
DATE: Wednesday, November 12, 1997          TAG: 9711110063

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie review

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

FANTASY FLICK TROTS SPECTACULAR EFFECTS

IT'S A bug-of-war.,

It's also proof that, no, you HAVEN'T seen it all yet. The special effects in ``Starship Troopers'' are awesome.

Paul Verhoeven, in spite of his usual lapses of judgment, has created a movie that is a mixture of western and World War II epic - all set in a futuristic, cliche-ridden, world. Don't worry about such details as why the insects want to attack Earth in the first place. You can laugh as well as marvel at the sights before you.

When the little boogers destroy Buenos Aires in a future-world in which everyone speaks English and the planet is unified, the Starship Troopers swing into action. They're sent to faraway planets in an effort to wipe out the ``things'' before they bring the battle to Earth.

To stop the grasshopper-like meanies, each of their many limbs have to be blasted away. As a result, this flick is noisier than a Rolling Stones concert - and a thousand times more visual. The filmmakers claim to have used more ammunition than for any movie in history. There is no reason to question the boast.

Verhoeven is no stranger to the genre. He made ``RoboCop'' and ``Total Recall.'' He also, gulp, made ``Showgirls,'' the NC-17 no-brainer that was among the more talked-about movies last year. He insisted on retaining a co-ed shower scene, which earned ``Starship'' an R rating. It's too bad because it is otherwise a perfect action flick for young boys. One strongly suspects they'll get into the theaters anyway.

More offensive, yet not as likely to merit public protest, are the overly violent decapitations and such - with those bad bugs literally pulling human bodies apart.

In spite of this caution, ``Starship Troopers'' is fast-paced fun. Don't expect the class and epic style of ``Star Wars.'' This is more a B-movie done as no B-movie ever could be done. We've come a long way since the 1950s, when the giant ants in ``Them'' stirred screams.

``Troopers'' is not likely to scare anyone. It isn't that kind of movie. It's more a ``look what's happening next'' film. It's briskly paced.

Of the beautiful but unpolished cast, Casper Van Dien and Dina Meyer are the two who might break from the pack. He plays Johnny Rico, a young recruit in the Mobile Infantry of the future. Meyer has spunk as the tomboy who's always had a crush on him. The cast actually goes to the high school prom before going to battle. (Isn't it reassuring that, even this far in the future, they'll still have high school proms?) Neil Patrick Harris, TV's Doogie Howser of yesteryear, is cast as a baby-faced SS-type officer in a society that has a Nazi look.

Huge spaceships drift in and out, reminding us of ``2001: A Space Odyssey.'' The audience may get restless, though, when Verhoeven allows about 45 minutes at the beginning to develop nine characters before the bugs really get into action. When there are marauding insects on the prowl, this film is in high gear. The rest of the time, it looks like a convention of ``Melrose Place'' and ``Beverly Hills 90210'' cast members. None of them look young enough to be in high school, but it is somewhat believable that they might have been held back. There are few or no ugly folks in this trooper outfit.

The highlight is an attack of the grasshopper-like things on a fort - straight out of the western genre.

Yes, ``Starship Troopers'' borrows from numerous other films. (The early classroom scenes are from ``All Quiet on the Western Front.'') Yes, the acting is often pretty wooden, and, yes, there are laughable cliches everywhere.

These are small prices to pay for the sights you see. ``Starship Troopers'' is great fun. It would have been just as much fun if it had a PG or PG-13 rating and could be seen by the kid audience who would most like its basic concept. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

TIPPETT STUDIOS

Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) and other troopers fight a Tanker bug in

the fantasy ``Starship Troopers.''

Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``Starship Troopers''

Cast: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey,

Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, Michael Ironiside

Director: Paul Verhoeven

MPAA rating: R (topless shower scene, decapitations, bodies torn

apart)

Mal's rating: Three stars