The original RoboCop is about as classic and recognizable as action movies get. When this remake was announced there was plenty of negative buzz, statements of indifference, a little bit of excitement and of course the feeling that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Fortunately for me I’ve never been a massive fan of the original (more like I saw it once a while ago and liked it but don’t feel strongly about it) so the existence of this remake didn’t seem like a huge deal to me and I was slightly excited to see it. It has finally arrived on Netflix instant so I got to check it out and for the most part I had a good time with this movie. It certainly isn’t as visceral or hard-hitting as a lot of action films are (it’s PG-13 rating definitely lightened this one up a bit) but it still worked for me as a whole. While RoboCop isn’t unique in any way at all it provides some decent action scenes a somewhat clever satirical framework for its by-the-numbers story.
If you’ve seen the original RoboCop you won’t be surprised too much with how the story plays out. In the near future there is a company called OmniCorp that is pushing the use of robots in the police force and military. Unfortunately for them there is a lot of controversy surrounding the morality and ethics of using robots to make life/death decisions so they need a big break that will help sway public opinion as well as political influence. When police detective Alex Murphy is nearly killed in an explosion his wife gives OmniCorp permission to transform him into a part-robot-part-human machine who is, in many ways, the perfect crime fighter. The rest of the movie shows RoboCop at work and puts into question how much of the original man is still in charge. It was pretty predictable for the most part but I still had fun with it (it is definitely nothing new).
Probably the best aspect of the story is how they’ve adapted many of the elements to fit in with modern culture. More modern political concepts have been integrated into the story and there is a heavy emphasis put on a fictional TV news channel commentating on the events being portrayed. It clearly is meant to be some sort of satirical take on Fox News or CNN (or whatever) and ultimately how biased the news has the potential to be. It actually gets a bit too heavy handed at times and came off as overly obvious but it still provided some chuckles. There are some good discussions about the blending of technology and biology and the morality of such things which was interesting but I wouldn’t exactly call any of it philosophically challenging. RoboCop is about as simple as it gets with its story and it does benefit a bit because of its commentary but it doesn’t necessarily make it the most intriguing movie ever. Instead RoboCop is best enjoyed straight up as an action film instead of a movie with a lot to say.
I think the action in RoboCop is frequent enough to keep things moving and the special effects are remarkable. There is a good balance between action and drama throughout the movie’s two hour runtime but the strengths in the movies are obvious. This is a crystal clear presentation that is about as shiny as possible. The effects on Alex Murphy in full RoboCop mode are stunning (when you see him without all of his gear it is actually disturbing) and his gear, motorcycle and gadgets all look amazing. Many variations of robots are faced throughout the movie and each looks just as good as the last. Clearly the budget on this movie was big and most of it went into making the movie look great. Unfortunately even the action isn’t as remarkable as the special effects. There weren’t any “wow” moments in this movie outside of a few effects shots and the action itself is fairly straightforward. Still I think RoboCop is more than serviceable in providing high octane thrills.
RoboCop wasn’t surprising for me in good and bad ways. It was good that they got a huge selection of recognizable actors who were clearly having fun with the satirical story but unfortunately the story itself wasn’t anything that exciting (but I also wasn’t really expecting it to be). This movie’s amazing CGI effects and fun action sequences move along the predictable plot and thanks to a few clever commentaries the story isn’t a complete waste. The label “remake” was bound to hurt this movie from the beginning. If this were an original production I think more people would have been taken with it. So much of RoboCop feels recycled not just from the original but from other modern effects driven action films as well. As a result I found it to be an enjoyable movie but an unremarkable one that is the very definition of “popcorn flick”.
6/10
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