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Starship Troopers poster

Movies that feel likeStarship Troopers (1997)

Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs."

If you loved Starship Troopers, the closest films we have are RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990) and eXistenZ (1999). All three share Starship Troopers' kinetic and cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is District B13 (2004).

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If Starship Troopers hit the spot, these will too

RoboCop poster
RoboCop
1987 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 84%★ 7.6action · thriller · science fiction

Paul Verhoeven directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Trades the scale of Starship Troopers for an angle of its own

In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company's nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.

Total Recall poster
Total Recall
1990 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 80%★ 7.5action · adventure · science fictionPrime VideoParamount+

The same hand behind both of them: Paul Verhoeven

The difference: Easier on the tension than Starship Troopers

Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Rekall, a virtual vacation company that manufactures memories. When something goes wrong during Quaid's memory implant procedure, his life turns upside down, leading him to question what is reality and what isn't.

eXistenZ poster
eXistenZ
1999 · dir. David Cronenberg
🍅 77%★ 6.8action · thriller · science fiction

The same preoccupation in both: dystopia

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

Equilibrium poster
Equilibrium
2002 · dir. Kurt Wimmer
🍅 40%★ 7.3action · science fiction · thrillerParamount+

Both are built on the same subject: dystopia

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.

Terminator: Dark Fate poster
Terminator: Dark Fate
2019 · dir. Tim Miller
🍅 70%★ 6.2science fiction · action · adventureParamount+

Epic and kinetic in the same breath

The difference: Made in the 2010s, in a different era of the craft

Decades after Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, a lethal new Terminator is sent to eliminate the future leader of the resistance. In a fight to save mankind, battle-hardened Sarah Connor teams up with an unexpected ally and an enhanced super soldier to stop the deadliest Terminator yet.

District B13 poster
District B13
2004 · dir. Pierre Morel
🍅 81%★ 7.1action · thriller · science fictionPrime Video

The same mix in both: tension, then ideas

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.

Hollow Man poster
Hollow Man
2000 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 25%★ 5.9action · science fiction · thrillerPrime Video

Action with a pulse of momentum, in both cases

Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.

They Live poster
They Live
1988 · dir. John Carpenter
🍅 86%★ 7.2science fiction · action · thrillerPrime Video

Both lean on bleakness more than on thriller

A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.

The Running Man poster
The Running Man
1987 · dir. Paul Michael Glaser
🍅 59%★ 6.6action · thriller · science fictionParamount+Starz

Tense science fiction in both cases

By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials poster
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
2015 · dir. Wes Ball
🍅 47%★ 6.3science fiction · action · thriller

Adventure built on scale, twice over

Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.

Serenity poster
Serenity
2005 · dir. Joss Whedon
🍅 82%★ 7.8science fiction · action · adventure

One thread runs through both: spacecraft

A group of rebels travel the outskirts of space evading the sinister Alliance regime. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbours a dangerous secret. Soon, the crew find themselves being pursued by an Alliance agent who will stop at nothing to find them.

Children of Men poster
Children of Men
2006 · dir. Alfonso Cuarón
🍅 92%★ 7.9science fiction · thriller · action

Cerebral action, and it commits to that

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.

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The best-reviewed films that share Starship Troopers’ defining feeling.