War
films and action films are not the same. In fact, you could argue
they’re entirely different genres. If you’re looking for a
thrill, search the action DVDs; they’re about the excitement and
empowerment that violence brings. If you want commentary on violence
itself and
how
it affects
the human condition,
browse
the war section.
Most
apparent to me are the differences in tone. Action is celebratory,
while war is horrific. Both of them admire the skills of trained
killers, but only one examines their victims. War is tragedy, drama
and reality; they have a sobering quality that action movies
avoid.
We
can also consider the importance of the enemies. Action movie bad
guys are largely interchangeable. Until the main antagonist is
finally confronted, nameless goons take most
of the punishment. Ultimately they serve to contrast with the protagonist; the hero can’t be strong
and exceptional unless others are normal
and
weak.
In
a war picture, the opposition is part of the film’s identity. They help determine the level of drama, and they control the
direction of our emotions. If each side is given enough screen time, you
may not be able to root for either party. If there is a group that
you can rally behind, the enemy challenge helps to define
that group.
Classic
Movie Trailers –
Starship
Troopers (1997)
I
feel I should let you in a secret. Zombie movies are not about
zombies. If you examine them closely, you'll find they're about the people
dealing with their
threat. The
enemy is just an external pressure, that
forces the characters to grow and change.
The
bugs in this movie serve the same purpose. They also do it
better than zombies ever
could. I haven't found a better foe for
this kind of film, and right now I'm certain that one doesn't exist.
Let's
go back to the dead for a minute. Zombies
are best when the situation is dire. If you have a
group of people low on ammo and supplies, a horde of undead is a
shambling wave of death. If we change the group to infantry and back them up with tanks,
you get a boring movie.
Sure, they would lose a soldier here and there, but I'm not afraid for the
great majority of them. You could argue it depends on the size of the
army, but if you reduce the soldiers it's more of a survival
film. With all units working like they're supposed to, a group of unarmed dead people are no more than that. You could even speed
them up but the fact is, a human body is not a bullet
sponge, regardless of what games say.
Once
you add assault vehicles into the mix, you'll see that the undead underperform. Maybe machines are a slightly better fit, but they actually
might be worse, for the opposite reason. When I see a field of men
against a
squad of
Terminators, I can't
believe
that any people survive. When we get broke
there's no good way to fix us, and death is fairly permanent last
time I checked.
Alien
bugs are perfect for a number of reasons. First off,
they don't allow you to empathize with them. Machines and
monsters share this trait; when you see them against people, you'll
root against them almost every time. We really aren't concerned about
the health of the bug colony; they present a real challenge without
taxing our emotional
energy.
Secondly, bugs are just strong enough. Consider the shell on a beetle and
the ant exoskeleton. It's true that we can squash them with no
trouble at all, but bugs are really small on this planet. The
imagination doesn't have to take a great leap, to figure out a giant bug
would be a human terror.
They
are death machines but they're natural ones. They're not hard like
steel,
and they're not fragile like decaying corpses. We can assume their shells deflect incoming bullets, and
we can
count on them being very aggressive. If
bees are any indication, disturbing a nest
of giant
insects
is a fatal mistake.
I
can't imagine
a better subject for science fiction. There are plenty of species, so you can
borrow thousands of attributes. It's
a stretch to think that they can cause a meteor shower, but besides
that plot point, they work in every respect. There's some good variance among them, and they have the numbers to give a serious fight.
“Starship
Troopers” is a very human story. It has a fair amount of romance,
betrayal and heartbreak. Here we're forced to grow up facing certain death and fight as human beings, against an inhuman foe. The enemies
are paramount in a picture like this, and I haven't seen a film
that has made a better choice.
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@ChannelSeals
See
“Starship Troopers” on Netflix!
Next
Week: April Foolish starts with “Galaxy Quest”.
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