The book
Starship Troopers, IMHO, is one of the best ever written.
Way ahead of its time (spawned many a "powered armor" concept, started the whole "military SF" genre, IMHO) and oft-imitated.
A lot of folks think of it as a "warning"--but if you look at Heinlein's personal history and his other writing, the politics in ST probably represent how he really felt.
And they're not that different from how I feel, either. Why SHOULDN'T we have public executions/floggings/etc.? It's not like our current penal system is deterring anything.
The movie was an unmitigated steaming pile of dog doo. But I guess that's to be expected, considering the director's immediately previous project was
Showgirls.