Generally, I value films that provoke me, but those made by Verhoeven tend to be an exception - there's a nastiness to them, a brutality, that rubs me the wrong way...
Anyway, I think Starship Troopers was the first of his that I saw, back in high school, and I really hated it. Since then, though, I'd revised my opinion upwards, having realised that it must be a satire (while feeling some disappointment in my younger self for not having picked it up at the time) - but catching it on tv last night (my life is rather glamorous) made me realise that the satire really isn't that cutting or clever, and in fact it is basically a flashy sci-fi b-movie seemingly as interested in glamorising the militaristic values it depicts as criticising them (on the other hand, it did have the bonus appearance of Neil Patrick Harris, now better known to me as Barney from How I Met Your Mother...again with the tv).
