STARSHIP TROOPERS is one of those movies that you either love or hate. Paul Verhoeven‘s 1997 satire is a plentiful array of blood, guts, and boobs all wrapped up in a military satire. There is not a serious moment in the movie that doesn’t have comedic undertones. But, that element was lost on many who didn’t appreciate the movie for what it was. So, after multiple direct to home video sequels and animated takes on the story, STARSHIP TROOPERS is being rebooted as a big screen movie.
Zack Stentz, screenwriter on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and STAR TREK 3, will be penning the new STARSHIP TROOPERS. Producer Toby Jaffe had previously compared the new movie in tone to MINORITY REPORT and said it would be less violent and comical than the Casper Van Dien starrer. Does Stentz have the same comparison? He was recently asked on Twitter what he feels the remake will feel like, tonally:
@scottEweinberg Less a satire & more an actual adaptation of the Heinlein novel. An Officer & a Gentleman in power armor.
— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) December 22, 2013
Stentz and cowriter Edward Miller just turned the script in to the studio last week so it remains to be seen which version will make it to screens, but I am hoping that comparing it to AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN means we would be in store for a more dramatic, character driven military film with science fiction undertones. I am not against a romantic element in a STARSHIP TROOPERS movie, but this really sounds like Stentz is trying for something closer to Robert Heinlein’s original novel which was known more for philosophical discussions of war rather than exploding alien heads and impalements.
There is room for more than one big budget STARSHIP TROOPERS in this world and I am intrigued to see if this one will work. My only question is whether Casper Van Dien is coming back.