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My brain is telling me to go with Three Kings... as David O. Russell's films have gotten more and more acclaim I've steadily felt less and less attachment to them. But Three Kings has the crackle of energy and ambition that comes from a filmmaker finding a voice. And he manages to find chemistry between three leads that are very, let's say, differently abled?
On the other hand Starship Troopers is a movie I could rewatch monthly. It surely has its share of political insight and satirical bite, but it's also big dumb fun... and some days big dumb fun wins.
When in doubt, go with Ice Cube. Not sound enough reasoning for you? Well, how about the fact that Three Kings provided a generation of people who grew up with the Gulf War as a defining part of their American experience an examination that deftly walked a tightrope of entertainment and political commentary. In a decade that served up many strong war films (Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line) Three Kings provided the most unexpected experience of them all.
And did I mention that it has Ice Cube in it?
I'm really glad to see both of these in the running, but "Three Kings" should come out on top. Not only is it the best movie to come out of the Gulf War — admittedly, there's not much competition — but I'd argue that it might be the best war film of the '90s.
Both films are a good time and a strong poke at war in practice, but the satire of Starship Troopers is sharp and biting and memorable, a better choice to move on to face down another challenger.
Saw both of these for the first time fairly close together when I did my own '90s catch-up marathon a couple years ago and loved them both, but if I had to pick, Starship Troopers is the one that has stuck with me more in the long run. Both are coursing with smart political satire, but Three Kings feels toned down in comparison to the utter contempt that Verhoeven's propaganda send-up displays. While I have not read the novel upon which Troopers is based, I have read of its content and viewpoint and it is harder for me to imagine any film being made with more condescension and hatred for its source than this one and it is miraculous to me how well it works.
Both are wonderful and I don't begrudge either winning. Gun to my head and I'll take the drama of 3 Kings over the satire of Starship Troppers, but both are near classics.
This one would have been a lot harder if friend of the show Amy Nicholson hadn't covered Starship Troopers on the Canon with Jordan Hoffman. Their enthusiasm changed my mind on the film, so Starship Troopers and it's ultrasharp satire of war and the society that glorifies it wins here.
While the overt fascist elements of parody (the commercials and newscasts, NPH) work, if not as well as the same bits in Robocop, I never bought into Verhoeven's hooey that the lousy dialogue and hammy acting were intentional, and early interviews he gave back that up. The brilliance of its terribleness is dependent upon the viewer assuming it's there. It's not inherent in the movie, but he played into that notion after its initial, terrible reviews. That helped the film overcome some of its due criticisms, so, good for him, if only as a huckster.
It gave me one of the most enjoyable theatrical viewing experiences I've ever had, as three separate groups of people in one auditorium openly MST3K'd it during an opening weekend, late night screening - to the delight and laughter of everyone else there. It also had genuinely beautiful, huge spaceship effects, so it's not wholly without its charms.
Three Kings, though, is one of the many reasons 1999 is so well remembered as such a year of quality, specifically from Hollywood, and the fact that there were many reasons is no hit on this particular one. It's smart, engaging and dramatic, also amusing here and there, and it accomplishes well what Clooney still can't get right at all, making a point without punishing us about it.
Three Kings is as high as Troopers is low. Easy vote.
Sorry, Three Kings; you’re plenty entertaining and raise some interesting issues about modern warfare, but when it comes to satire in wartime, Starship Troopers is the better film. Once you realise just how much Nazi satire is in the film (costume choices, shots lifted from triumph of the will, direct references to the Hitler youth), you know which film deserves to move forward.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen either of these, so I have to choose by remembering my initial reactions - I enjoyed Three Kings, but Starship Troopers blew my mind. I remember going around for weeks trying to convince people to watch it by saying things like “you don’t understand! It’s like a SciFi World War II movie, but WE’RE the Nazis!!”
In fairness, I was 19 at the time.
Starship Troopers probably deserves a place in the 64, but not at the expense of Three Kings.
I saw Three Kings with my two best friends on my 30th birthday, having never seen either of David I Russell’s previous films.
When I left the theatre I declared that it was only a matter of time before he won an Oscar. ...while that hasn’t happened yet, I think it’s fair to say that his results support the essence of my hot take.