Dead or Alive... You're Coming with me
When Columbia Pictures announced that they were going to be re-making the 1987 Classic of "Robocop" people were less than pleased. In a sea of remakes, this was one no one wanted to see. But with a little bit of aggressive marketing people were starting to garner some interest in our new crime fighting machine-man. In a world of marketing to a younger audience the PG-13 rating might leave fans of the series feeling like they are missing something with the remake that they had with the original. The thing is, this isn't your grandfather's Robocop, this is a Robo for the new age, the ever fan favorite ED-209 is back, along with some other droids to rival our new Robocop. The original Robocop was fighting an X rating because of the excessive violence in the film, and anyone who has seen the unrated director's cut know that the violence is just over the top for the sake of being over the top. This Robocop isn't toned down to get a broader audience, it's a totally different Robocop from the one you know, and it's not just the black armor. This movie screams more Iron Man than 1987 Robo, but it is really something to be reckoned with, its impressive special effects and original storyline keep the franchise fresh and ready for Reboot... and with that said... Here... WE... GO!
When Columbia Pictures announced that they were going to be re-making the 1987 Classic of "Robocop" people were less than pleased. In a sea of remakes, this was one no one wanted to see. But with a little bit of aggressive marketing people were starting to garner some interest in our new crime fighting machine-man. In a world of marketing to a younger audience the PG-13 rating might leave fans of the series feeling like they are missing something with the remake that they had with the original. The thing is, this isn't your grandfather's Robocop, this is a Robo for the new age, the ever fan favorite ED-209 is back, along with some other droids to rival our new Robocop. The original Robocop was fighting an X rating because of the excessive violence in the film, and anyone who has seen the unrated director's cut know that the violence is just over the top for the sake of being over the top. This Robocop isn't toned down to get a broader audience, it's a totally different Robocop from the one you know, and it's not just the black armor. This movie screams more Iron Man than 1987 Robo, but it is really something to be reckoned with, its impressive special effects and original storyline keep the franchise fresh and ready for Reboot... and with that said... Here... WE... GO!
Similar to the 1987 version the film begins with a news report, but this one far advanced. "What if I told you even the worst neighborhood could be made completely safe?" Those are the first words we hear in the film, and it sets the stage for what is about to happen. Now this news broadcast, The Novak Element, is somewhat of a advanced Fox News type setup. There is a clear bias toward machine use in the States, because of a bill that has been passed by congress, machines can not be used to police neighborhoods. This will be a large reoccurring theme throughout the film. OmniCorp (This films version of OCP, but we find out at the end of the film that OCP is the parent company to OmniCorp) The big debate throughout the course of the film is between OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars and Senentor Hubert Dryfess. The idea is that American policy wont allow OmniCorp to use robots on American soil, so enter Robocop, a man inside of a machine... Loop hole?
We hit the title and we get the classic Robocop theme as we follow this film's version of Alex Murphy. That's about where the similarities stop between the two films, aside from the title and the fact that they are going to merge man and machine this film is a completely new story from the original. We learn far more about Alex Murphy and his wife and child, his partner "Lois"is a man and not a woman, for obvious reason, they want the relationship to be between Murphy and his wife with no other female interests. The original versions of all three films had multiple female interests involved with Robocop, this one plays up far more that Murphy is a family man, and as such no other female leads are used with him. His partner is a man, unlike the original, his doctor/creator is a man, unlike the original. Keeping the female lead his wife, and his wife alone. In the original films, each female seemed to have a love for Robocop in one way or another. This blurred the line that Alex Murphy was a family man and not some type of womanizer. This film clearly shows that Alex has one woman in his life and it's his wife. Who very much remains his wife, unlike in the previous films where she was all but cut off from Murphy after his "death".
Anyway, I'm digging a little too deep in into the details all before the title sequence so lets go back to the title. Murphy walks into the station, his partner "Lois" is in critical condition after an undercover job where he was gunned down. In this film, Murphy and his partner are detectives rather than the boys in blue. Now, old Detroit isn't painted as nearly the disaster that it is in the original, it's firmly grounded in reality, which we all know actually is as bad as it sounds. They do a good job, of using Detroit accents that were ignored in the original. As the film goes, we find out more and more about how Lois was shot down, there are some dirty cops associated with Antwan Valon, who is pretty much this movie's version of Clarence Bodicker from 1987. It's Valon and his dirty cops that booby trap Murphy's car with explosives and sending us to Robo land rather than just being shot to death in cold blood. These tweaks in the story allow for them to tone down the violence a bit, or alot considering how grotesquely violent the original was.
After Raymond Sellars decides they are going to make a product that knows what it feels like to be human, they go through several different prospects for the "Robocop Project" before Alex Murphy is blown up and left in critical condition, rather than being declared legally dead as in the original. Without the Robocop Project his wife would be left with a man with 4th degree burns over half his body, one of his arms and both his legs amputated, blind in one eye, and completely def. Making change from man to machine rather a choice to do it, rather than OCP using a dead cop as a pet project. We are shown early on that there is still parts of Murphy left, unlike the original where they literally skinned Murphy's face from his body and placed it over the Robot face to give his human brain a sense of humanity. In this incarnation, We see that he has his brain (that has been repaired) his heart his lungs and his left hand (which is a throw back to the original where they said they were able to save the left arm, but ultimately decided not to). The problem in this one is making Robocop as efficient as the robot equivalent. Now initially Robocop is less efficient then the robot because he uses a five step procedure when the robot uses a two step procedure. Leading Sellars to want to make Murphy as efficient as the robot, so the doctor uses the machine to manipulate the brain of Alex Murphy. The software sending signals into Alex's brain making him think he is in control when in fact the machine is taking over, with faster software than the robot equivelant. There is alot of technical jargon used that is very convincing but hard for me to express through here, for that you'll have to watch the movie, I'm not a scientist.
Originally we are introduced to Robocop in pretty much the classic look with a little sleeker design. Sellars makes the decision to "Make him look more tactical, to go with black". When introduced to the public they upload pretty much every crime and criminal targets into Murphy's brain, but when they get to the attack on his own life, he becomes unstable. So they are forced to drop the dopamine levels in his brain, this makes him more like machine rather than man. This is reverse from how it went in the original where he started off more machine and found his humanity. Alex eventually "Undoes what they did to him" this is never explained other than his humanity just comes back, which is good enough for me anyway, same thing happened in the original. Ultimately he ends up heading off to "Solve his own murder" (even though he was never actually dead). This all leads back to Antwan Vallon and the dirty cops we mentioned before. He has officially returned to his human like state, but has now learned how to use his software to his own advantage. The downer here is Vallon is killed rather quickly and we find out that there was someone behind Vallon and the dirty cops all along. The Chief of Police, Alex tries to take her down, and then they shut him down to protect the department.
At this point, we find out that Raymond Sellars wants nothing more than just to get the bill overturned so his products can be on the streets. So they plan to kill Murphy and Robocop all together to make Murphy the one thing bigger than a hero... a dead hero. Doctor Norton saves this from happening, as Murphy's wife and child are told that Murphy had died. Suddenly Raymond Sellars is the villain, as Robocop chases him down in attempt to arrest him for attempted murder of a police officer. Now during all this there is a fantastic action sequence where Robocop battles several ED 209's and becomes badly damaged, along with having to deal with the rest of OmniCorp that has gone dirty. Now this is where we get a nice update on what they called "Directive 4" in the original series. Those of us who remember, Directive 4 was a classified system program that any attempt to engage an employee of OCP results in shutdown. In this updated version we have what are called "Red Assets" they wee introduced early on in the film, but hardly spent much time talking about. Turns out any attempt to engage a "Red Asset" results in shutdown. Now the difference here, is that he does actually end up somehow shooting Raymond Sellars when Sellars threatens to shoot his family. Now he does this with his human hand, with the machine resisting, this is to show some sort of human control over the machine. I'm mixed on his ability to do this, one it directly contradicts what they had just established was impossible, but on the other hand it shows the strength of the human heart, to override the system. Similarly how he reversed the dopamine levels earlier in the movie.
His wife and child get to see that Alex Murphy is not dead and they get their husband and father back. The black armor now badly dammaged, we are reintroduced to the classic armor, which would get a big collective cheer from fans of the original, who were upset about the black armor. This seemed intentional, they started the film with the classic armor, then moved to the more "tactical" black armor at the order of Raymond Sellars who becomes the final antagonist of the film. Bringing back the classic armor all seemed intentional. Being both a fan of the classic armor as well as becoming fond of the sleek black armor with the visor, this worked on many levels. The film ends as we see Alex Murphy walking with his family, and the host of the Novak Element, going completely crazy because his very biased side did not win the war as Robots are still not cleared to be used on U.S. Soil, aside from Robocop. Ending with the program we started on.
At this point, we find out that Raymond Sellars wants nothing more than just to get the bill overturned so his products can be on the streets. So they plan to kill Murphy and Robocop all together to make Murphy the one thing bigger than a hero... a dead hero. Doctor Norton saves this from happening, as Murphy's wife and child are told that Murphy had died. Suddenly Raymond Sellars is the villain, as Robocop chases him down in attempt to arrest him for attempted murder of a police officer. Now during all this there is a fantastic action sequence where Robocop battles several ED 209's and becomes badly damaged, along with having to deal with the rest of OmniCorp that has gone dirty. Now this is where we get a nice update on what they called "Directive 4" in the original series. Those of us who remember, Directive 4 was a classified system program that any attempt to engage an employee of OCP results in shutdown. In this updated version we have what are called "Red Assets" they wee introduced early on in the film, but hardly spent much time talking about. Turns out any attempt to engage a "Red Asset" results in shutdown. Now the difference here, is that he does actually end up somehow shooting Raymond Sellars when Sellars threatens to shoot his family. Now he does this with his human hand, with the machine resisting, this is to show some sort of human control over the machine. I'm mixed on his ability to do this, one it directly contradicts what they had just established was impossible, but on the other hand it shows the strength of the human heart, to override the system. Similarly how he reversed the dopamine levels earlier in the movie.
His wife and child get to see that Alex Murphy is not dead and they get their husband and father back. The black armor now badly dammaged, we are reintroduced to the classic armor, which would get a big collective cheer from fans of the original, who were upset about the black armor. This seemed intentional, they started the film with the classic armor, then moved to the more "tactical" black armor at the order of Raymond Sellars who becomes the final antagonist of the film. Bringing back the classic armor all seemed intentional. Being both a fan of the classic armor as well as becoming fond of the sleek black armor with the visor, this worked on many levels. The film ends as we see Alex Murphy walking with his family, and the host of the Novak Element, going completely crazy because his very biased side did not win the war as Robots are still not cleared to be used on U.S. Soil, aside from Robocop. Ending with the program we started on.
Final Thoughts:
This Robocop is far more action packed but extremely less violent, than the original. It has the bravery to tell it's very own new story using elements from the original. There are alot of nice little throw backs to Robo '87 like "I'd buy that for a dollar" The film moves at a very fast pace for the film's 117 minute run time. Action fans will love this, but what you gain in fast passed action, you lose in story. The first half of the film does a good job of storytelling, but as much fun as the second half is its pretty much all action and no story as the antagonist changes three times, every time it changes with a quick dismissal. The action is wonderful, and the visuals are nice and updated for today's computer technology. This is a fun film that is a nice addition to the "Robocop" library. However outdo the original it does not, but that's nearly impossible to do since the original is a cult classic. It is better than every one of the original's sequels though. The man who plays Murphy does a great job as Murphy and as Robocop which is not easy to do, just ask anyone who had the job after Peter Weller. He is by far the best Robocop since Peter Weller. Expect more sequels from this one, as it sets up pretty firmly for one, this screams origin story, and in this reboot of Robocop that scream more Superhero than anything else. So get used to cinema's newest super hero... his name is Robocop.
Final Score:
3.5 outa 5
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