RoboCop Movie Review

January releases are finally out of the way, so let' sit back and pray that February has more to offer in terms of quality. First up is Robocop...

Robocop is the science-fiction remake movie which retells the story that had become so popular due to the success and cult-following of the 1987 original. This time the story is re-mastered and given a new spin. The film follows enthusiastic cop and family-man Alex Murphy, who unfortuanetly sustains fatal wounds when a group of criminals try to kill him using a car bomb. In order to survive, the remnants of his body are combined with a mechanical suit, thus he becomes Robocop. He is half man, half robot, all cop.

To my surprise Robocop isn't actually that bad! I was shocked to find myself enjoying this movie so much, despite all of it's flaws. The movie excels when it doesn't take itself too seriously when it becomes a fun action movie, which is refreshing to see because my expectations for this flick were initially very low.

Boasting a very creditable cast with the likes of Samuel L Jackson (who brilliantly plays a satirical news reporter), Michael Keaton (the villain and owner of Omnicorp; Robocop's creators) and Gary Oldman (a scientist), who actually delivers the movie's best performance in my opinion. All are good in their respective roles because they don't take things too seriously, and have fun with the film.

Robocop himself has an awesome looking suit and the action sequences all play out pretty well. What I was also surprised with was the amount of detail they went into to flesh out the characters. Their motivations are always understood, plus Robocop himself is a more complex character in this movie. The plot explores the balance between how human/robotic Robocop is. If he's too robotic, his family and friends are completely ignored and he becomes an emotionless vessel, yet he becomes an incredibly efficient cop (access to the entire city's CCTV and criminal records doesn't do him any harm either!). The same can be said vice versa. All in all, it makes the movie more interesting from a character stand point, which makes up for the lack of initial emotional attachment.

However this brings me on to my first criticism. I was never really that emotionally invested in the struggles of Alex Murphy or is family. Rather, I was enjoying the concept of the story along with the fun action sequences. Also, the film does slow down in the middle and the plot accelerates without it ever really progressing for about half an hour, which is irritating because you want to see Robocop fighting crime on the streets!

The directing is fairly good and some of the action is nice to watch. However, the movie could have benefited more from a steady directing style as some of the sequences are nauseating to say the least! I understand that they want to make the movie feel hands on as if you're following Robocop through hallways taking out the bad guys, but for me a steadier hand would have been much appreciated.

Joel Kinnaman plays Robocop and he's ok. However, at times it does show that this is his first major role in Hollywood as some of his reactions are pretty darn bad. He'll improve with age, but in this movie sometimes it is unfortuanetly laughable some of the acting he delivers.

The beginning 10 minutes of the movie was fantastic, with Samuel L Jackson reporting to us (as a TV presenter) about the use of robots to police people in other countries. Then the classic Robocop tune kicks in, which I really thought should have been used a lot more in the film because there are some musical choices which detract from the film in some scenes.

Robocop to my surprise is still a fun movie to watch. It has many flaws but when it gets good it borders into greatness at times, and is strongest when it avoids being overly dramatic and becomes a fun action flick:


Rating - B-


1 sentence summary - Flawed but fun, a good time once you see past it's flaws!


Thanks for reading,
Matt