Helldivers 2 has reminded everyone Starship Troopers is an absolute masterpiece

With the release of Helldivers 2, everyone is looking back at the masterpiece that is Starship Troopers. The two have a lot in common, but predominately they both feature soldiers killing lots of bug-like aliens. It’s easy to see why the two are currently hand-in-hand and why people suddenly acknowledge that the 1998 film is a masterpiece.

You have to come at the film from the right angle, aware that it’s a satire most finely. It’s all big armoured suits and bugs blowing up, but there’s an underline examining fascism running through the whole movie. If you choose to ignore that, then at least there’s bug guts dripping throughout.

Helldivers 2 is having quite the moment online with millions of fans playing.

Due to the similarities, voices are piping up on Twitter to discuss the movie which has started a bit of a trend. One Twitter user got straight to the point saying, “People are just now discovering Starship Troopers? Where have y’all been? It’s a f**king masterpiece,” while another was in full agreement with, “Sometimes I think about Verhoeven's Starship Troopers and wonder if perhaps it's too blunt, too inexact a satire for our current moment...Then I see someone get on here and miss the point in spectacular fashion and realise it's still a masterpiece.”

I remember watching Starship Troopers in the cinema on release and loving the action, the humour of the whole thing, but I’ve definitely come to appreciate the subtlety of the finger pointing at the profits of war and propaganda. I’m yet to play Helldivers 2, but I can certainly see a similar theme from the trailers.

As summed up by another Twitter user who champions the movie: “Starship Troopers is a masterpiece, one of my favourite movies, and I do not understand how the satire element is lost on any viewer. While the movie doesn’t tell you what to think about its contents, the satire is not subtle and clearly announced.” Now, I’m off to watch the film for the first time in years.

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