In the future, humanity is under the rule of a worldwide neo-fascist military dictatorship fighting an alien civilization of giant space bugs. Citizenship is gained thru military service. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) has low grades which leaves him joining the Mobile Infantry. Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) is infatuated with him and follows him into MI. Rico is in love with Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards) but she chases her dreams of being a spaceship captain. Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris) gets into the highly coveted Military Intelligence.
Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven has a trashy stylish sensibility. His love of sex and violence really works in this sci-fi schlock. Casper Van Dien is perfect as the empty-headed matinée idol lead. For the hot action babes quotient, they have the sexy Dina Meyer and Denise Richards. For a hard nose leader role, they have the perpetually angry Michael Ironside. The cast, the style, the violence, the bugs, all of it makes a great hoot. The CG is pretty good for its times. The spacecrafts could be better but the bugs look scary. There is a neo-fascist satire to it all. Of course, some may love this for all the wrong reasons. I kinda love this for every reason. It's got the grotesque, the sci-fi, the battle action, the cheesy story, and I don't take any of it seriously.
Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven has a trashy stylish sensibility. His love of sex and violence really works in this sci-fi schlock. Casper Van Dien is perfect as the empty-headed matinée idol lead. For the hot action babes quotient, they have the sexy Dina Meyer and Denise Richards. For a hard nose leader role, they have the perpetually angry Michael Ironside. The cast, the style, the violence, the bugs, all of it makes a great hoot. The CG is pretty good for its times. The spacecrafts could be better but the bugs look scary. There is a neo-fascist satire to it all. Of course, some may love this for all the wrong reasons. I kinda love this for every reason. It's got the grotesque, the sci-fi, the battle action, the cheesy story, and I don't take any of it seriously.