# What is the best Paul Verhoeven movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604 "2014-09-15T21:27:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/1 "2014-09-15T21:27:39Z")
Of those four movies, which is the best Verhoeven movie and why? Please vote before reading the following so as not to influence your choice. 3 out of 4 of the movies he’s best known for are sci-fi. Starship troopers takes the piss at the military or at least a certain segment of the population and their relationship with the military. Robocop also has a tone that suggests it should not be taken at face value. As evidence, I offer these two scenes: [ED 209 Malfunctions - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlQwX93rqcA) and this in the What about Total Recall? Was it mocking/critiquing something in particular? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/2 "2014-09-15T21:53:35Z")
Shouldn’t “Showgirls” and “Hollow Man” be up there, not that I’d vote for either. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/3 "2014-09-15T21:56:22Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Robocop also has a tone that suggests it should not be taken at face value. It may not be face value, but I’d _still_ buy that for a dollar! ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/4 "2014-09-15T22:01:36Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What about Total Recall? Was it mocking/critiquing something in particular? Yes: our love of imagining ourselves the _Righteous Hero of the Story_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/5 "2014-09-15T22:12:52Z")
Robocop may have had some satirical elements, but it also had real characters and actual emotional substance, making it better than anything Verhoeven has made since. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/6 "2014-09-15T22:15:09Z")
Robocop got my vote. The only one I would really want to watch again and even it is not a really great movie. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/7 "2014-09-15T22:31:40Z")
I voted for Total Recall. I have never watched Starship Troopers. I did enjoy both Basic Instinct and Robocop; but I when I had cable, if I came upon Total Recall, I would watch it from what ever point in the movie. Now I have the DVD. It maybe the scene where Arnold is in a “chick suit” [Total Recall (1990) - Two Weeks - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5KTVA_2ys) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/8 "2014-09-15T22:41:39Z")
Of the four listed, _Robocop_ is the best. But _Flesh & Blood_ is far better than any of them. I have not seen them, but _Soldier of Orange_ got good reviews, and _Turkish Delight_ won awards in both the US and the Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/9 "2014-09-15T22:47:39Z")
Robocop is the only what that isn’t laughably stupid. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/10 "2014-09-15T23:08:12Z")
_Soldier of Orange_. _Robocop_ was ok. everything else the man has done has been utter and complete garbage, sufficient to earn him his own circle in Hell. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/11 "2014-09-15T23:15:04Z")
**Robocop** hits all the notes a satire should, but gradually plays it straighter, such that by the time you reach the classic action-hero ending, it succeeds as both kinds of movie. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/12 "2014-09-15T23:15:56Z")
What satirical notes does Robocop hit? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/13 "2014-09-15T23:40:31Z")
Soldier of Orange or Spetters ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/14 "2014-09-16T00:04:35Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What satirical notes does Robocop hit? Most of the ads, and the militarization of police. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/15 "2014-09-16T00:05:14Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I have not seen them, but _Soldier of Orange_ got good reviews, and _Turkish Delight_ won awards in both the US and the Netherlands. _Soldiers of Orange_ was a decent movie. Nothing spectacular but a well-made war movie about the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. It’s probably Verhoeven’s most mainstream movie. _Turkish Delight_ was kind of strange - a combination of _Last Tango in Paris_ and _Love Story_. Its sex scenes were probably the main reason for its success. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/16 "2014-09-16T00:13:06Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What satirical notes does Robocop hit? It takes the idea of a “who cares if it works or not” consumer-products company moving from traditional nonprofit stuff – like hospitals or prisons – to its logical conclusion of _simply running a city’s police department outright._ It then takes the idea of corporate boardroom politics to its logical conclusion as the executives just _kill_ each other – while of course still spouting the usual company-man phrases, since _that’s the whole point._ The game of BATTLESHIP gets exaggerated to its logical conclusion; gas-guzzlers get exaggerated to their logical conclusion; sitcoms, surgery, anything, everything, all in a funhouse mirror: twisted, but not beyond recogniton; not by a long shot. And into that world steps a man who, yes, granted, he’s _explicitly_ a product, but _we_ know there’s still something authentic and human in there, because, hey, he’s still doing his best to imitate a TV-show hero, right? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/17 "2014-09-16T00:28:05Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What satirical notes does Robocop hit? Mick, I’m _very_ disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/18 "2014-09-16T00:38:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Soldier of Orange_. _Robocop_ was ok. everything else the man has done has been utter and complete garbage, sufficient to earn him his own circle in Hell. If Soldier of Orange is better than Black Book I’d better go watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/19 "2014-09-16T00:54:44Z")
“The Fourth Man”, Verhoeven’s surreal, weird vision of religion. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604/20 "2014-09-16T01:17:39Z")
“Robocop” in a walk among those choices. “Total Recall” was fun but seems really dated now, and, weird though this sounds, having Arnold in it doesn’t help it (though it totally sold the movie at the time.) “Basic Instinct” is kind of stupid, really, and “Starship Troopers” is a swing and a miss though I appreciate he was, at least, swinging at something. As poorly as “Total Recall” has aged, you sure do gain an appreciation for it if you watch the remake. Jesus H. Murphy what a steaming pile. We watched it for free and I still want a refund. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-paul-verhoeven-movie/698604.md?page=2)