Set in the 23rd century, the story follows teenager Johnny Rico and his comrades as they serve in the military of the United Citizen Federation, an Earth-based world government engaged in an interstellar war against an alien species known as the Arachnids.

The disappointing performance of Starship Troopers was blamed, in part, on competition from a high number of successful or anticipated science fiction and genre films released that year, its satire and violence failing to connect with mainstream audiences, and ineffective marketing.

Infantry characters include Blake Lindsley as Katrina, Tami-Adrian George as Djana'd,[8][9] Eric Bruskotter as Breckinridge, Matt Levin as Kitten Smith, and Anthony Ruivivar as Shujumi.

[14] Cameo appearances include producer Jon Davison as an Angry Survivor of the Buenos Aires asteroid attack, and writer Edward Neumeier as a handcuffed prisoner standing before Federation judges.

[15] Since the release of RoboCop (1987), producer Jon Davison had aimed to develop another project that would reunite key members of its creative team, including writer Edward Neumeier and stop motion animator Phil Tippett.

[49] Preliminary designs were made of the capsules, but attached to parachutes, which did not match the intended aesthetic, and adding rockets was deemed impractical, because it would have required numerous different visual effects and taken too much time to accomplish.

[39] Verhoeven described the script as being about contemporary American politics, such as a lack of gun control and increasing capital punishment under Texas governor George W. Bush, which he believed could potentially lead to fascism.

[57] Many key crew members were hired in 1996, including Verhoeven's long-time cinematographer Jost Vacano,[58][59] as well as Vic Armstrong (second unit director and stunt coordinator), Mark Goldblatt (editor), John Richardson (special effects supervisor), Basil Poledouris (music composer),[60] and Robert Latham Brown (production manager).

[67] Another, more easily accessible location, Barry Barber Ranch near Kadoka, South Dakota, and the Badlands National Park, featured little vegetation and a smooth, undulating landscape, which was chosen to portray Tango Urilla.

[e] He focused on popular film actors in their late teens and early twenties, but realized that many of the contemporary stars he wanted, such as Chris O'Donnell and Christian Slater, were already in their thirties—which would make the characters seem less naive—or committed to other projects.

[13][84] Members of the principal cast, including Van Dien, Meyer, Busey, Gilliam and Curnal Aulisio, and 24 extras undertook twelve days of military training, led by Dye, from April 17, 1996, to the start of filming.

[58][88] The area featured extreme weather conditions, including hot days, frigid evenings, blizzards, and 80-mile-per-hour (130 km/h) wind storms that affected much of the on-site equipment, requiring replacements to be flown in on a regular basis.

[21][58][122] These shifts were made to allow more time to complete special effects work and increase public awareness of the film, but it was also thought that Air Force One and Men in Black, which starred popular actors, were more commercially viable options for Sony Pictures.

[137][138] Others, such as Empire, argued that the "constant fetishizing of weaponry" and "[Aryan] cast", combined with the militaristic imagery in RoboCop and Total Recall, made it seem as though Verhoeven admired Heinlein's world more than he claimed.

[29][136][142] Salon argued that even with good satire, it is "self-defeatingly stupid" to use it in a story that wants its audience to care about its characters, and that Starship Troopers fails to replace Heinlein's themes with a worthwhile ideal.

[139] Janet Maslin and Turan found Neuemeier's script to be unsuccessful in transitioning from the teenage love story to the carnage of war, but that Starship Troopers remained watchable as a live-action comic book.

[140][142][145] Others, such as Jonathan Rosenbaum and Ebert, wrote that the scenes grew tiresome because the alien creatures had no personality, lacking any culture or discernible language, which rendered them idelogically "boring ciphers" inhabiting uninteresting planets.

[157][159] The DVD features a documentary about the making of the film, actor screen tests, commentary by Verhoeven and Neumeier, and deleted scenes including an alternate ending in which Rico and Carmen officially rekindle their romance.

[163] A 25th anniversary 4K Blu-ray was released in 2022, in a limited edition steelbook case, and includes a reunion discussion between Neumeier, Van Dien, Richards, Meyer, Ironside, Brown, Busey, and Gilliam.

"[p] Influence was also taken from writer Susan Sontag's 1975 essay, "Fascinating Fascisms", that identifies key aspects of Nazism, such as the "cult of beauty", "fetishism of courage", "repudiation of the intellect", and serving the community at the expense of the self.

Club critic Scott Tobias wrote that the filmmakers portray the main characters as "petty and stupid", but that the film's best joke lies in Rico not being very intelligent but, in turn, becoming the ideal citizen and perfect tool for war, abandoning any personal hopes and dreams outside military life.

[183] The propaganda depicted on the "FedNet" uses extreme examples to satirize the UCF, such as children holding weapons or stamping on cockroaches while an adult looks on happily, as well as slogans such as "Join the mobile infantry and save the world" and "Service guarantees citizenship".

[184][185][186] Writer Darren Mooney considered the FedNet to be prescient of the increasing prominence of fake news, presenting stories that those in positions of power want the populace to see, emphasizing patriotism and duty, while offering an illusion of choice and enlightenment by asking: "Would you like to know more?

[190] Starship Troopers is also Verhoeven's response to events he perceived in contemporary American politics, such as limited gun restrictions and an increase of capital punishment, which he believed could eventually result in open fascism, as well as films that glorified the U.S. military and depicted a casual attitude to violence.

[r] Franich found similarities between Starship Troopers and the action film Top Gun (1986), which follows physically strong, young, and attractive United States Navy pilots combating a vague enemy.

[184] The countless soldier deaths on Planet P are quickly forgotten as troops celebrate their victory and capture of the Brain Bug, with the potential promise this will lead to the end of the war, but no actual conclusion is offered.

[s] The Atlantic and The Verge in 2020, described it as an obvious satire, in hindsight, that was released at the wrong time, amid an era of prosperity in the United States during the late 1990s when American audiences may not have seen, or wanted to see, the criticisms of their own society.

"[200] Opinions on the film changed alongside societal shifts, making the satire more obvious, particularly in the 2010s as its critiques of right-wing militarism, the military–industrial complex, reactionary violence, and American jingoism made it seem ahead of its time.

[182][184] A 2020 retrospective by The Guardian suggested that, with hindsight, Starship Troopers formed the final installment of Verhoeven's unofficial science fiction action film trilogy about authoritarian governance, preceded by RoboCop (1987) and Total Recall (1990).

[21] Several filmmakers and some actors have named it as an influence or among their favorite films, including Ari Aster, Margaret Brown, Macaulay Culkin,[214] Takashi Miike,[215] David Lowery, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Riley Stearns, Quentin Tarantino, James Wan, and Edgar Wright.