Starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown

Flipping the script on its pseudo-fascist source material, director Paul Verhoeven’s (Robocop, Total Recall) blood-and-guts space age war film Starship Troopers cranks up the ra-ra militarism and heavy-handed propaganda of Robert Heinlein’s novel to frenzied, farcical levels. Taking place in the distant future where only military service earns a person citizenship, the Earthbound Terran Federation comes under attack by a distant race of evil, sentient bugs out to squash humanity. Seeking retribution, the Terrans send off their best, brightest and most Aryan looking to take on the bugs in an epic interstellar meat grinder.

Every bit as funny, smart and exciting as Verhoeven’s best work, Starship Troopers works as both an eye-popping, FX driven cornball action flick and a send-up of eye-popping, FX driven cornball action flicks.