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Originally Posted by Invid Ninja  Bearing in mind the original Verhoeven Robocop has been one of my favourite films since I was 11 or 12 (I'm 21 now) and still remains I think one of the absolute best movies of the 1980's, this had me very, very worried. I was honestly pleasantly surprised by the remake though, it's a very solid modern take on Robocop clearly from a director that in spite of the 12/PG-13 rating cares about the original material enough to craft his own take on the story with a definable style as well as an interesting and differing outlook on the original film's themes, dynamics and plot. The cast and script for the most part I also found very good to boot. Minor flaws aside, It's a firm 7/10 film for me. As an aside, Kermode is the only mainstream film critic I actually like.  |
The original Robocop is a satire. Satire done well is supposed to be provocative, over the top and
funny. The violence in the original was shocking, the humor clever and the points well made without ramming the subtext down the viewers throat. It was an intelligent piece of cinema that used pop sci-fi to make some very incisive statements on modern America.
The modern Robocop has
none of this whatsoever. The 'satire' is so heavy handed it actually ceases to be decent satire. It's just tiresome and obvious. The violence is actually
more appalling as it seems to treat the slaughter of human beings like some kind of call of duty videogame with the blood turned off just enough to get the kids involved. Gary oldman aside the acting is almost uniformly terrible and the script is just bland and predictable.
Ok perhaps not as bad as the diabolical Total recall remake but this isn't actually a good film. If the original robocop did not exist it would still be a poor film. I'd be sitting here typing that they had some nice ideas but deployed them terribly.
Oh and remember all the insiteful stuff about American industrial design that ran through the original? From the ED-209 to the 6000 sux, (an american tradition!) The point that half of what is designed is made to look cool but is impractical and lacks functionality. Remember the humor in the mediabreaks? (nuke em' ect.) All gone and without it all that remains is a hollow, soulless shell of a film.
We deserve better. Goddamitt we do!