10 Controversial Movies Everyone Misunderstood

7. Starship Troopers

Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci-fi action film was met with an ambivalent response from critics, many of whom felt that the film was a discomforting piece of fascistic propaganda.

This was in part due to Robert A. Heinlein's original 1959 novel, which used its bug hunt narrative to glorify not simply the U.S. military but also the very idea of war itself.

But watching more than a few minutes of Verhoeven's film, it's glaringly obvious that it's a tongue-in-cheek satire.

In fact, Verhoeven claims he never finished reading Heinlein's book, while screenwriter Edward Neumeier admitted he deliberately attempted to use satire to undermine Heinlein's earnest support of the military as much as possible.

In our irony-rich present, it's tough to conceive of anyone taking the film seriously, but 22 years ago, many bafflingly took its jingoism and warmongering at face value.

Perhaps had it released 5 years later on the eve of the Iraq War, the immediate reception would've been decidedly different.

This wasn't even the first time this was a problem for Verhoeven, though, whose 1995 erotic drama Showgirls was raked over the coals as a failed work of serious intent, before enjoying a second life in more recent years when it was re-evaluated as a campy satire of the Las Vegas sex industry.