I was really interested in the new RoboCop movie until I saw the first trailers come out. Then I got nervous. It looked like it was going for more Terminator than RoboCop. And then the remake was rated PG-13, from the classically ultra-violent original. As a fan of the original two RoboCop movies, I was expecting to be disappointed. I was actually pleasantly surprised.
The first thing I should point out is that it tries to go in a slightly different direction than the original film, but in a good way. Other than a few classic lines, it never tries to throw that original film in your face. At the same time, it doesn’t try to completely rewrite the formula that made the original a success (at least in my book) either. It strikes the right balance of being it’s own movie, and not riding on the coattails of the original two.
My review is going to be a bit different in that I’m going to compare it a bunch to the original RoboCop movie, since that was pretty much the main issue/concern on my mind going in. What can I say, I’m a fan of the original and much of my interest in this new film was based on my love of the original.
The tone of this one is a bit more serious than the original, a lot of the black comedy and satire is gone. And while the original story arc focused more on RoboCop relearning how to be human, this one revolves around Robo learning more how to cope with his new life as a machine. Despite what the trailers lead you to believe, the movie isn’t Robo versus a bunch of other robots. It actually mirrors the original movie with Robo busting up crime in Detroit. And I know that the film is rated PG-13 but I will say that while I would prefer it to be a hard “R”, it really pushes the envelope for a PG-13 movie can get away with in terms of violence.
The movie is well acted, and Joel Kinnaman does a great job as both Alex Murphy/RoboCop. I would’ve liked to have seen more of Michael Keaton and have his character expanded a bit, same goes for Jackie Earle Haley. Instead of the random parody commercials from the original, the film occasionally flips to a talk show hosted by Samuel L. Jackson giving an entertaining performance as a Glenn Beck type character that serves to move the political aspects of the plot forward.
I really only have two complaints about the movie. The first is that the conclusion isn’t as satisfying as it was in the original. It wraps everything up and doesn’t leave you hanging, but it’s just not a stand up and cheer or LOL ending like the original had. The other is the overuse of “shaky cam” techniques. Pretty much every battle (which are beautiful and entertaining) are hindered by a camera that just shakes violently for some weird reason. Was the cameraman having a seizure? This literally happens during most every action scene and I just found it way too distracting.
Overall, it was a good movie and I was pleasantly surprised. Thoroughly entertained and I look forward to an unrated cut hopefully being released on Blu-Ray sometime in the near-future (I’d buy that for a dollar). If this is the new direction of the franchise, then I like it. If you like RoboCop, give this a chance because at the very least it’s way better than RoboCop 3.
Recommended. Later, BroZ!
Yeah ive been reading up on the new move cus i was a fanboy of the originals as well. There’s been alot of reviews of ppl who were skeptical of it, but wound up pleasantly surprised. I hope it leads to a reboot of the franchise. I know robo 2 gets hated on alot, but nothing would please me more than to see Robo vs Kane type battle now a days.
I really like RoboCop 2. It’s #3 that always struck me as garbage.
yeah robo ninjas didnt do it for me, didnt care for robo vs dickhead military guy either. I like robo 2, but its got some crud moments thatd youd rather skip thru. Kane was a great villain tho
Finally watched it. Pretty good remake. When you compare it to the original its give and take really. Watching the new one i think you get better action sequences, story, acting. This however, comes at the expensive of villain development. There’s no Clarence Boddicker or Dick Jones. The men responsible for alex’s death are barely in the movie maybe 10-15 mins and never developed. You are just given an illegal arms dealer and some crooked cops and thats pretty much the most the delve into it. Keaton’s character wasn’t much of a villain either, and really wasnt until the last 20 mins. His story felt a bit rushed . So yeah instead of good villain persona/development, you get the political agenda plot instead. While it wasnt bad, it think the movie would have been better with more developed villains. Tho robocop vs 10 ED-209 was pretty cool.
I saw it last night and I thought it was stinky. It lacked a lot of focus and coherence. There were too many plot devices and too little attention on each. They should have focused on one villain instead of four (Mattox, OCP guy, gun runner guy, dirty cops), focused on fewer plot devices instead of a bunch (“red asset”, ED209/EM208 or whatever.
I LOVE the Robocop franchise, but even putting my bias aside, this one is just not a well thought out movie over all.
Not focusing on a single villain was one of my big gripes with Spiderman 3. Ninja Gobby/Harry had great character development going into that movie and Franco was awesome, but he was kind of an oversight to Venom and Sandman. Sandman made me sleepy. I bet the pie WAS that good.
Yeah. I agree with not making the gun runner the main bad guy as it would have followed the source material too close. But outside of him and those two dirt cops, none of the rest of the villains really seemed all that villain-y to me.
I’m no script writer, but maybe having the police captain as the main villain after Robocop shows up would have been cool instead of OCP guys. Maybe write in that she wanted Robo killed because his success would end up with her and the other police being obsolete?
Even on a bad day i would rate this higher than 2 and 3 and on par with original