In 1959, the representative work of American science fiction master Heinlein, "Starship Paratrooper", was criticized for "promoting fascism" once it was published. Almost 40 years later, Van Hoven, who has a prominent position in Hollywood, will decide its filmmaking. Paul Van Hoeven personally experienced World War II when he was young. His childhood experience made him interested in Nazi symbols and power worship, which has been clearly reflected in many of his works. This will naturally attract criticism from some critics and be labeled as "promoting Nazis," but it also explains why Van Hoeven is fascinated by the theme of this novel.
After many audiences and film critics fiercely criticized the ideology of the film, the film, which invested as much as 100 million US dollars, ended in a disastrous box office failure. So is this film preaching or satirizing fascism? This is not easy to judge. But if you go deep into the movie itself, it tells the way the Nazis operate in a brand new and clever way. The story advancement method of the whole movie is very Hollywood-style, and the characters are very similar to the usual commercial blockbusters in terms of setting and transformation, so it is easy to think of it as a vulgar popcorn movie. But in fact, if you take a closer look, you will find that these many seemingly inflexible plots are actually subtly subordinate to the whole theme, and from this it leads to a completely different meaning from the usual Hollywood blockbusters, so as to achieve something that seems to be Irony effect.
Nazi symbols can be said to be ubiquitous throughout the film. At the beginning, a TV was used to tell the reason why humans are fighting against the Zerg: "The Zerg used meteorites to attack the earth, so humans personally landed on the Zerg planet to fight back." The director did not tell us whether this reason is true or false. But if you think about the actions of the Nazis, it is easy to doubt the authenticity of them. The provocative role played by television has also been constantly emphasized in movies: exaggerated recruitment advertisements, demonized Zergs, and hatred education captured from babies are all presented through television, which is carried through the entire film, acting as a kind of innocence. The ubiquitous brainwashing effect was similarly reflected in Van Hoven’s earlier "Robocop." When showing the life of the army, Van Hoven adopted a rather exaggerated way: mixed men and women live in the same bath, gender differences are obliterated; military uniforms that look like Nazi military uniforms, each soldier must have a pattern that looks like a Nazi logo before fighting; There are also all kinds of unreasonable rules and torture in the army. A large number of Nazi symbols are clearly exposed, and the meaning behind each symbol can be very clearly detected.
From the perspective of the whole film, on the surface, Rico seems to grow up in suffering after suffering, complete transformation, and finally to victory, but in fact this is a process in which an individual is gradually brainwashed and finally falls into a collective carnival. There is one point that needs to be specifically pointed out. In the end, Rico discovered that the so-called mobile unit was nothing more than a pawn for other units. However, he still chose to continue fighting when he knew the truth. Such an extreme ideology has obviously entered the depths of his heart. Even if Rico knew its falsehood, he would still choose to accept it and be willing to be a part of it. So viewed in this way, it actually tells the process that Rico gradually believed in the Nazi ideology from the beginning, and then gradually discovered the hypocrisy in it, but could not get rid of it and finally fell into a state of carnival.
As a result, this is not just a popcorn movie. It satisfies the commercial nature while cleverly completing the author's personal expression.
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