RoboCop
Reviews
Gimly
Ahhh, 1987, what a year for cinema. Not the least of which is Paul Verhoeven's incredible feat of practical effects engineering: _RoboCop_. This is one of those older movies where I can totally confirm for you, my love for it is in no way rooted in nostalgia. I didn't watch _RoboCop_ for the first time until 2013, when I was starting up my third decade of life. It's a phenomenal example of the period, but its also a great movie on its own. _Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite._
John Chard
They'll fix you. They fix everything. On his first day out on the streets of Detroit, Officer Murphy is brutally killed by known thug leader, Clarence Boddicker. Scientists at OCP are able to use what remains of Murphy's body and build a new heavily armed cyborg police officer, one that could rid the streets of crime forever. Paul Verhoeven has been called many things in his career, bonkers, challenging and visionary, here with his first perceived block buster American feature, he showcases all of those things. Robocop on the page (and with its title) looked like your average run of the mill sci-fi shoot them up, with its basic premise not exactly oozing originality either. But Verhoeven had screenwriter's Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner in his corner, and they came up with a superior script to fully realise his vision. That Robocop is a satirical critique of totalitarianism and corporate corruption is now a given. Yet it wasn't at first evident to the summer block buster crowd, but Robocop has stood up well to critical re-examinations and the depth digging that so many have afforded it. So with the script he wanted in place, Verhoeven utilised his memories from childhood, where his Netherlands home was taken over by a stomping German army, and added in the destruction factor, with no amount of technical expertise as well. Verhoeven paints an unhinged portrait of this Detroit (actual location shoot was parts of Texas), with skew whiff angles and bizarre twists lining the picture, the special effects even today looking tremendous. Robocop is extremely violent, especially in the directors cut that's now widely available, but even during the most wincing scenes, it stays brisk and sparky, and on his side is that his characters are as inhuman as the title protagonist is!. Thus the fusion of berserker sci-fi and human realism sits easy with the viewer, with the result serving notice to what a fine director Verhoeven can be. Peter Weller dons the Robo suit (enduring agony for weeks on end apparently) and does what is required, and Nancy Allen kicks buttocks as Murphy's partner, Anne Lewis. But it's with the unsavoury characters that Robocop gains its acting kudos. Ronny Cox, Miguel Ferrer and a wickedly vile Kurtwood Smith dominate proceedings, helped immeasurably by the nature of the script. Verhoeven is thought to be a hard character on set, demanding much from all involved, even driving the normally amiable Weller to thoughts of violence against his director. But few, if any of those involved in Robocop can now say the final result wasn't worth it, because between them they made a genre classic. 9/10
JPV852
Seen this several times over the years and still holds up well, story and satire wise, though certainly some of the effects were dated (in particular the death of one character falling out a window). Other than that, an entertaining and bloody 1980s action-thriller, where the sequels and a remake, and certainly the third entry, could not touch. Would like to think the proposed RoboCop Returns will succeed where other failed, but don't hold out much hope. **4.25/5**
CinemaSerf
Peter Weller is policeman "Murphy" who doesn't make it through his first day on patrol is the brutally lawless Detroit. Luckily for him, though, the "Omni" company has been developing plans for a semi-automated, heavily armed super cop - and pretty smartly he has been fused into this pretty amazing - if totally clunky - body armour that enables him to carry out his new duties with our fear of injury. Pretty soon, though, he discovers that he is amidst a web of corruption. Can he stay alive, keep his partner "Anne" (Nancy Allen) safe and thwart the evil plot that may well be tied into the criminals who left him for dead in the first place? Plenty of action and pyrotechnics follow as the story marches along to it's pretty obvious conclusion. Plenty of pace, some pretty banal dialogue - it's all the usual stuff that I found adequate, but really pretty dated now. Weller is ok, but I'd sooner have had Arnie in the role to inject some charisma and a little humour to this otherwise rather dry and procedural affair. It's perfectly watchable, but I can't quite rave about it.
drystyx
I'd buy that for a dollar and a dime. Outbid them fair and square. This is one of the Verhoeven masterpieces. It's a bit of action and a bit of parody, and a lot of "in your face" directing that puts Verhoeven a step above Tarantino, because Tarantino actually makes fun of the geeks in the audience with one dimensional characters, while Verhoeven gives multiple dimensions to everyone. Here, we have a police force that is collapsing to crime that is idolized. Talk about seeing the future! Big business claims they run the police force by equipping them like they do the military. One little cop, Murphy, runs afoul of the most dangerous criminal, and this criminal is something else. He will probably make you laugh with his nerdy look and his lines, but he's deadly. However, he does tell his gang to give Murphy a hand. The big business has a big boss, an older guy about to retire according to his second in command, Dick. And Dick is aptly named. Meanwhile, a young upstart who is a bit of an anti villain or anti hero, played by Miguel Ferrer, is not afraid of "Dick". You may have seen some of the famous scenes, and you've surely heard the catch line "I'd buy that for a dollar", which is meant to be the very nonsense catch phrase that it became. Peter Weller is Murphy, and Nancy Allen is his loyal police partner who lets one of the bad guys take her out, but she does come back in. The black comedy of this film helps to make it the classic it is.
Movie Recommendation
RoboCop 21990-06-22After a successful deployment of the RoboCop Law Enforcement unit, OCP sees its goal of urban pacification come closer and closer, but as this develops, a new narcotic known as "Nuke" invades the streets led by God-delirious leader Cane. As this menace grows, it may prove to be too much for Murphy to handle. OCP tries to replicate the success of the first unit, but ends up with failed prototypes with suicidal issues... until Dr. Faxx, a scientist straying away from OCP's path, uses Cane as the new subject for the RoboCop 2 project, a living God.More...
RoboCop 31993-01-21The mega corporation Omni Consumer Products is still bent on creating their pet project, Delta City, to replace the rotting city of Detroit. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the area have no intention of abandoning their homes simply for desires of the company. To this end, OCP have decided to force them to leave by employing a ruthless mercenary army to attack and harass them. An underground resistance begins and in this fight, RoboCop must decide where his loyalties lie.More...
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RoboCop2014-01-30In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.More...
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Starship Troopers1997-11-07Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs."More...
The Terminator1984-10-26In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?More...
Romancing the Stone1984-03-30Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.More...
Blue Velvet1986-09-19The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.More...
Field of Dreams1989-04-21Ray Kinsella is an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice telling him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond. He does, but the voice's directions don't stop -- even after the spirits of deceased ballplayers turn up to play.More...
Withnail & I1987-06-19Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.More...
Solarbabies1986-11-26In a future in which most water has disappeared from the Earth, we find a group of children, mostly teenagers, who are living at an orphanage, run by the despotic rulers of the new Earth. The group in question plays a hockey based game on roller skates and is quite good. It has given them a unity that transcends the attempts to bring them to heel by the government. Finding an orb of special power, they find it has unusual effects on them. They escape from the orphanage (on skates) and try to cross the wasteland looking for a place they can live free as the storm-troopers search for them and the orb.More...
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer1986-09-24Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.More...
Centurion2010-02-15Britain, A.D. 117. Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus' legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon.More...
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