Paul Verhoeven directs Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards in this sci-fi war satire where the fascist youth armies of Earth go to war against massive alien bugs.

I haven’t seen this since the multiplex where it left me cold. I could see then it was big budget Hollywood dreck yet all done with a smarmy Dutch smirk on its face. Verhoeven is a canny operator. The purposefully bland casting and a two hour plus running time do handicap it. Robocop did a far better job of blending the sex, violence, gore, satire, cybernetics and saltiness. This is just a little too sheeny shiny smooth. There’s gloop but no grit. Phil Tippett’s creature animation is something special as always. And Dina Meyer bucks the trend of dead eyed recital of going through cliched motions by being actually vivacious and convincingly capable. Fascism is bad, now let’s kill some insectiods and have larks with it. Clancy and Ironside are in it… so there’s that. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

7

Perfect Double Bill: Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin