Robocop Film Series Retrospective

The remake of ‘Robocop’ hits theaters this weekend, serving not only as a remake of the original 1987 film of the same name but also as a ‘reboot’ of the series, being the first film in this series to come out in nearly two decades. Obviously, like with most remakes, many are looking at this remake with either hesitation or anger, and as usual with remakes, it’s for good reason. The original film is such a classic that it begs the question as to why they should even remake it in the first place. But, for some odd reason, I’m actually sort of anticipating this film. I guess it’s mainly because, to put it bluntly, that original film is sort of the only good ‘Robocop’ film that has ever come out in theaters, as we’ll see in a bit with its two follow-ups. Because of that, I feel like there is a chance that this remake will turn out all right because this series is in need of a fresh start. But for now, it’s time to look back upon the original three films in the ‘Robocop’ series.

ROBOCOP (1987)

We begin with director Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 film which, as I said in the intro, is not only the best ‘Robocop’ film to date, but also the ONLY good ‘Robocop’ film as well. It’s a movie that’s incredibly violent (like a lot of Verhoeven’s films) but at the same time darkly comic, with a lot of dark humor that probably shouldn’t even be funny in the first place but somehow it is. It also serves as a biting satire of American culture and the media, from the lighthearted news reports to the commercial parodies, both of which appear frequently over the course of the film. Peter Weller is excellent in the role of Alex Murphy, the man who is killed by a gang of criminals and brought back to life by the OCP Corporation as the cybernetic cyborg policeman, Robocop; Weller just has an excellent presence in the role. The rest of the cast is great as well, including Nancy Allen as Murphy’s partner Anne Lewis and Kurtwood Smith as gang leader Clarence Boddicker (‘Can you fly, Bobby?’). Quite frankly, I can’t find anything wrong with this film. The original ‘Robocop’ still holds up very well 27 years after it came out back in 1987 and is not only one of the best sci-fi films of the 80’s, but one of the best sci-fi films period… sadly, we’re about to get into some not-so-great ‘Robocop’ films.

Rating: 5/5!

ROBOCOP 2 (1990)

Robocop 2 has to go down as one of the most disappointing follow-ups to any film ever. Here’s a film that does have some very good things in it, like a good cast, a story with potential, and some great action sequences. Plus, while Paul Verhoeven is not in the director chair this time, in his place is the man behind what is still the best ‘Star Wars’ film to date in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, Irvin Kershner. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot of things actually. The overall story, which was written by Frank Miller, does have potential for a really good follow-up to the original film but in the end it’s full of plotlines that go absolutely nowhere. There’s one in particular that bugs me, strictly because of how it retcons the most important aspect of the character of Robocop; that even though he is now a machine, he still has the emotions of Alex Murphy, the man he once was before he was killed in action. But that all changes in one scene, a scene that occurs about only 16 minutes into the movie.

After a scene where Robocop drives by the home of his widow, he is then reprimanded by OCP for doing so and told that he is no longer human. He then has to tell his wife that he is only a machine and that her husband is dead. I like to refer to this scene as the moment in the film where it basically says ‘f*** you’ to the audience because of how this is an incredibly stupid idea for character development. At the end of the first film, Robocop started to feel more gain back some of his human emotions but basically in this scene he’s told to not act like a human anymore and he just does what he’s told. Now, I wouldn’t be so mad at this scene if there was a scene later where he decides to ignore what OCP is telling him and to act more ‘human’… but it never comes. This film takes one of the most defining attributes of the character and shoves it aside like it never happened. This has got to be some of the worst character development for an already established protagonist that I have ever seen. That is actually part of the reason why I’m even looking forward to the remake because I’m hoping the filmmakers could do a better job at handling this aspect of the character… or at least do a better job than they did in this movie.

But that’s just part of this film’s many problems. For one thing, it has quite a mean-spirited tone to it all. This is heavily exemplified in the character of Hob, a kid who is an ally of the main villain, drug-lord Cain. This heartless kid is not afraid to kill people, swears like a sailor, and is just an overall unpleasant little sadist. To make matters worse, the film tries to make us feel sorry for him when he dies, but I’m sorry, that’s not going to happen after all that he’s done in this film. In fact, pretty much every kid in this movie is a troublemaker (believe me folks I’m being very lenient in the words I’m using to describe the kids in this movie). There’s this scene where a bunch of Little Leaguers rob a store and beat up the store owner and another scene where some kids swear at Robocop (basically every kid in this movie has a potty mouth) and one of them even paints ‘kick me’ on his back. I wondering if either Kershner and/or Miller hate kids, because from the way kids are portrayed in this film, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.

I have a few other minor gripes, like how the ‘Old Man’ (Dan O’Herlihy reprising his role from the last film) is suddenly changed into a more corrupt character, which wasn’t how his character was portrayed in the first film, or how, now that I think about it, for a movie in the ‘Robocop’ franchise, Robocop’s barely in it! Don’t get me wrong, he is in the movie for a good amount of time but I’d swear that, for most of the film, they focus on other characters instead of him and his partner Anne Lewis. ‘Robocop 2’ might not be the overall worst in the series (that one’s coming up next) but after watching this film again I found myself hating it more because of all of its wasted potential. There are good things in this film, like a good cast, some intriguing plot points, and some really good action sequences, like the car chase between Robocop and Cain or the final battle between them, where by this point Cain has become a cyborg as well (that latter sequence is easily the best part of the film). But in the end, ‘Robocop 2’ does so many things wrong, resulting in a very unpleasant film to watch. It may have the general same level of violence as its predecessor, but it also lacks the great writing that made Paul Verhoeven’s film such a classic in the first place.

Rating: 1.5/5

ROBOCOP 3 (1993)

Oh boy, this one… if you thought ‘Robocop 2’ was bad, then wait until you get a load of this film. ‘Robocop 3’ doesn’t piss me off like ‘Robocop 2’ now does, there’s really no denying that 3 is the worst entry in the series and this is true for a few reasons. First of all, the film is surprisingly rather boring at times. For a movie where Robocop actually rebels against OCP when their plans to rebuild an old section of Detroit into the brand new ‘Delta City’ result in the company having to evict residents of a local neighborhood where they plan to build it from their homes, not much really happens in this movie. Can you believe that this movie makes ROBOT NINJAS boring? Yeah, there’s a robot ninja in this movie and yet they don’t do much with him. The fight between him and Robocop is the very definition of ‘anti-climactic’. I mean, this movie does have some pretty good action sequences, but when you take a cool concept like a robot ninja and do nothing with it, then that’s bad.

Another problem is the fact that this film was toned down to a PG-13 rating after the first two films were rated R, and well deserving of those ratings. Now, I know that a film’s rating doesn’t really affect the overall quality of a film but at the same time, I’m pretty sure this was just so that the studio could market it to a younger audience… then again, that’s kind of what they were already doing in the first place with the first two films even though they were rated R (do I need to remind you about the way kids are portrayed in the second film?) so I guess I’m not really that surprised. Let’s just hope that with the remake getting a PG-13 rating as well that it wasn’t just so that they could appeal to a younger audience. Also, Peter Weller does not reprise his role as Robocop for this movie. It’s nothing against his replacement, Robert John Burke, but something about him in the role just doesn’t feel right. I think it may be the voice in that just doesn’t work for the role, unlike Peter Weller, whose distinct voice fit perfectly for the character.

It’s sort of common knowledge that the third film in any film series is usually the worst in the series by that point, and that’s very much the case with ‘Robocop 3’. It’s not just that the film was toned down to a PG-13 or that Peter Weller didn’t return to the role of Robocop. This film as a whole is just boring and the fact that a story as potentially compelling as this one and an interesting concept like a robot ninja are both squandered in this very, very slow action movie is just sad. It’s also quite sad how a film as great as the original ‘Robocop’ had to be followed by not one, but two mediocre sequels. The third film may not piss me off as much as the second film but at the same time, the former is still the worst in the series in terms of its overall execution. Here’s hoping that the upcoming remake may just be the first good ‘Robocop’ film since the original. It’s been 27 years since that film came out and we’re still waiting.

Rating: 1/5