RoboCop
Directed by: José Padilha
Written by: Joshua Zetumer
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Samuel L. Jackson, Aimee Garcia, John Paul Ruttan, Patrick Garrow, K.C. Collins, Daniel Kash, Zach Grenier
Action/Crime/Sci-Fi/Thriller - 108 min
Written by: Joshua Zetumer
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Samuel L. Jackson, Aimee Garcia, John Paul Ruttan, Patrick Garrow, K.C. Collins, Daniel Kash, Zach Grenier
Action/Crime/Sci-Fi/Thriller - 108 min
Ever wonder what it would be like if Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction had his own cable TV talk show? He could bring the same intensity he employs quoting bible versus and discussing Royale with cheese to debating current events with politicians and swaying American opinions. In RoboCop, a Jules Winnfield knock-off, Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), grandstands on such a stage.
Novak’s cause de jour are robots. He wants to see law enforcement robots on every street corner in our cities protecting the good folk from evildoers. He directs his ire on Congress who made it illegal for robots to work on domestic soil, even though they patrol downtown Tehran engaging suicide bombers. The business tycoon behind the robots is Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), CEO of OmniCorp. He suggests the way around the robot ban is to put a human face on the product; put a man inside the machine.
The man turns out to be Detroit PD detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman). With almost no hope of survival after getting hit with a car bomb, Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), OmniCorp’s research doctor, takes the few remaining pieces and parts and fashions a machine around Alex. The construct is mostly machine with a human face and some brains. When the suit is deconstructed, the result is almost nauseating to behold; please keep the suit on Alex.
There are two reasons RoboCop is not just a jaded knock-off of the 1987 original. The first I already mentioned is Samuel L. Jackson’s mesmerizing performance as he struts around his stage excoriating anyone who would dare disagree with his opinions. If you are anti-police robot, then you are blatantly pro-crime. The issues this touches on concern civil liberties and the fact that human policemen can feel and judge rather than coldly calculate. None of these issues are explored too deep, but they are a welcome respite from the video game action scenes when RoboCop engages his battle mode.
The second interesting side plot is Alex Murphy’s family. His wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), and young son, David (John Paul Ruttan), are still without a husband and father even though Alex is technically alive. Tinkering in Alex’s brain to control his human emotions and thoughts by Dr. Norton not only shut out distractions, but Alex’s family. Clara and David lose Alex all over again.
Again, it is the human side of things that make this action movie retread almost work. The shoot-em-up sequences pitting RoboCop against dozens of machinegun wielding bad guys are redundant and at times silly. When the visor comes down on Alex’s face, he might as hold a video game controller because that is what it looks like to the audience. I recognize RoboCop must go out there and deal out some justice, but must the action be filmed specifically for 12-year-old male adolescents?
The filmmakers started with truly effective lead-ins weaving together social controversy which is not too far from what is on cable TV today and the effects of a menacing multinational corporation manipulating new machine dad. As remakes of well-known 1980s films become more common, perhaps the best compliment about the updated RoboCop is it could have been much worse. Instead of milking the franchise for RoboCop 2, I hope the studio considers giving Samuel L. Jackson his own spin-off to rant and rave around the stage at will. I have no doubt he could pull such a feat off for two engrossing hours of film.
Novak’s cause de jour are robots. He wants to see law enforcement robots on every street corner in our cities protecting the good folk from evildoers. He directs his ire on Congress who made it illegal for robots to work on domestic soil, even though they patrol downtown Tehran engaging suicide bombers. The business tycoon behind the robots is Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), CEO of OmniCorp. He suggests the way around the robot ban is to put a human face on the product; put a man inside the machine.
The man turns out to be Detroit PD detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman). With almost no hope of survival after getting hit with a car bomb, Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), OmniCorp’s research doctor, takes the few remaining pieces and parts and fashions a machine around Alex. The construct is mostly machine with a human face and some brains. When the suit is deconstructed, the result is almost nauseating to behold; please keep the suit on Alex.
There are two reasons RoboCop is not just a jaded knock-off of the 1987 original. The first I already mentioned is Samuel L. Jackson’s mesmerizing performance as he struts around his stage excoriating anyone who would dare disagree with his opinions. If you are anti-police robot, then you are blatantly pro-crime. The issues this touches on concern civil liberties and the fact that human policemen can feel and judge rather than coldly calculate. None of these issues are explored too deep, but they are a welcome respite from the video game action scenes when RoboCop engages his battle mode.
The second interesting side plot is Alex Murphy’s family. His wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), and young son, David (John Paul Ruttan), are still without a husband and father even though Alex is technically alive. Tinkering in Alex’s brain to control his human emotions and thoughts by Dr. Norton not only shut out distractions, but Alex’s family. Clara and David lose Alex all over again.
Again, it is the human side of things that make this action movie retread almost work. The shoot-em-up sequences pitting RoboCop against dozens of machinegun wielding bad guys are redundant and at times silly. When the visor comes down on Alex’s face, he might as hold a video game controller because that is what it looks like to the audience. I recognize RoboCop must go out there and deal out some justice, but must the action be filmed specifically for 12-year-old male adolescents?
The filmmakers started with truly effective lead-ins weaving together social controversy which is not too far from what is on cable TV today and the effects of a menacing multinational corporation manipulating new machine dad. As remakes of well-known 1980s films become more common, perhaps the best compliment about the updated RoboCop is it could have been much worse. Instead of milking the franchise for RoboCop 2, I hope the studio considers giving Samuel L. Jackson his own spin-off to rant and rave around the stage at will. I have no doubt he could pull such a feat off for two engrossing hours of film.
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