Starship Troopers – 1997
This movie is truly one of my guilty pleasure movies, and the special effects are a big part of that. The movie, as cheesy as some of its script is, as bad as some of the acting is, is an awesome spectacle that is science fiction at its best. The big effect in the film is the giant insectoid alien creatures that are waging war on the human race. They are a perfect blend of practical effects, scale models and CGI, and they are very photo-realistically portrayed. These insectoid aliens were big, monstrous, and appeared completely real on the big screen.
At first, we see them en-masse in a night-time setting, so it is difficult to see just how many there are and what they actually look like in a large group. The good guys get their butts kicked in short order. But the following scenes shows them in the daytime, and we can see just how massive their army is. There are lots of action, guns, blood and guts, human slaughter, and lots and lots of giant bugs!
In fact, the over-the-top gore, the ridiculous carnage, the flying blood, and the sheer number of severed limbs is so crazy and chaotic that you just want more. More! MORE!! It is like the special effects team went out of their way to make all the in-your-face violence and mayhem so spectacular, as to be almost cartoonish. But honestly, that is what I loved about it. It was so over-done that it was acceptable. If you saw that kind of bloody a massacre in real life, it would be absolutely horrifying.
I also have to make special mention of the great use of sound effects that really enhanced the visuals. When the army of alien bugs were moving, it sounded like the thunder of horse hooves. The way they screamed was like the sound of an old movie monster. It made for a pretty cool alien creature. And again, I can’t say enough about the photo-realism of the creatures. They looked good both in wide shots, and in close-ups. Very cool!
And there were more than just the dangerous foot soldiers. There were several different species of insect-like organisms. There were the flyers that looked like giant dragonflies, great beetle-like behemoths that spit acid, and massive creatures with glowing sacks on their butts that shot blowing blue bolts of destruction into space to take out the Terran space ships. There were the little bugs that were the attendants of the big globular brain bug. The design team did a fantastic job of making the different kinds of bugs look individual and distinct, while also making them all look as if they had evolved on the same planet. Just fantastic.
And then there were those Earth ships that really took a beating in the space above Klendathu, the planet of the alien bugs. Again, the design team did a really fantastic job and they looked cool as they were destroyed in great flaming explosions. I happen to love this movie. But if you want to really enjoy it, don’t pay too much attention to the acting or some of the cheesy dialogue. Just turn your brain off and enjoy the great sci-fi visuals.