First off, very well written Master Yoda.
And I'm in agreement with parts of it, especially your introduction. I was young (not quite a teenager) when I first watched Starship Troopers and I loved the big explosions, CGI bugs, alien invasion story and all the cool weapons and ships. It was big, dumb, fun and I wouldn't have it any other way.
However, years later, I was told that Troopers was actually a satire, a send up of the American military complex so I watched the movie again, enjoyed it again and in all honesty, I did see where the argument for it being a satire comes from. Yes, some of it, if not a lot, is lost in the big, in your face action but there's a clear line being drawn and a greater story being told. War is futile, soldiers, to be made part of the military complex have to be dumbed down and shocked with bat **** propaganda.
Is it brilliant? I don't know, I did once rank it among my top 20 war movies ever and I think I'll keep it there. Does it rank alongside the brilliant Dr Strangelove? No, I don't think so. Is it just big, dumb fun? Most definitely not.
But hey, as long as we enjoyed it, does all this pseudo-intellectual debate on the movie really matter?