home planet Klendathu. It ends in a crushing defeat for the people. Rico survives seriously wounded. After his recovery, Dizzy, Rico and their boyfriend Ace are transferred to a new unit that is considered particularly tough. Her former teacher Rasczak is in charge. Many comrades die in the fighting with the arachnoids. Rico proves himself and is promoted to sergeant. He decides, on Rasczak's advice ("Take what you can get!"), Not to reject Dizzy's advances any longer. Dizzy and Rico spend 20 minutes in a tent. The next day, their train is ambushed. When Rasczak loses both legs in a fight, he pleads for death. Rico shoots him. At the last second, a lander evacuates the survivors. Carmen and Zander are the pilots. Dizzy is fatally injured and dies in Rico's arms. Rico calls for the destruction of the planet. The fleet command refuses. They have other plans with "Planet P".
On the "Rodger Young" Dizzy's body is exposed in space with military honors. Carl Jenkins, who is now a Colonel in the secret service, tells Rico and Carmen that the ambush was expected and the unit was deliberately sent on a hopeless mission. The leadership of the armed forces suspects a "brain bug", a member of the arachnoid leadership caste, on the planet. They want to get this. Carl promotes Rico to lieutenant ; he is now Rasczak's successor.
During the subsequent major attack on “Planet P”, the “Rodger Young” with Carmen and Zander as pilots is destroyed. Carmen and Zander are able to save themselves in an escape pod, are stranded in a cave and are captured by the bugs, but not killed immediately. Instead, the “brain bug” zander sucks the brain out with a sting. When it is Carmen's turn, she can cut off the sting with a hidden knife. Rico, who is on the planet's surface with his unit, receives a telepathic hint from Carl about Carmen's location. He goes into the cave with volunteers and frees Carmen. The "brain bug" flees. Rico and Carmen withdraw and find a way out of the cave system. When they come to light, the "Brain Bug" is being pulled out of its cave by a large number of troopers with a net - Rico's former instructor Zim has caught the bug. Zim let himself be degraded from a trainer to a simple recruit in order to be able to fight as a soldier. Carl examines the alien and by laying on of hands realizes that he is afraid. The soldiers cheer.
The final sequence is in the form of a propaganda video: Victory is to be achieved with more combat troops, new weapons, spaceships and findings from the torture of the “Brain Bugs”.
Differences from the book
As in the book, a military career is described from the point of view of Johnny Rico, but the film differs greatly from the novel in many other ways. For example, "Juan" is Rico in the book Filipino . His father does not die on earth in the original, but later becomes a soldier himself. In the book, Dizzy Flores is not a school colleague and later a comrade and lover of Rico, but a male comrade who dies in the first combat mission described. His teacher at Heinlein is not Rasczak, but is called Jean V. Dubois, is a retired colonel, and later no longer appears in person, only in a letter he wrote to Rico during his training. One also learns much more about the society's underlying system and its philosophy of law and justice. Ricos career as an officer is described in much more detail, he also attends an officers' school and is transferred to another unit, "Blackstone's Blackguards", with whom he fights against the bugs (and not with the bugs, with these he is only at the end again of the book). And he not only fights against the bugs, but also against many different alien races on many planets throughout his career. The military in particular has little in common with the mobile infantry in the novel. In the film, the infantry is shown as a lightly armed, conventional infantry unit (with male and female soldiers) in futuristic-looking uniforms. In the book, on the other hand, mechanical full-body combat suits are worn exclusively by men, which not only serve as power amplifiers and armor, but also enable jumps and are heavily armed. These full body suits are only introduced in the movie Starship Troopers 3: Marauder , but not as artificial exoskeletons as described , but as mechs . The opponents, who are described in Heinlein's novel as neither humanoid nor particularly human , but nevertheless intelligent, resemble a horde of giant killer insects in the film. Originally, the film was supposed to be called Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine because the rights for Starship Troopers could only be acquired at the last moment. This also explains the obvious changes that were necessary in order not to provide a basis for a legal dispute.
German synchronization
In the German synchronization , several text passages have been changed in terms of content. For example, the difference between Citizen (citizen; has done military service) and Civilian (civilian; has not served) is almost completely lost: in order to become a citizen, one must commit to military service ; Citizen status confers numerous privileges, such as B. the right to vote or birth licenses.
The following passage, part of a teacher's lecture in a lesson,
“This year we explored the failure of democracy, how the social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control and imposed the stability that has lasted for generations since. "
“This year we explored the failure of democracy, how social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control and enforced the stability that has lasted for generations. "
was changed to:
“Our topic this year was the political development since the turn of the millennium and how extraterrestrials have influenced this development. We talked about the bugs, how they attacked Earth and killed thousands of our ancestors. "
Interpretation and version differences
According to Verhoeven, the film was conceived as a satire on fascism and militarism. The Federal Inspectorate for Writings Harmful to Young People (today Federal Inspectorate for Media Harmful to Young People ) indexed the film in 1999 on the basis of the depictions of violence and the content it interpreted as pro- militaristic . In the opinion of the Federal Inspectorate for Media Harmful to Young People (which is not shared by all critics) the satirical elements only played a subordinate role. The film was therefore brutal and capable of disorienting children and young people from a socio-ethical perspective. It was therefore not allowed to be publicly advertised and freely sold. For this reason, only a shortened version of Starship Troopers was shown on German television . However, only the bloodiest scenes were cut during the TV broadcasts, the militaristic content remained. The DVD, however, which is only available in the uncut version, was affected by the indexing. This indexing was canceled prematurely by the Federal Inspectorate in July 2017 and then decided by the FSK in August 2017 to release the unabridged version from the age of 16.
Calum Marsh, on the other hand, described Starship Troopers in an article published in The Atlantic in 2013 as one of the most thoroughly misunderstood films of all time and tried to use recent receptions to prove that his subversive humor would only be understood gradually. The film criticizes "the military-industrial complex , the hurray-patriotism of American foreign policy and a culture that prefers reactionary violence to sensibility and reason".
Awards and nominations
Starship Troopers won the Best Costumes and Best Special Effects awards at the 1998 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Awards and was also nominated in the categories of Best Director , Best Science Fiction Film and Best Writer .
Further nominations were Best Visual Effects ( Academy Awards 1998 ), Favorite Female Newcomer and Favorite Male Newcomer ( Blockbuster Entertainment Award 1998), Best Dramatic Presentation ( Hugo Award 1998), Best Action Sequence ( MTV Movie Awards 1998 ), Best Sound Editing - Dialogue & ADR and Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects & Foley (Motion Picture Sound Editors 1998), Best Motion Picture - Animated or Mixed Media und Outstanding Visual Effects ( Satellite Awards 1998) and Best Use of Animation as a Special FX in a Theatrical (World Animation Celebration 1998).
Others
- The budget of the film was 105 million US dollars .
- In addition to the film, a new edition of the novel was published by Bastei Lübbe- Verlag with the title Starship Troopers - The novel about the film by Paul Verhoeven ; ISBN 978-3-404-14159-3 .
- Screenwriter Edward Neumeier had also written the script for RoboCop , which was also filmed by Paul Verhoeven in 1987.
- Most of the effects come from Industrial Light & Magic ; a total of three animation companies were involved.
- Quotes from the film are played in the song Decypher by Velvet Acid Christ .
- The daughter of composer Basil Poledouris, Zoë Poledouris , contributed the song Into It to the film. She can also be seen briefly as a singer in the film. Furthermore, the song I have not been to Oxford Town by David Bowie can be heard in a modified version.
- The soundtrack for the film was released on November 3, 1997. This was composed by Basil Poledouris , who already worked with director Paul Verhoeven on Flesh and Blood (1985) and RoboCop (1987).
- Hell's Half Acre in the US state of Wyoming was used as the filming location for the fight scenes .
- The intro of the computer game Quake 4 is based on the landing operation on Klendathu.
- In the futuristic world of Starship Troopers , the brunt of the fighting still rests on infantry units that do not have any vehicles.
Reviews
“[…] Starship Troopers is the brutal western among insect films […] purest war film, without morals, without scruples. A film with beetles instead of Krauts that makes us roar [sic]: Kill the bugs! Conclusion: two hours of good, dirty entertainment. "
“ Starship Troopers throws fascist symbolism, inflammatory slogans and glorifying militarism around. The whole thing is underlined by a bombast score brought to the pathetic point, which is characterized above all by merciless lack of distance. The film's satire clearly lies in the exaggeration of all of these points. [...] The film can be misunderstood too easily, which leads to the viewer simply enjoying a bombastic action film packed with excellent effects and not being able to grasp the ambiguity. [...] As long as Hollywood produces one patriotic 08/15 actioner after the other, works that relish such ideas ad absurdum are not only appropriate but also desired. "
"A science fiction film staged with technical perfection in the striking glossy style of commercials and magazine covers, which is not only extremely violent, but also promotes the glorification of militarism and the spread of fascist ideas."
"Fortunately, the Dutchman Paul Verhoeven [...] managed to make the fascist tendencies of the novel with the simplest of means - such as the stupid ground troops who willingly storm their deaths - exposed to all their ridiculousness. The result is nice splatter fun with excellent computer animation. "
Sequels
In 2004, a sequel to the film titled Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation , directed by Phil Tippett, was released . The film was a direct-to-DVD production . It was released on DVD and video . The sequel, like the first part, also has an SPIO / JK seal and has been indexed .
In 2008, the second sequel appeared with the title Starship Troopers 3: Marauder . Directed by Edward Neumeier , who wrote the screenplay for the first two parts. Like the second part, this film is also a direct-to-DVD production.
In July 2012, a computer-animated feature film by Shinji Aramaki entitled Starship Troopers: Invasion was released . Casper Van Dien was involved as executive producer .
In June 2017, another computer-animated feature film called Starship Troopers: Traitor Of Mars was announced. In terms of content, this should tie in with the first film. On August 21, 2017, the film was shown very limited in US cinemas.
Web links
- Starship Troopers in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Starship Troopers at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Starship Troopers at Metacritic (English)
- Starship Troopers in the online movie database
- Starship Troopers in the German dubbing file
- Indexing report on the film from 1999 ( Memento from January 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Comparison of the cut versions, indexed and cut FSK-18 version , English and defused German soundtrack from Starship Troopers at Schnittberichte.com
- Steve Biodrowski, Hollywood Gothic
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release Certificate for Starship Troopers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; August 2017; test number: 78 783 V).
- ↑ Interview: Paul Verhoeven, by Scott Tobias, The AV Club , published April 3, 2007. Accessed March 24, 2011 .
- ↑ Gerald Wurm: Starship Troopers no longer indexed (Schnittberichte.com). Retrieved October 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Gerald Wurm: Starship Troopers unabridged by FSK (Schnittberichte.com). Retrieved October 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Starship Troopers: One of the Most Misunderstood Movies Ever. In: The Atlantic. November 7, 2013, accessed December 5, 2015 .
- ↑ a b List of awards and nominations on IMDb.com , accessed on September 16, 2011
- ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starshiptroopers.htm
- ↑ Cinema.de: Review of Starship Troopers. In: cinema.de
- ↑ Review of Starship Troopers. In: filmstarts.de
- ↑ Starship Troopers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Starship Troopers. In: prisma.de. prisma-Verlag , accessed on October 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Starship Troopers: Invasion Trailer Has Lots of Legs
- ↑ http://www.filmstarts.de/nachrichten/18512777.html