Robocop (2014) review

I’m guessing that when this film was first announced, most of you reacted rather negatively to the news. That’s usually the typical reaction that a lot of people have whenever a remake is announced. After all, if the original film is really good, then why bother remaking it when there’s no real need to improve it? I mean, there is potential if someone’s remaking a bad film, but these days Hollywood will just remake anything even when most audiences aren’t that supportive of it. This scenario certainly applies to the remake of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 classic ‘Robocop’. It’s one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, and it still holds up quite even after 27 years. So with all of that in mind… why then would I be one of the few who was actually looking forward to this film? Well, that’s because this series is in desperate need of a fresh new start because the two sequels to the original film were both terribly inferior follow-ups. So even though this was still technically a ‘remake’, I went into this hopeful that this could be the first good Robocop film since the original… so I was relieved, and also somewhat surprised, to find that I really enjoyed this new Robocop.

In the year 2028, multinational conglomerate OmniCorp has enjoyed much success overseas with the use of their ‘robotic soldiers’ in law enforcement. However, they have been unable to use their technology in the United States because of a national law, the Dreyfus Act, which prevents them from doing so. In order to work around this, OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) suggests that they create a product that combines man with machine that could be accepted by the public, who have been influenced by the Dreyfus Act. OmniCorp then proceeds to look for a test subject for this new machine, which they eventually find when local cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is critically injured by a car bomb that was planted on orders from a local crime boss. With consent from his wife Clara (Abbie Cornish), OmniCorp outfits Alex with robotic body armor, turning him into the ultimate law enforcer; Robocop. However, because Murphy’s consciousness is still present even though most of his body isn’t, OmniCorp now find themselves having to deal with Murphy’s emotions as he tries to not only reconnect with his wife and son, but to also take down those who tried to have him killed.

I did refer to this as a remake earlier, but you may be surprised to find out that, in execution, this isn’t really that much of a remake. Yes, this film does share a couple things in common with the original (heck, they even use Basil Poledouris’ classic theme a few times) and it is sort of telling the same ‘origin’ story. But at the same time, this film manages to do some things to distance itself from its predecessor. For one thing, while the original was a satire full of over-the-top violence, this film has a more political view with themes of corporate greed and safety at the cost of one’s liberty. I also really liked that in this one, Murphy’s family plays a bigger role in the story whereas in the original film (as well as its sequels) they were barely in it. Even some of the ‘questionable’ filmmaking choices that a lot of people were worried about actually turned out fine in the end. Robocop’s new black suit does look pretty cool and it actually fits pretty well within the film itself. Even if you’re still not that much of a fan of it, don’t worry because he is in the classic silver suit for a brief time. Also, while this film may not be as violent as the original, the action sequences are pretty darn good for a PG-13 rated film.

Like the original film, this one also benefits from a terrific cast. In the case of this film, it’s especially in regards to the supporting cast. Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman (who plays the head scientist responsible for the creation of Robocop), Abbie Cornish, and Samuel L. Jackson (who plays the host of a television program in support of robotic law enforcement) all do excellent jobs, as does Joel Kinnaman in the lead role of Alex Murphy/Robocop. Sure, it’s not the ‘best’ performance in the movie but in the end he turns out to be a very worthy successor to Peter Weller in the role. If I did have any complaints about this film in general, it would be that its villains are actually really weak. There’s one villain who you think would play a major part in the film seeing how this one has a hand in Murphy’s accident, resulting in him being turned into Robocop, but they don’t really do anything with him. Then you have another villain who’s basically the ‘main villain’ but you would never really guess that he’s a bad guy because he doesn’t really act like one, even at the end when Robocop is trying to take him down.

I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed the 2014 iteration of ‘Robocop’. That’s mainly because this is more of a reboot than a remake, managing to do things differently from the original while maintaining a few similarities to it. Even though the film does have some pretty weak villains, the action sequences are really good for a PG-13 rated ‘Robocop’ film and the acting is very good from all involved. The bottom line here is that this film was ultimately not the disaster that a lot of people were speculating it would turn out to be. Is it as good as the original? No, but then again it doesn’t have to be. The original will still live on as one of the great sci-fi films but this reboot manages to do things good enough that it ends up being one of the better remakes to have ever come out and the best Robocop film since the original. I’m pleased to say that Paul Verhoeven’s classic is no longer the only good Robocop film.

Rating: 4/5

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

2014 Preview: February

(Note: Due to Computer Issues, I was unable to do a Preview for the Films that came out in January. However, even with that setback, I will still be doing these monthly previews for this year. It’s just that this post will be the first of these for the year when normally this would be the second.)

So, with the dead month of ‘January’ over, we might find ourselves with a few more noteworthy films this month. Welcome to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview for the films set to come out in 2014. This is Part 1 of… well, what is now 11 and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be hitting theaters in February.

FEBRUARY 7- The month kicks off with a trio of new films hitting theaters this weekend, including an animated film based off of a world-famous franchise and a film starring a major ensemble cast.



*The first release of the month is ‘The LEGO Movie’, an animated film based on the popular line of construction toys of the same name. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (the duo behind ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ and ’21 Jump Street’ (as well as the latter’s sequel)), the film follows an ordinary ‘guy’ (mini-figure to be precise) named Emmet who is mistaken to be a great ‘Master Builder’ and is sent on a quest to defeat an evil tyrant named Lord Business who plans to take over the LEGO universe. The film’s ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, and Morgan Freeman.



*Based on the book of the same name by Robert M. Edsel, ‘The Monuments Men’ was originally set to come out in December 2013 but was pushed back to this month due to the fact that more time was needed in post-production. George Clooney directs and stars as the leader of a ‘platoon’ of museum directors, curators, and historians who are sent into Germany during the final months of WWII in order to find valuable pieces of art before the Nazis have them all destroyed. The film also stars Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, and Cate Blanchett.



*Another book adaptation hits theaters this weekend, ‘Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters’. The film is based off of the 2007 novel of the same name (minus the ‘Blood Sisters’ part) by Richelle Mead, which is the first in a series of six books, and is directed by Mark Waters (‘Mean Girls’). The film centers on two vampires, a half-human/vampire named Rose (Zoey Deutch) and a ‘mortal’ vampire named Lissa (Lucy Fry) who return to their old boarding school to deal with the growing threat of a group of bloodthirsty undead vampires known as the ‘Strigoi’.

FEBRUARY 14- Valentine’s Day weekend will be full of new romantic movies; two of them along with a film that, while technically a fantasy film, has been marketed as a ‘Love Story’. For the action crowd, one film will be hitting theaters this weekend as well, albeit two days early. Ironically, three of these films are remakes while the other one is an adaptation of a book.



*The early release on February 12^th is ‘Robocop’, a remake of the 1987 sci-fi classic of the same name directed by Paul Verhoeven. This new film is directed by Brazilian director Jose Padilha and stars Joel Kinnaman (AMC’s ‘The Killing’) as Alex Murphy, a Detroit cop who is critically wounded and turned into a part-man/part-robot machine, Robocop, by the corporation known as OmniCorp in order to deal with the crime in Detroit. The film also stars Michael Keaton as the head of OmniCorp, Gary Oldman as the head scientist behind the ‘RoboCop’ operation, and Samuel L. Jackson as the host of a TV show in support of using machines in order to deal with crime, amongst others.



*‘About Last Night’ is a remake of a 1986 film, which starred Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, of the same name, which is itself based off of a 1974 play called ‘Sexual Perversity in Chicago’. This film features an all-black cast and centers around two couples whose relationships begin to develop further after one-night stands. The film stars Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, and Joy Bryant in the lead roles.



*Another romance remake hits theaters this weekend as well, ‘Endless Love’. This one is a remake of a 1981 film that was directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1968’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’) and starred Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, along with Tom Cruise in his film debut. This version is directed by Shana Feste (2011’s ‘Country Strong’) and stars Alex Pettyfur and Gabriella Wilde as a couple who begin to fall in love despite the fact that their parents try to split them up.



*Finally, of the films to come out this weekend, we have ‘Winter’s Tale’, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Mark Helprin. The film is directed by Akiva Goldsman (writer of ‘A Beautiful Mind’, ‘The DaVinci Code’ and… ‘Batman and Robin’ (do with that information as you will)) who makes his directorial debut with this film. Colin Farrell stars as a thief in 1916 New York who falls in love with a girl named Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay) who is dying from tuberculosis. Soon after she dies, he finds himself in modern-day New York and discovers that he has the power of reincarnation as he sets off to rescue her. The film also stars Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe.

FEBRUARY 21- After a weekend with three romance films, a pair of action films will open this weekend.



*Kevin Costner stars in ‘3 Days to Kill’, an action thriller directed by McG (‘Terminator Salvation’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’) and written by Luc Besson (‘The Fifth Element). Costner plays a dying Secret Service agent who is given one last assignment in exchange for medical treatment that could save him from dying.



*Paul W.S. Anderson’s (‘Resident Evil’) latest film ‘Pompeii’ centers on the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried the titular Roman town in lava and rubble. The film centers on a slave named Milo (Kit Harrington (‘Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow)) who must rescue his true love, Cassia (Emily Browning), the daughter of a merchant who is forced into marrying a corrupt senator (Kiefer Sutherland), as Vesuvius erupts.

FEBRUARY 28- The month closes out with three new films; a thriller, a film adaptation of a TV miniseries, and a found footage Sci-Fi film. Also, the final film from a critically acclaimed director will have an expanded release after opening in limited release the previous week.



*Liam Neeson reunites with his ‘Unknown’ director, Jaume Collet-Serra, for ‘Non-Stop’, in which he stars as an air marshal who receives text messages stating that the passengers on his plane will be killed unless $150 million is transferred into a secret bank account… which turns out to be his own. The film also stars Julianne Moore and Lupita Nyong’o.



*Based off of the TV miniseries ‘The Bible’, ‘Son of God’ tells the tale of Jesus Christ from the time of his birth to his resurrection. The film will consist of scenes from the miniseries along with some deleted scenes that were not featured on TV.



*(UPDATE: Just a few days after I first posted this, Paramount postponed the film's release and it will now open on January 30, 2015) Produced by Michael Bay, ‘Welcome to Yesterday’ is a found-footage film that follows a group of teenagers who discover plans for a time machine. They end up making one themselves and use it for personal gain, not realizing the consequences that will come from their actions.



*Initially opening back in July 2013 in Japan and after a limited opening on February 21^st, ‘The Wind Rises’ will have an expanded release this weekend. The film is directed by renowned anime director Hayao Miyazaki in what is set to be his last film before retirement. The film itself is based off of Miyazaki’s manga of the same name (‘Kaze Tachinu’ in Japanese) which centers on Jiro Horikoshi, the creator of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane. The film’s English dub cast includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Martin Short, and Stanley Tucci.

And those are the films that will be coming out in February 2014. Stay tuned for Part 2 next month where we’ll look at the March 2014 lineup.