Robocops

[Ben X]

Original is an absolute classic.

 

2 is awful. Robocop is acting really weird even before he gets his directives fucked with - it's like Weller is taking the piss or forgot which part of the film he was in. Then he gets turned into a comedy buffoon, then gets chopped up and we barely see him for ages while all this OCP bullshit goes on. The sub-plot with Murphy's wife is an interesting idea but doesn't go anywhere and feels tacked on to make Murphy less bland - his only characteristics in this are - pursuing a drug-lord, and is a robot and therefore easily fuckable-with. Lewis is barely in it.

3 actually has a few nice touches and moments that feel more like the original - the general set-up of OCP pushing people out of old Detroit is cool, with the final set-up of cops and concerned citizens in a battle against OCP-paid criminal scum feeling like the logical conclusion, and Lewis, Johnson and Reed get some good moments. Plus the Johnny Rehab cartoon is amazing. There are a shitload of great character actors in it too - Rip Torn, CCH Pounder, Stephen Root, Bradley Whitford, Mako, Jeff Garlin. I even don't mind the jetpack and gun-hand, it feels logical that Robo would upgrade and customise for different situations and he can always take them off to go back to Classic Robocop, plus it gives him more of the superhero feel that, as Dan pointed out to me, they create with the face-mask.
It's still not that good a film, though, obviously. There's loads of goofy shit, especially the villains and the kid, and Robo still spends far too much time being broken which is very boring and makes him seem weak (not in the first film, obv, the targeting system scene is ace). Plus that fucking pink pimpmobile (although once pretty much everything except the chassis is blown away it looks like Robo is driving around in a 1920s car, Mafia style, which would be an amazing film plot).

Basically, Robocop only works as an origin story. If you're making an entire film where he's just a robot cop doing normal cop things, it isn't very interesting.

 

However, this doesn't help the reimagining, which is very boring. It feels like it went through about ten screenwriters, all smoothing the edges off.  A Robocop where neither Murphy nor Lewis is much of a character but Casey Wong and The Old Man are.

 

And now good ol' Neil Blomkamp is making what is apparently going to be a direct sequel to the original, based on the unmade sequel script the original's writers penned immediately after the first film: https://deadline.com/2018/07/robocop-neill-blomkamp-directing-robocop-returns-justin-rhodes-ed-neumeier-michael-miner-mgm-1202424639/ The article seems a tiny bit vague about the exact sequel nature of it, I wonder if they're going to do what the upcoming Terminator and Halloween films are apparently doing and explicitly erasing everything except the first film (or two with Terminator).

 

 

[Erkki]

I've only seen the original of all The Cops Robo, and it sounds like I should leave it like that at least until the Blomkamp sequel? The first one was amazing, though.

[Ben X]

Yes, definitely leave it like that! Though you could read the Frank Miller Robocop Vs Terminator comic, that's great.

[brkl]

I wish the 2014 film had been stronger. There were some good ideas in it and I love Michael Keaton in it. I'm also a fan of Joel Kinnaman, but I wouldn't say it's his best performance. This visual has a lot of promise, but the film doesn't deliver. I do think the script deals with important cultural developments going on in the 2010's, so at least it tries to say something.