Could not agree more. I so looked forward to both of these films, having been such a fan of the books, but was so utterly disappointed. There was a mini-series made of Dune that was far superior, got it on DVD and truly appreciate how faithful it was to Herbert.
Starship Troopers just sucked, epically.
starship troopers was a fun movie once you divorced it from the Heinlein universe.
the film was actually a sci-fi bug hunt movie. they wrote it without knowing that Heinlein had written a book like that. when somebody told them about it, they licensed the rights and then adjusted the script to match the book as much as they were willing. but the writer and director were both leftists. if you listen to the commentary on the DVD, the writer in particular was a leftwing nutter. because of that, they didn’t “get” what was so interesting about the Heinlein book and that’s why that spark isn’t in the movie.
so if you ignore the Heinlein work of the same name, it’s a much more entertaining work. and a young Denise Richards looked flawless on the big screen. she was just gorgeous.
i didn’t mind Lynch’s Dune as a teenager. i hadn’t read the books though, so i had no preconceived biases.