Starship Troopers – Blu-ray Disc Review

August 4, 2008 – 1:59 AM - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: BD-Live, Blu-Wizard, Bonus View, Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Miller, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Paul Verhoeven, Sony

has an average rating of 6.9 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
include Bonus View, BD-Live and more!
–
– 1997
– 129 minutes
– Sony

Overall Verdict – Highly Recommended

Buy it for $19.95 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss

Theatrical Trailer:

The Movie Itself was Directed by Paul Verhoeven who’s previous work includes “Robocop” and “Total Recall” just to name a few. This screenplay to the film was written by Ed Neumeier who just so happens to have also wrote the script (screenplay) for “Robocop” which Verhoeven directed. The film was based on the Original 1959 Novel written by Robert A. Heinlein which depicted a satirical right wing almost “Nazi” type (during WW2) view of a war between humans and bugs from outer space. The plot itself proved to be misunderstood originally in it’s theatrical release and even still somewhat to this date by fans but it’s really quite the Sci-Fi / Action / Adventure film as well as a Comedy overall.

The main character of the film is a young man named “Johnny Rico” (played by Casper Van Dien) who lives in Buenos Aires and just-so-happens to be dating the hottest girl in school named “Carmen Ibanez” (played by Denise Richards). Rico lives in a society where even his high school teacher “Jean Rasczak” (played by Michael Ironside) is even obviously of a former military background and influences his students to fight for the cause. Rico has a somewhat attractive female friend named “Dizzy Flores” (played by Dina Meyer) who has had eye on him for quite some time. Once the group of students graduate and all chose military careers to become “citizens” they inevitably go different directions. Rico is forced to leave his best friend “Carl Jenkins” (played by Neil Patrick Harris) and his trophy girlfriend Carmen when he enlists. Rico is put in a group of infantry soldiers that just-so-happen to include his somewhat attractive female friend Dizzy who makes her way finally into becoming his girl with the absence of Carmen. Joining him in his infantry group are his new found friend “Ace Levy” (played by Jake Busey) and his former teacher, the now “Lieutenant Jean Rasczak” as his superior. Johnny Rico has a crazy action-packed future ahead of him fighting bugs to-say-the-least.

“Starship Troopers” has a pretty big cult-following of fans itself aside from the fact it was Directed by Paul Verhoeven so it’s no surprise we see it making it’s way finally to Blu-ray Disc. The film is full of special effects in the forms of CGI and even miniatures to just give you an idea but keep in mind this isn’t exactly “Star Wars” although it’s budget was pretty decent. If you’re a fan of satirical / sadistic humor especially you’ll enjoy the film’s Television broadcasts which seem like right-wing or almost “Nazi” type propaganda messages. Science fiction is definitely the major element here but some forget that it’s also to be intended as a parody in ways and not taken totally seriously. “Starship Troopers” is always great to pop in for a good treat in terms of a title that will deliver some visually compelling action and laughs from the dialogue.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte Dual Layered Blu-ray Disc). There’s certainly a solid black level in this Panavision 35mm film negative transfer to High Definition that comes with at times an excellent amount of detail. The fleshtones are very accurate, if you don’t believe me just refer to the “shower scene” early on in the movie. The color palette is very vibrant as you’d expect it to be and delivers a very visually pleasing presentation. There’s no signs of any compression problems (such as artifacts or pixilation) and also sign of any use of digital video filters like DNR (digital noise reduction) or EE (edge enhancement). Sony has most definitely done this 1997 Verhoeven film justice in Hi-Def. This earns a respectable “4 Star Rating” for overall video quality on this 11-year-old film. It’s rare to see this good of Hi-Def transfer for a film by Paul Verhoeven. If you look back on past releases like Lionsgate release of his “Total Recall” and the god-awful MGM release of his most known work, “Robocop” and compare them to this you’ll understand what I mean by that statement.

Audio Quality on this release is in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. Dialogue is delivered (and driven from the) center channel throughout the film in a very distinct manner. The film’s Score (Music) by Basil Poledouris and even Soundtrack come across decent dynamic range throughout the 5.1 soundscape — presented here in Dolby TrueHD. There’s a good rear channel and bass presence to be found throughout the film but majorly during the action (battle) sequences later in the film. Not one of the most amazing audio presentations ever but it still manages to do the film justice and make it a very well-balanced Blu-ray Disc overall. The sound effects such as gunfire, explosions sound very realistic and especially the noises the bugs make sound at times terrifying and massive. This earns a “4 Star Rating” for audio quality and is sure to please the fans of the film who owned it previously on DVD.

Bonus Materials are all presented in Standard Definition (480p) MPEG-2 video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

• “FedNet Mode” features a Bonus View enabled Picture-In-Picture experience with cast and crew interviews as well as facts about the film itself and even original novel. This proves to be really impressive and doesn’t contain too many “dead spots” where it’s not being used. “Starship Troopers” fans are going to absolutely love this PIP experience.

• “Blu-Wizard” is included which for those of you who don’t know allows you to make your own customized “playlist” of sorts of bonus materials by checking off which you’d like to see. The Blu-Wizard then in turn takes your selections and includes them in a order that goes along with the film as you watch. This proves to hold some interactive innovations and possibilities that come to mind are pretty mind boggling later down the line.

• BD-Live is included which allows you to access content specific (if chose by the studio to do) downloads and Trailers for current / upcoming Sony Pictures films in both Hi-Def (HD) and Standard Def (SD).
• “Put Yourself in the Movie” uses BD-Live (from what I understand as it’s not yet active) to allow you to upload a picture and ‘put yourself in the movie’ just as the title suggests. I’ll be sure to update this section once this title has BD-Live enabled (on street date).
• “Recruitment Test” is a BD-J Trivia Game which challenges viewers to test their knowledge of the film’s Troopers (soldiers). This little game is actually worth playing once or twice, especially to fans of the film. Not a huge replay value though in the long run, I will admit that.
• Commentary Tracks featuring the Director Paul Verhoeven, Cast Members Casper Van Dien, Neil Patrick Harris and Dina Miller. Another commentary track features again the Director Verhoeven with the filmmakers.
• “Death From Above” (32 minutes) is a documentary from Automat Pictures that discusses the film’s World War II influences and the original book by Robert Heinlein.
• “The Making of Starship Troopers” (8 minutes) serves you up the basic “making of” style featurette from the original DVD release. This does include some cast and crew interviews that prove to be worth watching if you have never watched them before.
• “The Spaceships of Starship Troopers” (3 minutes) gives you a look at the original concept art, it’s transition to both CGI and miniatures and early animating renderings as well. This one is probably best left to the die-hard fans of the film.
• “Bug Test Film: Don’t Look Now” (1 minute) offers us up an introduction from Director Paul Verhoeven and look at an early combination of CGI renderings and live action video. Again this probably is best left to the fans but still proves impressive to even casual viewers.
• “Know Your Foe” (17 minutes) focuses on the different types of bugs in the film. “Warrior” , “Tanker” , “Hopper” , “Plasma” and “Brain” bugs are highlighted.
• “FX Comparisons” (29 minutes) gives you an early standard def attempt at Picture-in-Picture that reveals the original production footage and animations in comparison.
• “Storyboard Comparison” (11 minutes) are similar to the FX comparisons in the early PIP attempt on standard def but really don’t prove to be that much worth watching.
• “Scene Deconstruction with Paul Verhoeven” (7 minutes) gives you another comparison between the original footage, CGI renderings and the eventual production footage with audio commentary from the film’s Director.
• Deleted Scenes (8 minutes) are presented. Five total deleted scenes to be found here that all seem to focus on Denise Richards.
• “Screen Tests” (4 minutes) offers up 2 different original (camcorder filmed) audition tapes for scenes with Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards. This proves really boring in all honesty and was BADLY filmed. I believe I could have filmed this better myself. The acting really isn’t all that impressive to make you understand how this made them cast the two for the film but oh well.

Overall the Blu-ray exclusive features like “FedNet Mode” , the “Recruitment Test” BD-J trivia game and inclusion of “Blu-Wizard” to help you build your own personalized bonus materials viewing experience make this a very impressive title for the sake of the format. The inclusion of BD-Live — while not yet enabled until street date — and it’s feature to upload a picture (from what I understand) and include yourself as a “Trooper” in the film sounds very neat. I’ll still have to wait to see the BD-Live features in action before I can totally know what to say there but as of now I can’t say that these bonus materials disappoint in any way. You’ve got all the Standard Def original DVD ported bonus materials. “Starship Troopers” on Blu-ray Disc is going to please fans of the film and/or franchise in a lot of areas, the bonus material is just another one of those areas.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

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