MovieChat Forums > Starship Troopers (1997) Discussion > The worst scene (IMO)

The worst scene (IMO)

posted 8 years ago by cockroachcharlie
6 replies | jump to latest

First of all. I love this movie. I rewatch it regularly and enjoy it each time. Despite all the plot-holes and idiot military, it's still one of my favorites. However, there is one scene in particular that always bugs me (no pun intended).

The scene in which Rico runs off to rescue Carmen. I don't mind that he did a personal rescue mission. What I do mind is that he had a squad made up of entirely green recruits with the exceptions of Ace and Watkins. None of the other roughnecks are shown at the muster and only a small handful included the named characters are onboard the rescue ship in the previous battle. This leads me to conclude that the current unit is almost entirely fresh from boot.

What bugs me about the scene is that Rico not only abandons his unit, but he takes the only two known veterans with him, leaving his troops without any sort of command presence or even chain of command outside maybe a squad leader or two that are just as green as the rest. Basically one of two things could have happened. They continued down the bug hole (the most dangerous part of an engagement) and were summarily wiped out, or they did the reasonable thing and fell back to the surface. If it was the latter, Rico is responsible for the deaths of the entire unit. If the latter, any smart person would immediately report his ass, and even Carl couldn't cover up such a dereliction of duty.

Basically, no matter what, Rico commits a major court martial offense in this scene. In reality, he would have faced a serious trial and would likely be given the maximum penalty for his actions (probably hanged). In the film, Carl should have even been under judgement for promoting a guy with only a few engagements to a commissioned officer without first putting him through OCS, (about the only justification Rico has here as he was never taught how to properly be an officer).

[–] seanchughes07 8 years ago

I really like this movie and I'll watch it when it's on, which is a good thing because around this area (Eugene, Oregon) it seems to be on all the time.

Two things about this movie annoy me. First is the fact that they have to unload 500-1000 rounds each to put down one bug. This being in the future, and just as a matter of survival, any military entity would have come up with a more efficient weapons system than that.

Secondly, why don't they have combat helmets that fit? They are all peeking out from under those giant, clumsy helemts.

This is especially apparent when they are entering the outpost and the lieutenant orders one of them to secure the perimeter. The soldier ordering the others where to deploy can't see a damn thing because his helmet is sitting on his eyeballs.

[–] criztu 8 years ago

Verhoeven grew up in a Nazi occupied Netherlands. He most likely hates the military.

In Starship Troopers, the military are complete idiots. The purpose of the army, the purpose of the war against the bugs, is to exterminate the Civilians who want to become Citizens.

Citizenship means power, but in order to have that power, the Civilian has to serve in the military. But in the military, he is sent against monstrous beings, in a t-shirt!

[–] Leofwine_draca 8 years ago

Rico didn't go against orders though. When he met Jenkins afterwards, Jenkins pretty much confessed that he'd been inside Rico's head influencing his decisions. Rico was just acting (unconsciously) on military intelligence.

[–] dr-kandimba-1 8 years ago

I don't see this as a plot hole (and I extend the same judgment to the inadequacy of their weapons, the choice of using infantry instead of nuking the bugs, etc.). As I saw it, these are deliberate flaws in military strategy that were thrown in to show two important points: 1) In a fascist-militarist world order (of the kind that Trump would love to see), human life is worthless; 2) The military are stupid (or, as Dr. Who put it, "military intelligence" is a contradiction in terms).

[–] gundamknight111 8 years ago

1. It's true that they had fresh recruits, but quite a few survived the outpost ambush.

2. They probably weren't on board w/ it because it would seem like a suicide mission to them + Rico specifically stated that anyone who didn't want to go could continue on with the regrouping maneuver that they were ordered to do.

3. It was probably done to further involve/amp up the audience + they didn't want some random no-name that nobody gave a *beep* about to sacrifice themselves.

4. He was kind of following the primary objective of the whole assault in the first place [unknowingly] To capture a brain - he flushed out the brain so Zimmerman could capture the brain in the first place. I doubt he would've been court-marshaled for his part in capturing the brain, that's the last thing the PR would want, so why not laud him as a Hero instead to further get a good story, and more recruits for the mobile infantry.

5. Carl has a wide berth because he's an extremely talented Telepath - he has never fought in the conflict, but he's made so many jumps in rank that by the end I think he's a General, or Colonel before the movie is over. [MI weenies always jumping ranks when they finally get something right, lol.]

6. There are huge time gaps in the movie, so maybe Rico did go to OCS.

7. There's really only 3 differences between a Officer, CO, and volunteers/conscripted.

I. Officers are concerned with the bigger picture which he unwittingly fulfilled by flushing out the brain;thus, earning him an even bigger promotion - they're meant to be leaders, which Rico is shown to be throughout the film outstandingly.

II. COs are concerned about the overall health of the entire squad.

III. Soldiers are just to follow orders & try to stay alive in the process.

[–] stevekaczynski 8 years ago

It is interesting that the individual weapons of the mobile infantry are so feeble. It seems to take 20 to 30 hits to kill a bug. Carl helpfully explains on TV that blowing off a limb leaves arachnid warriors still "86% combat effective" so you should go for the nerve stem, which is about the size of a large coin. Good luck with that, as this virtually requires hand-to-hand combat with those things. Shooting them "a whole bunch of times" (Vanessa Lutz, Freeway) mainly seems to annoy the arachnids and make them more aggressive. It is like they are trying to get the mobile infantry killed. Carl, Carmen and Xander are all rather more intelligent than Rico, which is why they are not fast-tracked to mobile infantry, a career path that chiefly seems to offer a swift but painful death. This is actually hammered home by the recruiting sergeant who says the mobile infantry made him what he is today, and then reveals he has no legs. Carmen's 97% math score keeps her away from hand-to-hand combat with arachnids, at least until near the film's end.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."