Helldivers 2 Sparks Starship Troopers Renaissance
Helldivers 2 is doing great on Steam, and the game's success has reflected an unexpected rise in popularity for Paul Verhoeven's 1997 cult - and controversial - film.
Sony's Helldivers 2 was released on PlayStation 5 and PC on February 8 and has gained a lot of interest. It was so large that the overloaded servers couldn't keep up. During the break between games, it appears that players reach for a particular iconic and controversial science fiction movie. I'm referring to Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, which was released in 1997.
The director of Helldivers 2, Johan Pilestedt, announced that the film, which premiered 27 years ago, is experiencing a renaissance. The developer shared a post on his profile on X in which he noted that the premiere of his shooter made Verhoeven's movie popular again. As proof, he attached statistics from Television Stats. The data indicates that Starship Troopers has advanced from 109th to 45th place among the most popular films on the Internet.
What is the sudden interest in Verhoeven's film all about? These two productions - Starship Troopers and Helldivers 2 - have a lot in common. The Sony game drew strong inspiration from the 1997 show, and we can find similarities between these creations. First of all, they feature dangerous, cosmic insects of monstrous size and are also set in a similar science fiction atmosphere. Now, thanks to the game, many players learned about the film for the first time and decided to watch it.
The plot of the movie focuses on a group of friends who joined the army, which guarantees them citizenship and numerous privileges. The heroes must face the enemy who threatens the existence of humanity. The Earth is being attacked by invaders from an alien civilization - deadly spiders. Despite the controversies during its premiere year, the movie gained a cult following over the years, thanks to its spectacular nature and special effects.
The film is loosely adapted from a novel by Robert Heinlein. Published in 1959, the book conveys conservative values and glorifies the military. In an interview with Empire, Paul Verhoeven admitted that he got bored with the book and stopped reading it after two chapters, instead asking the screenwriter Ed Neumeier for a summary of the plot.
It is really quite a bad book. I asked Ed Neumeier to tell me the story because I just couldn't read the thing. It's a very right-wing book. [...] All the way through we were fighting with the fascism, the ultra-militarism. All the way through I wanted the audience to be asking, 'Are these people crazy?'
However, the film wasn't understood when it premiered. The director said that American critics didn't notice the irony in his movie, and the Washington Post accused the filmmakers of being neo-Nazis. Despite feeling let down by the reception of the film in his native market, the creator acknowledged the British for grasping his directorial vision and the meaning of the film.
If you also want to watch Starship Troopers, then check out Disney+. There, you'll find the film.
