Starship Troopers discourse I haven't seen: it's a pretty boring movie (hexbear.net)

submitted 8 months ago by RedQuestionAsker2@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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I really liked Starship Troopers as a kid. Pretty sure I said it was my favorite movie for a time. Last year or so, I had the chance to watch it again with some friends, and I was excited because now I could watch it with my Adult Knowledge that it's actually a satire of fascism. I was honestly bored out of my mind, and I wanted to turn it off halfway through.

Because it's not really a typical satire, right? It's an example of a movie that a fascist society would make. This kind of necessarily means that the movie needs to be trite and shallow. Neither the characters nor plot is compelling. Because of this, the action sequences fall flat to me, too.

I watched robocop the day before, and I actually liked it way more than when I was younger. I can also enjoy other satire of fascism like Warhammer 40k which I think is ridiculous enough to be fun.

I don't know, it sucks for the people who genuinely uphold it as a fascist piece of art because... Damn, it's really childish and boring when taken at face value.

Anyone with me on this? I honestly found it disappointing.

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[-] Frank@hexbear.net 28 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah, that tracks. Robocop is a satire of 80s white flight and drug hysteria, but it has a plot, Murphy's lost humanity, enslavement, and struggle to define who he is gives him some depth and pathos. The badguys are ridiculously ghoulish and over the top, everyone is chewing the scenery, the special effects are fun.

But with starship troopers, fash media is fash media, so once you get the joke, the impact is made and i can see how it'd lose a lot of it's appeal.

For me, there's a lot of nostalgia and quotability to it, that's a lot of what I like, rather than watching it for plot.

[-] RedQuestionAsker2@hexbear.net 17 points 8 months ago

fash media is fash media, so once you get the joke, the impact is made and i can see how it'd lose a lot of it's appeal.

Yeah, I think this is it

[-] D61@hexbear.net 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Eric Foreman's, Dad finally losing his shit after accidentally eating one too many of the 70's Show gang's pot brownies and goes full "Reefer Madness" is a sight to behold...