Robocop Movie Review

Robocop

                                  

Robocop is a science fiction action movie released in 2014. This movie is the remake of the classic sci-fi movie of the same name from 1987 and a reboot of that Robocop series.  The screenplay of the new Robocop is written by Joshua Zetumer and the movie is directed by José Padilha. The major characters of this film are played by Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman,  Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, and Michael K. Williams.

Robocop tells the story of 2028, where a badly wounded police officer is given robotic body parts to keep him alive, which makes him half man and half robot and turns him into a super cop.

A scene from the movie Robocop

Plot:

Omnicorp is very determined to make the use of drones and automatic robots popular for inland use for public security, which is now already deployed in foreign country. They also have a spokesperson who lectures about its benefits on the TV, but the use of this kind of equipments are prohibited by Dreyfus Act. So they are looking for a perfect candidate, who will have some damaged body parts replaced by machines, which will make a positive impression among people about machines for security.

In the meantime, detective Alex Murphy and his partner are following a lead to catch a powerful crime boss. They are on disguise, but some corrupt police officer alerts the crime boss. It starts a gun fight, by which, Alex’s partner becomes badly injured. Alex becomes more determined to catch that boss, which makes him a target for them.

Alex is living a happy life with his wife and son, and one day, the crime boss’s men set a bomb in Alex’s car. The bomb goes off and Alex becomes very critically injured.

Alex seems like the perfect candidate of Omnicorp, so their lead scientist Norton convinces Alex’s wife to replace Alex’s damaged organs with robotic parts to save his life. She gives permission and Alex becomes the Robocop.

After waking up, Alex cannot accept his new body, but soon, after hearing everything, Alex accepts it. He is given arms and training by Omnicorp’s military technician and Norton. He also visits his family after he gets a little comfortable with his new body.

The military technician doubts Alex’s ability to fight compared with the other full robots. In a simulation, he is proved right. Norton then makes so modifications in Alex’s brain, for which, when he fights, the computer takes over Alex’s decisions and makes him a faster, better soldier. A real fighting test is again conducted by Omnicorp between Alex and the technician’s robot team, where Alex proves that he is more efficient than both of men and machines.

Before an event, where Alex is brought in front of public for the first time as Robocop, Alex starts to have emotional problems. To solve it, Norton lowers Alex’s dopamine levels, which makes him almost emotionless. Alex performs his duties perfectly there, but ignores his family.

As Alex joins the police force again, he becomes the super cop and successfully brings the crime rate to a very low level. But he keeps ignoring his family.

At one time, his wife faces him and tells him the condition of his son. At first, Alex becomes confused, but soon his mind takes over the decision making computer parts and leaving everything behind, he starts to solve his own case, where he was attacked.

He attacks the headquarter of that crime boss and kills him. He then kills the corrupt police officer. When Alex was about to attach the police chief for her corruption, he is turned off by Omnicorp.

The Omnicorp CEO uses Alex’s success to show his company’s credibility and a repeal agaist the Dreyfus law rises. Meanwhile, Alex’s wife tells the press openly that she wants to see her husband. Feeling that Alex’s presence is no more important, the Omnicorp CEO decides to turn Alex off. But before that, Norton reaches to Alex, wakes him and tells him everything. After knowing the facts, Alex feels betrayed and heads for the CEO of Omnicorp.

My reviews about the movie Robocop:

I saw the old Robocop movies long time ago and I don’t remember them well. But I was a big fan of the Robocop TV series. Comparing with them, I didn’t like the new Robocop movie much. But considering other things, this one is still a good movie.

The plot of Robocop was good, but it seemed too congested to me. A lot of stuffs were clustered in one movie, where none of the robot versus human conflict, the crime fighting or the fight against the Omnicorm became very prominent. I think the direction was good, but the screenplay was far from what it could be. The director could focus on any of them and could make that prominent to make this movie better.

I think in this movie, the Robocop lacked the personality what he had in the 1987. Seeing the computer-decision-making part taking over while Robocop fights was not a thing I liked. This movie also had a good number of villains. But one of the major villains, the mob boss, was killed in just a few minutes fight. The other villain, the technician of Omnicorp was also not very major. But the thing I hated most in the movie was seeing the Robocop without his robotic body. I don’t know why the director had to show that several times.

When I first saw the trailer, I didn’t like the black suit of Robocop, specially comparing with the old silver colored suit. But in the movie, the suits looked modern, high tech and pretty cool, suited better in this time. It looked even better with his motorbike. This Robocop is also more technologically advanced than the old one. The old Robocop had some pointy thing coming out of his hand, which he used to communicate, to hack computer and to charge his batteries. But in this movie, how he is getting power is not shown.

The acting of all the major characters in Robocop were good. Same goes for the dialogues, make ups and costumes. The special effects were also very good. But I think a more important role played by Samuel L. Jackson could make this movie better.  

There was no nude or gore scene in Robocop, so you can safely watch it with kids.

So, finally, I think Robocop is a good movie. The old Robocop fans may or may not get disappointed by watching this one, but everyone else should like it. But as a fan of the old ones, I think, even if not worse, the new Robocop remake does not give any improvement over the old one either. But I will still recommend watching the Robocop to everyone, as it seemed like a good movie. And this movie ends with a lot of potential kept for the sequel, so I’m eagerly waiting for that.

How do you like the Robocop? Do you agree with my points, or disagree? Share in the comments.

To know more about Robocop:

IMDB Link: Robocop movie IMDB

Wikipedia Link: Robocop movie Wiki
To buy or rent this movie from Amazon, or to watch online, you can get the best deal here: Robocop Movie.