RoboCop (2014)

RoboCop doesn't even compare to the original 1987 classic, and the sad thing is that this film lacks the original's satirical edge and humor. It's a movie made in a 2010s Hollywood risk-free environment directed by Jose Padilla who had too much respect for Paul Verhoeven's original that he had to rephrase any and all criticism he had for THIS movie. RoboCop 2014 lacks RoboCop 1987's teeth; it almost feels like it has none at all.I love the updated look first of all: it truly is great how they sleeked everything up to speed with post-2012 technologies and such, though the characterization, the lack of over-the-top violence and thuggery is something the remake desperately needed in order to measure to RoboCop's original '80s brilliance. Sadly the remake fell short because Padilla couldn't experiment enough; he was a dog on the Hollywood-executive leash and couldn't bite back once. Joel Kinnamen does bring some depth to Alex Murphy's character, but the guy's like a bunny-rabbit compared to Peter Weller's hardened veteran-cop but caring family man look that made him such a paradoxically awesome character in the original.Overall, this is a nice visual redo that unfortunately lacks the substance of its source.

Robocop 2014How can a remake or a reboot be justified? Well for me I think it need not be better than the original but it needs to bring something new to the table. That's how I think the Robocop reboot earns the right to its own existence. By no means is it better or even any where near as good as the original but it does bring a new take on the story. Where the 1987 version focused on satire the reboot tackles political issues relating to the world we live in today. So at least this movie has tried to move with the times. Where I think this film falls down is with its child friendly rating and lack of a convincing villain. The graphic violence of the original showed us the deconstruction of a man in the most brutal form. Necessary before we see his resurrection. For anyone not familiar with the tale Robocop is about a detective who is severely injured in the line of duty by a set of corrupt individuals. He is then brought back from the brink of death and resurrected as a super advanced crime fighting cyborg. In the 1987 movie the villains take turns at gunning a defenseless man down until he is left only as bloody scraps on a warehouse floor. This allows the audience to root for Murphy in his quest for revenge and to regain his humanity. Robocop 2014 doesn't give us this. Instead a car bomb is the method of which Detective Alex Murphy suffers his fate. Weak to say the least. Joel Kinnaman who portrays Robocop does a good job at conveying the pain of a broken man trapped inside a metallic shell. An interesting and moving scene is when he is slowly dismantled to show what actually is left of the man he once was. A head, a beating heart and two pulsating lungs. Kinnaman is actually more robotic in human form as he is as the machine. This differs from the Robocop played by Peter Weller as he is a machine slowly becoming a man once more. Proving that the soul never dies. There are some good supporting roles. Abby Cornish as Murphy's wife does a fine job as does Gary Oldmen as the scientist who bolts Murphy back together. There are interesting turns from Samuel L Jackson and Michael Keaton but sadly as I mentioned before no credible villain. This allows the action to fall flat. In a modern world where the cinema audience Is fed a diet of Iron Man and Avengers nothing here is memorable. Even the newly designed Robo suit looks like a Power-rangers costume only with better production value. There's no heavy duty metal clunk to Murphys Armour. Instead he looks like he's wearing a cladded wet-suit. Even the cars that are supposed to be futuristic just look like normal cars with plastic trims stuck over the wheel arches. Redesigned ED209 enforcement droids do look the business though as do the futuristic mobile phones and other tech. Robocop 2014 is a mixed bag. A reboot that at least tries to do something new with old material. A shame then that it falls short but it could be built upon with a sequel.

Now I understand that a lot of people feel upset about how this remake departed from the original. After all, the original Robocop was a masterpiece. The dark comedy, the violence, the 1980's.... no remake could ever recreate that. After all, we're not living in the 1980's anymore.But thanks to other people's scathing reviews, I approached this movie with low expectations and I was actually very pleasantly surprised. While the dark comedy aspect of Robocop is very much toned down in the remake, and yes the weepy family moments are a little overdone (and that's why I don't give it 10 stars), I think this movie still maintains a lot of good qualities.Example: in the original Robocop, the battle scenes were actually very disappointing. They involved Robocop lumbering slowly through a warehouse, full of guys just standing there unloading their AK's at him to no avail. He shot them down one by one, and nobody ever grew a brain and realized their rifles were no use. But in the remake, I think the gunfights were a lot more realistic. The new Robocop is fast and agile, and also vulnerable to gunfire. He doesn't just stand there stupidly and let bullets bounce off of him, he ducks and weaves and takes cover, gets hit occasionally and actually gets hurt from it. So in that sense I'd say the remake improved on the original.Also, the evil Omnicorp is as evil as ever, albeit in a flashy 21st century kind of way. The sinister 1980's businessmen in suits have been replaced with soulless, clever Steve Jobs types, which I found to be a pleasing illustration of how the corporate scumbag class has evolved over the past 30+ years.There's also the deep-rooted corruption within the police force and within Corporate America that lies at the root of all evil, and Robocop wants more than anything to root it out. But his programming does not allow him to do so. That, I believe, is the central message of the original Robocop that has been preserved in the remake. I think the movie would have been an absolute fail if they tried to erase that central message.So all in all, this remake has been adapted for the 21st century audience, for better or for worse. I think they did a really good job, all things considered. My only real complaint is that the dark comedy was removed, presumably to reach a wider audience. Because of that flaw, I give it 7/10 stars.

This must be the worst RoboCop movie in my opinion, and it has nothing to do with nostalgia because I am not even from that time.The movie starts with a little shooting, which is fine because I don't want to start the movie with a lot of shooting and violence or gore. The story has to build itself up a little.What I did not like is that it took so long that it had some action in it again. After Alex Murphy survives the explosion the next 30 minutes is about how they are building him and him learning to accept it.After this it goes into some boring shooting simulation against another robot, and Alex fails. Then they again go into enhancing him.He now has "Battle Mode". When he is not fighting crime he is Alex Murphy and acts like a human, but when he is engaged in battle the machine takes over and now he RoboCop.Now I did like that he was not slow and so robot like when he moves like the original RoboCop. This one can run, jump and move more freely all together. However when he is just walking he does not feel natural but like a robot just like the original RoboCop. Because he can do all those other things it is bugging me that he walks like that.Since I am already referring to the original RoboCop I will also say that I do not like the new design. The original looked so good and it was much more simple than the new one, the new one looks to advanced for my taste. And he color black was unappealing to me. In RoboCop 3 Alex had that machine-gun arm and his standard gun hidden inside his leg. That machine-gun arm was awesome and it felt like an upgrade exclusive to him. The new RoboCop also has the standard gun but next to that hes uses normal weapons the humans would also be able to use.However, despite all what I have said the movie gets very interesting in the last 20 minutes. Although it is short I will give it a chance.Him finding out who is behind everything and the shooting and the driving is all interesting. He also defied the protocol and what was called "Directive 4:Do not oppose OCP officers" at the end.There are also reasons why the action is stupid. RoboCop just walks in the middle and when he screws up he gets showered with bullets. Because he acts like this he kills the last man but also gets destroyed as he was already damaged. Then we see him being repaired AGAIN.Lets talk about references to the original RoboCop. I wont be talking about things like his gun because this movie is of course a reboot (remake) of the original movie. The only thing that made me think of the original is when someone said "I wouldn't buy that for a dollar" referring to one of the many commercials that the original first 3 movies had. That is what this movie also lacks, the humor that the originals had. The commercials were a funny comedic relief, in this movie it is not only that the commercials are not there, I didn't laugh a single time during this movie.Now to sum it up: According to me this movie is crap for the most part and the worst RoboCop movie yet