'Robocop' Review

Robocop Movie Review:

Less Action, More Soul

BY IAN TAN

Robocop is the 2014 remake of Paul Verhoven’s 1987 cult classic of the same title. With almost every film from the 80’s now being remade for us modern day moviegoers, not every remake is has sure-shot of being a hit, or even being half as good as the original. However, there have been several remakes that have stood their own ground in being different, fun and unique versions of their originals, such as the 2011 remake of Dredd.

This reimagining of RoboCop is set in the future of 2028, where human versus mechanical law enforcement is a hot, debatable topic. The world is now divided into pro- and anti-robot law enforcement. America, however, is “robophobic” and laws prevent the act of placing a machine on the streets as an official law enforcer. This is a major problem for OmniCorp’s villainous CEO, Raymond Sellers (Michael Keaton), who then comes up with a brilliant idea of “putting a man inside a machine”, which would provide the Americans some form of comfort knowing that a human being is inside and controlling the machine, instead of a full fledged robot that can’t make decisions based on morals or ethics.

Enter Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), a family man and police officer who unfortunately gets blown to bits due to a fatal car explosion. Fortunately, the power of OmniCorp is able to piece back the remains of Murphy and replace severely damaged body parts with robotic ones. He is more machine now than man, ala Darth Vader. Thus, RoboCop is born, and Raymond Sellers seizes this opportunity to put his idea of a man inside a machine to patrol the streets into reality, making RoboCop the flagship product of OmniCorp. But hey, that’s still a human inside that suit, and he has rights, doesn’t he? And so begins our 2014, PG-13 (goodbye blood squibs) reboot of RoboCop.

The film’s strong point is definitely the actors’ performances, all of whom deliver their roles with panache and gravitas. Joel Kinnaman does a fine job as Alex Murphy/RoboCop, being a fine heir to Peter Weller’s iconic performance. Kinnaman portrays both the robotic and human side of his character with believability and enough emotional resonance, especially in the scenes where the family sub-plot comes into play. Gary Oldman, as always, is a strong screen presence, here as Dr. Dennett Norton, OmniCorp’s chief scientist and Alex’s close acquaintance who helps guide Alex as well as to provide him with moral support whenever he feels queasy about the fact that more than half of his physical self is no more and that he will have to live life as a cyborg for ever. Michael Keaton is a real corporate douchebag as Raymond Sellers, giving the film an antagonist we’d love to hate. As much of a dirt bag Keaton is in his role, however, he is rarely able to match the business and money-minded antagonists who plagued the first film whose violent actions and use of R-rated coarse language helped us hate them all much more. Having the Clarence Boddicker (the drug dealer in the original) character here downgraded to a supporting-role-version of him that isn’t of much importance to the central plot of the film doesn’t help either. Jackie Earle Haley however, owns every scene he is in as Rick Mattox, a military tactician who is a genuine cocky pain in the neck, making for the film’s more memorable “villains”. Supporting characters, played by the likes of Abbie Cornish, Jay Baruchel and Samuel L. Jackson do a fine job to progress and tell this RoboCop story and help in the emotional (Abbie Cornish) and comedic departments (Sam L. Jackson, of course).

While the original ‘RoboCop’ was a fun, unique blend of bloody violence, humour and social satire, this remake instead delivers a film with more emotional strength and social commentary (instead of social satire), although Samuel L. Jackson’s Pat Novak character does help fill in the satirical part of the film’s humour in good old Samuel L. Jackson fashion.

But what makes this remake work is what’s at the core of its story - a man whose very privilege of being a human is taken away from him due to corporate control and technological advancements, something the original Paul Verhoven film did not stress upon as much. Also benefitting this remake is the fact that they do allow Alex to be self-aware right after his accident and transformation to RoboCop, adding more humanity and emotion to the proceedings. This is not a downside though, as the filmmakers are still able to pull of the titular character’s arc without losing the essence of what audiences liked about the original RoboCop (a straight-faced, unemotional robot that could let out a few clever one-liners).  Without spoiling anything, you will also get to see RoboCop’s transition from dead straight robot to curious human in way that pays a nice homage to the original, although the transition feels oddly quick in this remake.

The homages and nods to the original film are present and well placed to please fans of the original. The most notable and favourable homage, in my opinion at least, is the reincarnation of the classic metallic grey RoboCop suit which is beautifully redesigned to fit the remake’s modern setting while keeping the main esthetics of the original suit intact. Definitely my favourite RoboCop suit ever put on film. The black suit, which is featured on promotional material of the film, was not as much of a bother to me than I had originally thought; it’s sleek, tough-looking and definitely able to hold its own in combat. The addition of the fan-favourite E-20_ drone is also well implemented into the film’s story in a way that suits the studio’s desired PG-13 rating, so no more gruesome, bloody kills for E-20_ this time round.

What might disappoint most audiences, and fans of the original alike, is the action in the film, which is shot mostly with hand-held cameras with frenetic and dizzying visuals. Also, since the film is required to have a PG-13 rating instead of its desired R-rating, blood squibs, graphic violence, and not forgetting acid-burnt skin, are all absent in this remake; and these are the things that made the original so much fun. This, however, does not affect the remake as its newer, darker, and more serious tone would probably not have benefitted from such brutal images. However, violence is one thing and action is another, and this film unfortunately falls short of any thrills and spills in terms of action. Even when the action scenes do come, they last for short periods of time and aren’t choreographed well either. There is one scene, though, where RoboCop faces off with two E-20_s, which are about 3 times bigger than they were in the original, which is pretty enjoyable to watch, but that’s the only cool action scene this movie has.

Is this remake the next ‘Dredd’? Not really. Or is it the next ‘Total Recall’? Not so much either. While the 2014 remake of ‘RoboCop’ isn’t as great of a remake as ‘Dredd’ was, it fortunately isn’t as terrible as ‘Total Recall’s, and definitely benefits from a more human story, fine performances and better visual effects, but lacks the fun campiness of ‘80s action films that the original ‘RoboCop’ did.

6.8 out of 10 stars