SYNOPSIS:
In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years – and it’s meant billions for OmniCorp’s bottom line. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine pursuing justice.
REVIEW:
I admit, I was really headed out to see The Lego Movie on Saturday night. Although, I managed to arrive really early (I’m very punctual with movies, lol), and I didn’t feel like waiting a whole hour for the film to start. So to avoid getting home too late considering my Sunday started early, I decided to catch one other film that has been making the rounds which I have also been curious about. And as far as opinions go on the consensus regarding Paul Verhoeven remakes, I didn’t regret watching Robocop. Although it does have its hits and misses.
The new reboot from director Jose Padilha starts from scratch with a new take on the character Alex Murphy, a loving father and husband, and an undercover cop hot on the trail of an arms dealer. Before he knows it, he’s serverly injured to the point of near death, and without the necessary life-saving technology and consent from his distraught wife, Claire, he’s a goner. Fast forward a few months and a series of test trials later, Murphy is reluctantly trasformed into Detroit’s newly assembled cybernetic crime fighter, and thrust into the limelight as the corporate poster-boy for leading technology conglomerate, Omnicorp. But things are not all they appear to be, and while Murphy’s struggle with his humanity and newfound identity becomes nothing short of an overwhelming journey, the politics being played between the crooks running loose, his department, and the company that made him will ultimately put his family in the crosshairs and threaten his own fate as well.
Let’s face it: There will always be people who hate rebooted or remade movies, and some will fail to deliver. That said, I honestly feel this reboot does deliver in its own admirable way. Since the release of the original, advancements in film over the last 26 years through the film’s completion give Robocop a fresher, more efficient, less clunky approach to the character, courtesy of actor Joel Kinnaman: He operates a machine gun as his primary weapon, with a smaller, adjustable taser handgun, and rides his own motorcycle. In addition, compared to the classic incarnation by actor Peter Weller, the new one moves faster, runs and jumps, maneuvers however which way he needs to when the moment calls for it, and you also get to see a more open potrayal of Murphy’s struggle between being human and a dead-faced, emotionless man inside a machine. And, we get to see newer machines and drones, including a revamped ED-209 from the previous film, showcasing the odds the lead character is forced to take on.
While I enjoyed actress Abbie Cornish‘s performance as Murphy’s wife, I did feel at times that her character was too constricted at times when she could have been written as something much more than simply as “the wife”. I also share the same sentiments for that of actor Michael K. Williams in the African-American male reincarnate of partner, officer Lewis. We saw more of the character in actress Nancy Allen’s portrayal of the same character in the original trilogy and it’s a shame that not much room was made this time around, but it didn’t really hurt the film too much either. I also enjoyed that of Murphy’s son, David, played by Jean Paul Ruttan, who I did want to see a little more of in scenes with Kinnaman at times. Aside from this, most of the characters are new for this reboot, including that of actor Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, all of which offer their own respectable takes on their designated characters, with emphasis on a few, including Haley who pretty much leads his own robot army in the film, which is pretty wicked, a solid performance from Oldman whose character knows right from wrong while walking the fine line between sides, and Jackson, whose character, a Right-wing spinmaster and TV show host whose performance (and hair…my gawd, that hair) pretty much saved the ending of the film on a much-needed high note.
The problem is, well, it’s a PG-13 reboot of a beloved, much more violent classic. And for that reason, the film has automatically allowed itself room for scrutiny as a wasteful derivative bloodless kiddie fest that will in no way deliver in the same memorable way that directors Paul Verhoeven and Irvin Kershner did, which isn’t really an equal assessment. The film does have its share of midly gruesome moments, and not all of Robocop‘s kills are entirely without their uses of a few fake blood squibs. For a PG-13 film, the violence is less obvious as it should be for a film of this rating. He kills a few bad guys, takes on some mean, towering robots, and the gun fights are pretty spectacularly coordinated by veteran stunt director Joel Kramer who does a pretty adequate job of delivering the action sequences seen in this film, and some action fans with an open mind will get somewhat of a kick out of this installment because of it.
As far as hinderances go, a few problems I will point out for this lesser vulgar and minimally violent and brutal film is the lack of memorable villainy. Actor Patrick Garrow plays the street-level crimelord and weapons dealer Antoine Vallen, who also could have been something much more as Padilha’s 2014 answer to actor Kurtwood Smith who led the way in the original 1987 film who played Murphy’s formidable criminal arch-nemesis as the cop-killing, coke-snorting, blood-spitting gangleader Clarence “Bitches Leave” Bodicker. What is also missing from the first film are some of the other gems we know and love about Robocop over the years, such as the retractable spiked computer key from Murphy’s right hand, and Murphy’s gunspinning homage to his son’s favorite TV show hero, which I wouldn’t have minded seeing reinterpreted in this film either. Among other things, these could have been done.
Hell, a lot of things could have been done to save this film from its heavy-criticism; mainly staying true to its original R-rated roots being one of them. In hindsight, what really does exhausted this PG-13 vision is the 1990’s watered-down look the franchise developed through other filmmakers after the third film, and its live-action TV show installation where instead of watching Robocop shoot bad guys in the dick, we were left with an unimpressive rendition of the character whose battles against crime were highlighted largely by a few sleepy gun fights and cartoonish, family-friendly cowboy-style trickshots.
Bearing all this in mind, if this film was not a reboot of an original, it probably would have gained a better foothold with more illuminating box-office numbers. But neither of these are the case for what Padilha offers in his own rebooted take. Rather, if the folks at MGM had intended to put Robocop back on the big screen, then it would have been wise for them to stay true to the original film’s more darker and dirtier, exploitive, bloody, brutal and lovingly classic origins as an actual “remake”. Granted, for example, Robocop delivered on a different dynamic than that of director Pete Travis’s most recent Dredd reboot which plays on the film’s violent tones beautifully than that of its Stallone-starring predecessor. But despite the 2012 version having flopped, the film’s serious, more fan-devoted nature is paying off, and coversations are now being had for a potential sequel.
Considering Robocop is the second time a Paul Verhoeven film has been remade since commercially diar consequences suffered by Len Wiseman’s adaptation of Total Recall, there really is a lesson here after all said and done: Should Robocop be miraculously fortunate with the opportunity for a second, all signs point to following suit and staying true to what the fans want and expect from favorite films they have come to thoroughly enjoy over the last few decades. Otherwise, don’t be surprised or disappointed when the film stumbles and falls like an ED-209 down a flight of stairs crying like an oversized baby.
In conclusion, yes, I really do want a sequel to this film with a better effort. Padilha does a decent rebranding of a noteworthy hero complete with all the trimmings of a very explosive and exciting film, with great performances by Kinnaman and most of its cast. However, any kind of sequel to this film deserves the treatment of an R-rated script that the fans want and deserved in the first place. So, no more PG-13 schtick. Robocop‘s fans are not in junior high school anymore. If you want to make an action film that kids will love, Marvel and DC might have a position for you. And it will probably make a lot more money than a purified reimagining of a classic action movie that should have otherwise been left alone if not treated properly.
In other news, Verhoeven’s 1997 action adventure, Starship Troopers is also getting a remake.
Pray for rain.