Thanks to Helldivers 2, more and more people are discovering Starship Troopers. But the film is not as popular with everyone as expected.
What kind of film is this? Starship Troopers is a science fiction film from 1997 that has become a cult film over the years. It is a satirical depiction of a military society’s fight against the threat of the “bugs” and is quite violent. This caused some problems when it was released, as not everyone could see the satirical approach.
The game Helldivers 2, which was obviously inspired by Starship Troopers, follows a very similar approach. The success of the game also boosted the popularity of the film and in some cases, it found new fans.
The star of the original film, Casper Van Dien, is also currently on the road giving interviews about the film, the connection to Helldivers 2 and also a new game: Starship Troopers: Extermination.
You can see it here in the trailer:
Starship Troopers: Extermination shows fight against bugs in new trailer
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Casper Van Dien talks about satire in Starship Troopers
In one of these interviews, to Gamerant, Van Dien, who played the protagonist “Johnny Rico” at the time, talked about the development of the new game, the film and how it is being received.
He was clearly excited about developers Offworld, who are developing the new game, and emphasized: “It was really fun for me because they really got it. That wasn’t the case for everyone,” explains Van Dien.
In England, Van Dien remembers, the audience fully understood Starship Troopers, for example, because the humor fit. In America, that wasn’t so easy at the time, but that has improved, too, explains the actor: “In America, we may have missed it back then, but now people are coming back,” says Van Dien.
How is it going today? More people came to see the event, also because people played the new game, Helldivers 2 or Halo.
And today, people often say, “‘How could anyone not see that this was satire?’ That’s what the younger audience says. And I think that’s because educated people are showing it to them, older people are showing it to them, and also the audience these days is just more wise when it comes to things like this. So for some reason it’s changed a little bit, the satire is much better understood.”
How has the press changed? This is also easier in the press world today. At a press conference back then, however, Van Dien said, someone even asked him to give a military salute.
He refused: “I’m not an idiot, maybe I play one in the film, but I won’t do something like that. For me it was confusing, maybe she wanted to trick me, maybe she really didn’t understand the film.”
Does everyone understand Starship Troopers today? But he finds it really hard to understand why people today still don’t see what Starship Troopers is first and foremost:
Namely, satire. “I always try to be friendly. And I try to explain and have compassion, because I don’t think it’s fair to make fun of someone just because they’re not ready yet,” explains Van Dien: “Maybe they weren’t paying enough attention.” That can make you despair: “Yes, because it seems so obvious.”
Overall, Van Dien sees mostly positive aspects in the rebirth of Starship Troopers, which was certainly also helped by the success of Helldivers 2. In another interview, the actor had already spoken about the topic, but also emphasized that people should train elsewhere, but then ideally fight the bugs with him in the new Starship Troopers game.