I love Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop from 1987 (which remains iconic) and I usually don't like reboots. But watching the new one I never got rid of the feeling, that the remake is worth it.
It is a whole new interpretation, that sets the focus on the topics of our time: robots, drones, the human aspect behind the technology, media critics, war propaganda. I felt, the movie has a mission to enlighten people and I liked that.
It became even more obvious how much the RoboCop story exists within the topos of Frankenstein which is the story about the human devilment and the lack of respect of life. That's why Padilha gives Murphy more of a face, a life and feelings.Beside that the pictures, the sound, the music is pretty contemporary. You probably have to make some compromises today to get the millions to get the flick done.
It won't become iconic, but it's the right time for the right message in the right movie. Okay, so very few people were confident about this remake. The original has such a huge fan base that a reboot seems like blasphemy to most.So how does this hold up?
Well, it looks like butter, it at times tastes like butter, but brother, it ain't butter. Believe it.The film lacks something and I think I know what it is; there is no real villain. Instead of building up a super-villain for Murphy to fight to the death with, it toys with different characters as his foe, never really committing to one or the other. Kurtwood Smith is an evil son of a gun in the original because he shoots Murphy to pieces. Its up close and personal. In this, well, the guy that car bombs (lame) our robotic cop gets about 2 minutes of screen time with very little back story.
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Frankly, you just don't care.The plot seems more concerned about Murphy trying to cope with becoming an amputee and him and his family learning to accept his new circumstances, which frankly, when you see what he looks like without the armour, is just disturbing. Instead of being an awesome action flick, you just feel bad for the guy. The reality of the situation is just too harsh in its portrayal and you end up thinking maybe he would be better off dead.Do you want to pay good money to question your ideological values towards quality of life or do you want to see robocop go toe to toe with a man who shot him to s.?
I know what I'd buy for a dollar.Also, on a side note: Samuel L. Jackson needs to stop being in films. While his appearance at first is welcome, by the end it feels very cheap and unnatural.
The anti-American war effort message starts to get a little forced down your throat and before you start screaming that I'm a flag loving American, I'm a Brit, and even I felt the satire was a bit in your face.The film shouldn't upset people too badly, it could honestly be much worse and it does have some passable moments with a couple of good nods to the original. Just don't get your hopes too high.SPOILERS. I'll start this review by making it clear that the original Robocop is my personal favourite movie and has been since I first saw it 25 years ago. Having felt much trepidation about the direction the remake was going in (PG-13 rating in particular) I went in with fairly low expectations but still something of an open mind as I really wanted this reboot to faithfully kick-start a new, successful Robocop franchise.I was pleasantly surprised by the first hour of the film and how Murphy's quite horrifying physical transformation was depicted (there wasn't much left of him) and the emotional impact upon him. I particularly liked the first few scenes of him coming to grips with his new form and his little meltdown in the Chinese factory in which he was built. Unfortunately the film starts to take a significant nose dive at the point of Robocop's big public unveiling.
A stupidly convenient plot device whereby the entire Detroit PD database including 17 years worth of the city's CCTV is uploaded to Murphy merely minutes before he's about to make his big appearance. This causes Robocop to overload requiring a change to Murphy be necessitated resulting in him then becoming more robotic and ultimately making an arrest for murder upon his big unveiling. This was a clumsily handled plot device done for the advancement of the plot but defied logic. Why give him a massive upload at such a crucial time? Others have pointed to a lack of a true antagonist and this is very true.
Main criminal Antoine Vallon is utterly woeful compared to Kurtwood Smith's vile Clarence Boddiker and even Micheal Keaton can't hold a candle to Ronny Cox's performance in the original. There is also little chemistry between Alex and Clara Murphy both before and after his transformation.The film is best when it isn't trying to ape and nod towards the original.
The use of Basil Poledouris' majestic music in Pedro Bromfman's new score is particularly jarring and poorly orchestrated. When I watched Man of Steel at about the 50 minute mark I realised I hadn't heard John Williams classic Superman theme but also realised that this was a new take on the Superman mythos that didn't need to borrow from it's predecessors. Shame this film didn't follow suit.The effects are generally good but alas the Robocop/ED-209 battle is just a typical modern day CGI fest and has none of the weight of the same scene from the original.The film's biggest issue is undoubtedly caused by the constrictions of the PG-13 rating. Hearing arch criminals talk without any swearing pulls me out if the film and destroys any sense of realism.
In one scene as Murphy approaches a drug factory to make a bust images of the classic drug factory shoutout of the original came to mind. Alas this version turns out to be a total anti-climax almost totally devoid of the carnage so required from such a scene. This follows on to Robocop taking down Vallon in a night vision shootout where men are shot but no blood, death or injury are shown in even any mildly satisfying manner. This shows clearly that gritty subject matter is not befitting of a teenage rating and similar target audience. Would something like The Wire work if it was aimed at a teenage audience? No.There aren't any particular standout performances other than Gary Oldman who almost always delivers no matter the role or movie. Kinnaman is somewhat wooden in places but gives a decent enough performance even though at times he looks uncomfortable with the role.
One aspect of the film that did nothing for me was Samuel L Jackson's character who opens and closes the film and offers his very one sided views throughout. If this is their replacement of the satire of the original they can keep it. It's ham fisted and provides little more than uninteresting commentary on the power of the media and plot exposition. It tells us nothing interesting that we don't already know and Jackson does his shouty thing to excess, especially at the cringe-worthy end.I wholly embrace the need to make this reboot from a fresh angle to that of Verhoven's original but Sony MGM have played it way too safe with something that would clearly play better if it were aimed at an adult audience. I genuinely believe that an R rated movie, devoid of such tight restrictions would have been a far more satisfying experience. The original Robocop franchise died when they aimed at a younger demographic.
Hollywood greed I fear has caused a repeat of this mistake. It's not a bad film per se, it's just painfully average and therefore unable to get out from the vast shadow of its forebear and like the Total Recall remake, it tries too hard too often to remind you of the original whilst offering nothing new to compete with it.
I doubt there's even a harder cut tucked away for home release and even if there was there are plot issues that damage the film as much as the tame approach. Other gripes include a lack of clarity as to Omnicorp's role (if any) in Murphy being blown up, and plot threads not being followed through to any satisfying conclusion such as Murphy's relationship with his family. The best bits revolve around Murphy's initial awakening as a cyborg which are very well done indeed.Alas there's not really that much else that's in any way as memorable as the 1987 classic it's based on. As an example of how modern Hollywood has become all about excessive studio control above creativity and maximising ticket sales at the expense of a film's overall artistic quality then this film succeeds. In all other aspects it's a bit of a wasted opportunity really.
I really don't understand all the hate this movie gets. Yeah, I get it, it's a reboot of a perfectly good 80s movie that nobody really wanted, but it's a really good one! I expected a mindless Micheal Bayian action movie and what I got was a really smart, interesting and entertaining look at trans-humanism, the freedom of choice, politics and recklessness in corporate leaders.This movie really dives into the question of how a person could live his day to day live with almost all of his body amputated and stuck inside of a machine. So when people complain about the uncomfortable scenes between Murphy and his wife, I can only imagine they mean what happened after his transformation, and that felt exactly the way it was supposed to!So yes, the original is way more graphic and still holds up to this day as a gruesome action flick, but this one is smart and interesting and really is a good movie in it's own right.And by no means is it as bad as people say it is! The new RoboCop is a surprisingly good and entertaining sci-fi actionthriller that appeals to the human heart by conveying emotions and thehumanity side of Murphy, the main character who eventually becomes thetitled cyborg law enforcer.
The film ultimately wins for not trying tobe the original (1987 version). The story of Murphy is similar (sinceit's a remake) but does its own thing to provide something new insteadof retelling the same thing again. The film focuses more on thedevelopment of Murphy's character, his initial response to his cyborgbody and relationship with his family, making the character moreemotional and relatable to the audience.The film delves into the meaning of humanity, family themes, mediainfluence on public opinion, corporate greed (capitalism),authoritarianism and corrupt law enforcement authorities. It provides abrief view of the struggles we might face with machines or digitalsurveillance of the future. It also briefly raises the question whetherit's ethical or legal to eliminate the human factor in law enforcementto reduce crime rates by creating merciless cyborgs or robots toreplace humans.The action sequences are updated with a higher body count, with betterCGI and sound effects, making them cooler, stylish and moreentertaining than the original.
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The new black tactical design ofRobocop is found to be acceptable and nice.the updated Robocop ismore agile, flexible and stronger compared to the original. However, Ipersonally find the right human hand to be slightly distracting. (Iprefer no human hand at all, entirely machine except the face)There's quite a lot of credible actors in this film: Abbie Cornish, JayBaruchel, James Earle Haley, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton and Samuel L.Jackson all providing decent performances to this remake. Although it'shardly a ground-breaking film or a masterpiece, Robocop is a decent andsatisfying remake that delivers on many levels. There's currently noplot problems, inconsistencies or plot holes found in this film at thistime of writing this review.
So, it's good enough for a recommendationto watch it.Rating: 7.5/10.
LanguageRelease / MovieUpdatedFileSizeComment2 years ago139.9KBFIXED long lines, few overlapping, short durations, re-synced individual lines, added commas, improved on anything I could. It's far from perfect, but it is way improved. With respect to the guy(s) who worked on this sub prior to me. Playtime is 1.57.28 and FPS is 23.976.