Published May 6, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

The anti-war movie is now on Netflix

Image: Tristar Pictures/Everett Collection

When Starship Troopers arrived in theaters 29 years ago, a lot of people didn’t get it . While the original 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein had a militaristic right-wing viewpoint, director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Edward Neumeier sought to lampoon those themes when they adapted it for the screen in 1997. Unfortunately, a number of critics mistook the movie’s satire for sincerity. The Washington Post , for example, called Starship Troopers “Nazi to the core.”

Over the years, Starship Troopers has been reevaluated as a sharp piece of commentary, not dissimilar to Verhoeven’s other film, RoboCop . Nearly three decades later, Starship Troopers ’s themes remain sharp.…