With the remake (BOOOOO) pencilled in for 2013, now is as good a time as any to revisit one of the best movies of the era. I recently watched the trilogy back-to-back and the original is something akin to a masterpiece: bold, uncompromising sci-fi satire that accurately predicts the fluff media saturated world of reality TV, rolling news, neo-fascist corporate tyranny and widespread corruption.
One of my favourite films from the decade and still more entertaining than most Hollywood action movies, Robocop is director Paul Veerhoven's finest hour and a triumph for composer Basil Poledouris. Surprisingly, screenwriters Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner never quite reached the heights they achieved with the Robocop script, ran into some bother with the writer's strike during Robocop 2, penned an Anaconda sequel and worked on The Starship Troopers saga.
Peter Weller is excellent as officer Alex Murphy / Robocop: The future of law enforcement. Honest cop Alex Murphy has the worst first day ever, shot to death by career criminal Clarence Bodecker and his gang, Murphy's body is appropriated by dastardly corporation 'OCP' to create Robocop.
Strengths:: Part man, part machine, all cop, nice metallic finish, badass gun.
Weaknesses: haunted / frustrated by flashbacks of his idyllic life and violent death, DIRECTIVE 4!
Nancy Allen as officer Anne Lewis: Very cool, strong character that retains her femininity and keeps her dignity in tact, she came to kick *** and chew bubblegum, and she’s all out of ***...or something.
Strengths: Integrity, Trade Unionist, honest cop, good shot, nice hair.
Weaknesses: Easily distracted (e.g. distracted by suspect's appendage in the warehouse).
ED-209: OCP's law enforcement prototype, backed by ruthless company man D.ick Jones. The 209 comes complete with heavy armaments, including 20mm Gattling guns and heat seeking missiles.
Strengths: 20mm gattling guns and heat seeking missiles…obviously.
Weaknesses: Cobra Assault Cannon, Stairs.
Robocop 2 was quite good, Robocop 3 could've been a lot better. Spin offs and gimmicks weren't so bad all things considered: Robocop spawned a series of pretty decent Marvel comics, good quality action figures and computer games, never saw the live action or cartoon series, though.
[ 04. August 2010, 03:02: Message edited by: Kash ]
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
Kash.. while I don't quite hold your same admiration for "RoboCop", I do think the original was quite entertaining.
And your write-up is incredible and makes me want to watch it again soon. Great thread!
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
Robocop is a film that I always slightly forget just how great it is and then blows me away everytime.
Nice post Kash Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
There are a trillion great quotes in Robocop, and for such a violent movie, they even managed to squeeze quite a bit of heart into it. It's one of the best social satires of the 80's. Watch it and Wall Street back-to-back.
It shouldn't work, it has a dumb name, but it's brilliant.
"Murphy... I'm a mess!" "They'll fix you... they fix everything."
I read the (much tamer) comic adaptation before I saw the film. That's what the film is; a very violent satirical comic book.
Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
Appreciate the comments Valdude and Helen S.
Logan, was this the black & white comic adaptation that was part of 'The Punisher' series?
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
It was black and white, but it was a standalone magazine. It's possible it was a UK reprint.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Great thread Kash!
Robocop is one of my all time favorites and i love everything Paul Verhoeven has done.
This movie has everything, even the villains are supercool!
When Robocop was released on VHS here in Finland it was cut about 10 minutes! What a stupid, stupid law we had here in the late 80s - early 90s. Thank god we had our connections and got the uncut version even before it was in theaters here.
And yes, i also own this Robocop cartoon VHS tape
Posted by Fightertown (Member # 7418) on :
Finally, got my copy today.
Posted by Burnett (Member # 9924) on :
Probably my no.1 action movie. The extremely violent action scenes are very cool and well directed, and the Detroit depicted in the movie is a great dystopian setting. I also love the satire on the political and economical spirit of the Reagan-era. It's not just a sci-fi fantasy.
Verhoeven is a fantastic director. I love most of his movies. I even like Showgirls, which I think is funny as hell, over-the-top and camp in every sense of the word. In the 70's, he also did some good films in Holland, such as Turks Fruit and Soldaat van Oranje (both starring a young Rutger Hauer).
[ 28. August 2011, 07:24: Message edited by: Burnett ]
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