Underappreciated at the time of its release, Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 intergalactic war film Starship Troopers has since gained a cult following amongst sci-fi fans for its satirical take on jingoistic nationalism, the self-perpetuating military war machine and the temptations of fascism.  It is told primarily from the perspective of Johnny Rico (a firm-jawed Casper Van Dien) who rises up through the ranks of the Mobile Infantry during their interstellar battle with an alien species of giant insects known as the “Arachnids”.

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On the one hand, Starship Troopers is a fun, special-effects-heavy kickass ultraviolent space action movie.  But it is also a movie that rewards repeat viewings.  Luckily for fans of Starship Troopers, there are plenty of other films out there that use the genre conventions of sci-fi to reflect on present-day issues.  Here are ten more sci-fi classics that combine high-octane action with satirical social commentary.

RoboCop (1987)

A full decade before making Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven directed the seminal sci-fi action movie Robocop.  Set in the crime-ridden dystopia of Detroit in the near future, the film tells the story of a police officer (Peter Weller, with a jaw to rival Casper Van Dien’s) who is murdered by a gang of criminals, only to be subsequently resurrected as a superhuman crime-fighting machine created by the omnipresent and malevolent megacorporation, Omni Consumer Products.

As with Starship Troopers, one on level RoboCop is a brutal, violent, and darkly funny action movie.  But Verhoeven injects satirical elements into the film, commenting on topics as diverse as capitalism, the corporatization of law enforcement, and even free will and individual identity.

Total Recall (1990)

Total Recall Cropped

Yet another Verhoeven joint, Total Recall is a loose adaptation of the brilliantly titled Philip K. Dick short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.  The film imagines a future in which people can pay to have memories of fantasy vacations implanted into their brains, rather than actually having to go out and experience them.

Down-on-his-luck construction worker Douglas Quaid (peak Arnold Schwarzenegger) decides he would like to have a vacation in which he is a secret agent on Mars.  However, instead of implanting the memory, the procedure seems to reveal a suppressed memory from Quaid’s past in which he actually was a secret agent.

With a mind-bending conclusion that will leave you questioning the entire narrative of the film, Total Recall is a 90’s sci-fi classic definitely worth revisiting for fans of Starship Troopers.

The Running Man (1987)

Another Schwarzenegger vehicle, 1987’s The Running Man is set in a future in which America is under the control of a totalitarian regime and convicted criminals fight for their lives in a state-run gameshow called “The Running Man”.  Based on a novel by Stephen King (one of the ones written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), the story centers on a police officer (Schwarzenegger) who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and is forced to compete in the Running Man.

Although the film never quite rises to the same level as the Verhoeven movies on this list, it is still a fun and surprisingly relevant sci-fi action movie satirizing the popular obsession with reality television.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow is what might happen if Starship Troopers had a baby with Groundhog Day.  The film follows Major William Cage (Cruise), a public relations officer who is forced into combat against an alien race that has taken over swathes of Europe.  After being apparently killed in battle, Cage finds himself caught in a time loop: each time he dies in combat he wakes up alive and well the day before.  He teams up with Blunt’s character, an elite Special Forces soldier, and together they try to come up with a way to permanently defeat the aliens.

Fun and inventive, Edge of Tomorrow manages to transcend the tropes of the sci-fi action genre through a clever screenplay and genuinely engaging performances from its two leads.

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic sci-fi horror film Alien has spawned countless imitations, but none (apart from possibly its sequel, Aliens) can match the original film’s sense of claustrophobia.  Whereas sci-fi films of the time like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind had made outer space seem wondrous and fantastical, Alien reimagined it as a source of Lovecraftian horror.

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Alien focuses on the crew of the spaceship “Nostromo” who encounters a murderous alien creature while returning to Earth from deep space.  A simple story is elevated by a tense score, terrifying creature design, brilliant directing and a breakout lead performance by Sigourney Weaver.  Alien was groundbreaking at the time for a number of reasons: not only did it blend the genre conventions of horror with sci-fi, but it can also be viewed as the first great feminist sci-fi film.

Equilibrium (2002)

Kurt Wimmer’s 2002 dystopian sci-fi film Equilibrium makes no effort to hide its inspirations, but it’s still a cerebral and visually interesting action movie.  Part Fahrenheit 451, part Nineteen Eighty-Four, the film is set in a future in which human emotion is viewed as the source of all war and has been outlawed by an authoritarian government.  Citizens take daily injections of drugs designed to suppress their emotions, and highly trained enforcement officers seek out and execute people guilty of committing “sense crimes”, like reading literature and poetry and feeling love.  When one of these officers (Christian Bale) misses one of his daily injections he begins to experience emotions, it leads him to question the morality of his actions.

District 9 (2009)

Set in an alternate reality in which aliens have arrived in the South African city of Johannesburg, Neill Blomkamp’s Academy Award-nominated District 9 deals with complex themes of racism and xenophobia and comments on the racial segregation that occurred during South Africa’s apartheid era.  As with Starship Troopers and RoboCop, District 9 manages to be both an entertaining action film and a biting social commentary.

Blomkamp went on to direct Elysium (2013) and Chappie (2015), both of which rehashed similar themes to District 9 but without the gritty inventiveness that made this earlier film so memorable.

Dredd (2012)

The Judge Dredd comic book franchise was first adapted for the screen in 1995 with Sylvester Stallone playing the eponymous law enforcement officer who patrols the dystopian future city Mega-City One, serving as judge, jury and executioner for any unlucky criminals he comes across.  Unfortunately, the 1995 film didn’t capture the satirical tone of its source material and was a critical and commercial failure.

However, the 2012 reboot is definitely worth a watch for fans of Verhoeven-esque action sci-fi.  Elevated by a script penned by Alex Garland, who also wrote and directed the brilliant sci-fi film Ex Machina (2015), the 2012 remake stars Karl Urban in the titular role and features Olivia Thirlby as his psychic offsider.  Together they must battle to take down drug lord “Ma-Ma” (Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey), who is holed up in a 200-story slum tower block.

Videodrome (1983)

David Cronenberg’s surrealistic early 80’s sci-fi cult classic tells the story of Max Renn (James Woods), a Canadian TV executive who, in the quest for ratings, begins broadcasting an ultraviolent television show called “Videodrome”.

Videodrome deals with many of the same themes as other films on this list, including authoritarianism, consumerism and the power of television and the media, but infuses its social commentary with Cronenberg’s trademark hallucinatory body horror.  Featuring some truly unique visuals and a great early James Woods performance, Videodrome is definitely one to check out for those who enjoy films at the weirder end of the sci-fi spectrum.

Mars Attacks! (1996)

More of a straight comedy than a sci-fi, Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! will appeal to fans of the more comedic elements of Starship Troopers.  Inspired by the pulpy low budget 1950’s sci-fi films of Ed Wood and featuring an enormous ensemble cast that includes Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Danny Devito, Michael J Fox, and even Tom Jones, the film follows the bumbling attempts of mankind to fight off alien invaders from Mars. Constantly referenced in pop culture since it first premiered, Mars Attacks! is one film that Starship Troopers fans can't afford to miss out on.

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