RoboCop Review
Monday, March 10. 2014
So...RoboCop. When I first saw the trailers for it, I knew right away what a huge mistake it was going to be. They decided to remake one of the pillars of science fiction, one of the most brilliant pieces of cinematic satire, and one of the most violent films of all time as a PG-13 summer movie. Robocop himself looks like he's wearing a leftover costume from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and the rest of the movie seems to have been visually based on a video game cut scene. Then I saw it. I was wrong.
It didn't wait very long to prove me wrong, either. The opening sequence kept the media satire and social disillusionment from the original, just updated from the 1980s to the 2010s perspective. Within five minutes it had taken swipes at CNN, Fox News, terrorists, reporters, politicians, and the concept of a "war on terror." The violence was still there, too - just moved offscreen. An ED-209 liquifies a potential threat with as much prejudice as the botched demonstration from the original.
Smartly, those broad concepts were about the only things kept from the 1987 movie. Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is an undercover cop rather than a beat cop, targeted for assassination after he gets too close to a major crime player (in itself a very 80s plot, but I digress). Omnicorp is a major business looking to improve their profits by overturning legislation that prevents drones from being used within American borders. The CEO, Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), sees a way of doing this by using Omnicorp's robotic prosthesis division and the work of Omni Foundation Chief Scientist Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) to put a man inside the machine and soothe the public fear of unfeeling robots patrolling their streets. The plot is arguably more polished than any previous movie to bear the title.
The acting is just as good. Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, and Michael Keaton are all brilliant, particularly Oldman. His internal conflict as the project spirals out of his control is played with a subtlety that indicates no one told him they were making RoboCop. Joel Kinnaman had the unenviable task of following Peter Weller, but the characters were different enough that each was able to make it his own...Weller's RoboCop was essentially a machine that used an organic processor, while Kinnaman was a human with advanced prosthetics that gave him the illusion of independence. Omnicorp used the RoboCop project as a marketing tool that kept its subject in line with a combination of mechanics, drugs, and psychology.
As noted above, the violence was kept offscreen for the most part. What wasn't, however, was the result of said violence. After the attempt on Murphy's life, we are shown and told about many of the horrific injuries he sustained. The reveal of how much organic material exists inside the RoboCop suit was brilliant, as piece by piece Murphy was disassembled and shown what he now was (spoiler alert: that organic hand isn't attached to anything). The sterile environment of the Omni lab somehow made the scene even more disquieting. Credit to the animators for pulling off this scene.
Good as it was, it wasn't perfect. The overall movie still felt like a pulled punch. The setting was a little too clean, the ending a little too perfect. References to the original (such as, "dead or alive, you're coming with me" and a variation of "I'd buy that for a dollar") felt forced and clumsy. This RoboCop works very well when it's its own movie. It has all the script, the acting, and the effects it needs - throwbacks and extras just get in the way. With one exception: the black "tactical" look used for most of the movie was a visual indicator of Murphy's time under Omnicorp's control. At the very end, when he is rebuilt and able to act as his own man again, he receives a look that is essentially a smoother version of the original armor.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
There are several tie-in toys that are coming out, though none in 1/24 scale yet.
Smartly, those broad concepts were about the only things kept from the 1987 movie. Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is an undercover cop rather than a beat cop, targeted for assassination after he gets too close to a major crime player (in itself a very 80s plot, but I digress). Omnicorp is a major business looking to improve their profits by overturning legislation that prevents drones from being used within American borders. The CEO, Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), sees a way of doing this by using Omnicorp's robotic prosthesis division and the work of Omni Foundation Chief Scientist Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) to put a man inside the machine and soothe the public fear of unfeeling robots patrolling their streets. The plot is arguably more polished than any previous movie to bear the title.
The acting is just as good. Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, and Michael Keaton are all brilliant, particularly Oldman. His internal conflict as the project spirals out of his control is played with a subtlety that indicates no one told him they were making RoboCop. Joel Kinnaman had the unenviable task of following Peter Weller, but the characters were different enough that each was able to make it his own...Weller's RoboCop was essentially a machine that used an organic processor, while Kinnaman was a human with advanced prosthetics that gave him the illusion of independence. Omnicorp used the RoboCop project as a marketing tool that kept its subject in line with a combination of mechanics, drugs, and psychology.
As noted above, the violence was kept offscreen for the most part. What wasn't, however, was the result of said violence. After the attempt on Murphy's life, we are shown and told about many of the horrific injuries he sustained. The reveal of how much organic material exists inside the RoboCop suit was brilliant, as piece by piece Murphy was disassembled and shown what he now was (spoiler alert: that organic hand isn't attached to anything). The sterile environment of the Omni lab somehow made the scene even more disquieting. Credit to the animators for pulling off this scene.
Good as it was, it wasn't perfect. The overall movie still felt like a pulled punch. The setting was a little too clean, the ending a little too perfect. References to the original (such as, "dead or alive, you're coming with me" and a variation of "I'd buy that for a dollar") felt forced and clumsy. This RoboCop works very well when it's its own movie. It has all the script, the acting, and the effects it needs - throwbacks and extras just get in the way. With one exception: the black "tactical" look used for most of the movie was a visual indicator of Murphy's time under Omnicorp's control. At the very end, when he is rebuilt and able to act as his own man again, he receives a look that is essentially a smoother version of the original armor.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
There are several tie-in toys that are coming out, though none in 1/24 scale yet.
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