Verhoeven cast beautifully blank actors, including Casper Van Dien, to tell the story of an interstellar military operation to defeat the Arachnids, a menacing race of big bugs. A film that, on its surface, looks like a straightforward humans-versus-aliens battle royale is, in fact, a fairly blunt critique of nationalism, fascism, and the action-movie genre. For more than 20 years now, Starship Troopers has been misunderstood, then reevaluated, then misunderstood again.