LEWM: "STARSHIP TROOPERS" ESL LESSON

 ARCENAL STUDIOS presents LEARNING ENGLISH WITH MOVIES: "STARSHIP TROOPERS" (1997) - a video lesson for ESL students who would like to improve their English skills by using MOVIES as the main topic.

 

 

STARSHIP TROOPERS

 

STARSHIP TROOPERS is a 1997 action science fiction film directed by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven.

 

DUTCH means relating to the Netherlands, its people, or their language.

 

It stars Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Ironside.

 

Paul Verhoven had great success in Hollywood with action science fiction Films such as ROBOCOP and Total Recall as well as with the erotic Thriller Basic Instinct.

 

After the financially and critically disappointing performance of SHOWGIRLS, Verhoven returned to the action sci fi genre with STARSHIP TROOPERS.

 

Although the film is based on the 1959 novel by Robert Heinlein, it differs significantly from its source material.

 

The film takes place in the future and centers on a young group of friends from Buenos Aires.

 

After graduating from high school, Johnny Rico decides to enlist in the military just as his friends and girlfriend had done.

 

TO ENLIST means to enroll or be enrolled in the armed services.

 

His girlfriend Carmen enlists as a pilot, his friend Carl joins Military intelligence and Rico joins the Mobile infantry.

 

To his surprise, he also finds his friend Dizzy in the same Infantry squad.

 

Dizzy always had a crush on Rico ever since they were kids and it was her idea to join Rico in the infantry.

 

A CRUSH a brief but intense romantic infatuation for someone.

 

During basic training, Rico meets Career Sergeant Zim and befriends fellow cadet Ace Levy.

 

It is during his training that he receives a letter from his girlfriend Carmen, telling him that she wants to break up.

 

TO BREAK UP means to end a romantic relationship.

 

After a life-fire accident results in the death of their squad leader, Rico is demoted and flogged as punishment.

 

TO FLOG means to beat someone with a whip or stick as punishment or torture.

 

After such a harrowing experience, Rico decides to quit the service and return home.

 

HARROWING means extremely upsetting because connected with suffering.

 

It is then that Earth is attacked by the Planet Klendathu, resulting in millions of casualties in his hometown of Buenos Aires, including the death of his parents.

 

CASUALTIES are people killed or injured in a war or accident.

 

Rico reenlists in the infantry and joins his fellow ROUGHNECKS in the first wave of attack against Klendathu.

 

A ROUGHNECK is a term for a person whose occupation is hard manual labor. The term applies across a number of industries, but is most commonly associated with the workers on a drilling rig.

 

As they land on the hostile planet, they are welcomed by thousands of insect-like alien creatures called ARCHNIDS.

 

These creatures slaughter most of the infantry soldiers and the few survivors are forced to retreat.

 

TO SLAUGHTER means to kill in a bloody or violent manner.

 

After an abandoned outpost is swarmed by more arachnids, Dizzy is killed while the surviving Roughnecks are rescued by Carmen and fellow pilot Zander.

 

Rico and Carmen part ways after Dizzy’s funeral.

 

While Rico and his infantry prepare to capture a BRAIN BUG, Carmen’s ship is attacked and destroyed.

 

Carmen and Zander manage to escape on a pod and crash land near a bug tunnel.

 

The bugs kill Zander by eating his brain and just as Carmen is about to suffer from the same fate, Rico and his infantry arrive and save her.

 

During the fight, they manage to capture a brain bug that their telepathic friend Carl wants to study in order to find their weaknesses.

 

The Film was a huge box office success, spawning sequels, TV shows and videogames.

 

Actor Casper Van Dien, who played Johnny Rico in the original film, not only returned for some of the sequels, but also voiced some of the animated features.

 

Most recently, there have been talks in SONY about possibly developing a STARSHIP TROOPERS reboot, and directors such as Joseph Kosinski have been considered to help the project.

 

Kosinski directed the sci-Fi films Oblivion and Tron Legacy as well as the Top Gun Sequel, Top Gun Maverick.

 

Johnny Rico actor Casper Van Dien thinks Robert Rodriguez would be the perfect person to direct the upcoming Starship Troopers reboot.

 

While it’s still too early to say what will come of the Starship Franchise in the future, it would be a good idea to go back and revisit the original film that started it all.