Starship troopers - "Would you like to know more?"

“Man has no moral instinct. He is not born with moral sense. You were not born with it, I was not - and a puppy has none. We acquire moral sense, when we do, through training, experience, and hard sweat of the mind.”


I have to review the book side by side with the movie in this case. Only the first film though as the others answer the question - can you make a good film with bad acting, crap cgi and terrible dialogue. The answer is no.
The classic sci-fi novel from Heinlein is kind of crap. Harsh statement, but it's militaristic, boring sci-fi at it's best - there are dozens of pages dedicated to showing off gear and how to clean it. I mean if you have a fetish about cleaning gear and drilling this is definitely the book for you! Also a tonne of training and quite a bit of propaganda about how only people who serve in the army are fit to lead.

Now if you've watched the movie you'll say that it's tongue-in-cheek but actually no, that's only the cinematic version and thank god for that. The book is pretty serious about itself and that's a shame honestly.
Rico in the book and in the cinematic version is a pretty boring character so that is similar. But while the director of the film relies on sarcasm to show the Big Brother state for what it is, Heinlein seems to really believe what he's preaching.
In the picture we have about 70-80% action, while Heinlein treats us to 10-15% action which is woefully inadequate for all the gear being described.
You never really start caring for the characters either and that's again a minus. To be fair this is probably how military life actually is("hurry up and wait" comes to mind) but that does not make it an interesting tale, not by far!

This is the philosophical part of the book summarized in one quote from the film:

"Jean Rasczak: All right, let's sum up. This year we explored the failure of democracy. How our social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control and established the stability that has lasted for generations since. You know these facts, but have I taught you anything of value this year?

[to a student] - Jean Rasczak: You. Why are only citizens allowed to vote? 

Student: It's a reward. Something the federation gives you for doing federal service.

Jean Rasczak: No. Something given has no value. When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived."

So when you reach the part of the parts where Heinlein goes into one of his rants, read the above paragraph and skip the pages that follow. There, I just saved you 10 minutes per rant! My pleasure.

Sure you can read the book but I say skip it and watch the film. Sure it's stupid but it's also incredibly fun and if you're paying attention you can see that it's making fun of the militaristic society where nothing matters except your duty. And remember: The only good bug is a dead bug!

Book:
    Pros :
    - Probably a good account of military life
    Cons :
    - Dialogue a big forced at times
    - Too meta
    - Main plot a little predictable.

    Score of the book : 3.6 out of 10

Movie:
    Pros :
    - Probably a good account of military life
    Cons :
    - Boring
    - Too much description of drilling, army gear and tradition
    - Takes itself too seriously
    - Too little action

    Score of the movie : 8 out of 10