RoboCop = Awesome

Movie Review: RoboCop

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Reviewed: 13 November 2013

jamesintexas rating--***1/2

Unlike Lethal Weapon, an action film from the late eighties that I finally caught up with last week, RoboCop did not disappoint in presenting a fairly straightforward science-fiction violent thriller with enough laughs and bleak commentary on our civilization to be both enjoyable and prescient. In a chilling echo of modern times, Detroit has declared bankruptcy and Omni Corp seems poised to raze the city and make a huge profit using its automated drones to replace the police. Construction of a new city offers tantalizing amounts of cash to corrupt corporate executives and criminal leaders galore. A newly transferred cop named Murphy survives a horrific attack and finds himself converted into a human cyborg nicknamed RoboCop. A blend of The Terminator and a sharp satire, RoboCop blends some very gory, tactile gross-out moments and effects with some more emotional moments, but the film never loses sight of its targets: the military industrial complex and the corporate culture. Although it is far from perfect, I think it is a perfectly serviceable entertaining thriller, and Verhoeven, as always, has something interesting to say. Peter Weller is fine as Murphy/RoboCop, and I did find some of the body-gore disturbing. The computer effects are fine for the time, and I love the corporate culture focus. It is being remade this year, and I hope it captures the same spirit of fun and sharp satire as this original. Highly recommended.