Every time they say Rico, I can't help but say Suave.

Not “RICO’S ROUGHNECKS!”?

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Originally posted by KShooter:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Anubismp:

That being said, I never understood why they didn't just nuke them from orbit. Why did they need boots on the ground? I know, I know. No story otherwise.

The book does it much better. The first drop is against the "Skinnies," allies of the bugs. The orders are to destroy property but don't kill them if possible. The good guys are trying to get the Skinniest to switch sides. The climax of the book is a Dunkirk type raid for two reasons. First do they have to kill every bug there is? Two, POW are known to be held on the big homeworld. What techniques can be developed to rescue them? The last part is the final assault on the bug homeworld. There has been developed a planet killer but it's not being used because of the POWS.

If one accepts that the intention was not to do a faithful adaptation, but to rather create a satire, with only loosely basing it on the source material you can appreciate the movie for what it is: a B-roll sci-fi flick

If you look at Verhoeven's other works, e.g. RoboCop and Total Recall, they are also chock full of satire.

He is poking fun at consumerism, the reduction of culture into a crude, pale shadow of what once was, the use of sex and violence to entertain ourselves, our obsession with drugs to numb our emotions, surrending our freedoms to oppresive corporations and governments because obedience is easier than responsibility.

In any event, it is only a movie.

I, too, would love to see a faithful movie that tries to do the book some justice. Not a satire, not a farce, but an honest to God movie that not just captures the Jump Suits, but the decentralized tactics, sowing chaos in the enemy's rear, forcing them to react and when they do, it happens too slowly.

From a well placed acquaintance; When the film came out, FBI training included a class on the difference between a citizen and a civilian using this scene. I found that very interesting.

https://youtu.be/w_urWSSZgwU

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That being said, I never understood why they didn't just nuke them from orbit.

I like how you think.

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That being said, I never understood why they didn't just nuke them from orbit.

Because they want the planets to themselves. Kinda hard to inhabit a planet if it is irradiated.