Less violence, more authenticity in the STARSHIP TROOPERS Reboot

You can watch the cult classic that is Starship Troopers in various ways. You can accept it as a silly war film, a fantastic action flick or you can sit down and analyse the fascist overtones of the plot.

The film is undeniably violent however, an aspect that unifies it brilliantly. But seeing as how that wonderful movie is getting a remake treatment, the gore is going to be toned down considerably.

Do you want to know more?

Speaking to Empire, Producer Toby Jaffe explained how the upcoming remake would be more in line with the original Robert Heinlein novel, with the satire, violence and fascism being toned all together.

The more expensive a film is, the harder it is now to make it that violent. With Recall in particular, we made a conscious choice to keep it tonally closer to something like Minority Report. It gives the studio, and us as producers, the opportunity to reintroduce it in a new way.

Verhoeven took [Robert Heinlein’s 1959 novel] from one extreme and made it almost comical, whereas our job is to be a little more faithful to the book, and ground it a little more…. Verhoeven made his movie a critique of fascism whereas Heinlein was writing from the perspective of someone who had served in World War II.

Y’know, one man’s fascism is another man’s patriotism…

One extra aspect of the Heinlein novel that will be making an appearance however, are the armored jumpsuits, a special effect that director Paul Verhoeven couldn’t accomplish in the original film, due to a lack of extra cash and digital technology back in the nineties. As Jaffe explained about this new inclusion:

Working in a visual effects renaissance as we are, we have the ability to do so much more now. We can do the Jump Suits [armoured exoskeletons from Heinlein’s novel], for example, which I don’t think they could have done before.

Looking at this project from a financial view, it makes complete sense. But is the film going to be as infinitely rewatcheable as the original? I don’t think so.

There’s a certain charm and character in the way that Verhoeven can frame an exploding limb or some evisceration, that makes it so effective, even a decade and a half later. And while it is appreciated that the new film will be closer to the source material, that doesn’t mean that it will work on the screen.

I’m expecting a decent film, but I’m not expecting something that will live forever in my memory when it eventually releases.

Last Updated: June 28, 2012