When Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" was released in 1997, people were baffled. It's about a futuristic society where humanity battles "bugs" -- an alien race from a far-off planet. It's about the thrill of signing on to the military, and then it's about the absolute horror of war. "Starship Troopers" is a vicious satire, meant to make visible the way that blind patriotism, propaganda-induced xenophobia, and unchecked military power lead to fascism and genocide.

Critics and audiences rejected the film, missing that the movie does not support the fervor with which its characters celebrate the destruction of an alien race. "I was using [Leni] Riefenstahl to point out, or so I thought, that these heroes and heroines were straight out of Nazi propaganda," Verhoeven later told The Guardian. "No one saw it at the time ... I thought Neil Patrick Harris arriving on the set in an SS uniform might clear it up.