Robocop - Remake
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Big Phoenix
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THIS RoboCop reboot by director Jose Padilha, thankfully, doesn't try to copy the original 1987 version by Paul Verhoeven, although it does follow the same path.
Viewers will still get to see a Christ-like figure being killed, resurrected and saving his city, or flock, from the evils of capitalism. There's still a corporation that's pulling the strings of the city, and maybe the whole country, by promoting its saviour, which in this 2014 version comes in a sleek black chrome finish.
The 1987 was a satire about TV news programmes and the greed of corporations. However, its main theme was that underneath the Judge Dredd-like armour lay a heart teeming with humanity.
The 2014 version still places the story in Detroit but doesn't mention that the city in reality is bankrupt. It also focuses more on the relationship between RoboCop and his wife and son, who were not prominent in the first version.
This film has its moments, particularly when RoboCop faces off against a multitude of robotic cops in a warehouse. He disposes of them with the elan of a confident gamer, and viewers even get to see his point of view.
However, for a film that talks a lot about emotions, this film feels strangely detached, meaning, it doesn't encourage viewers to root for our "black" superhero.
It doesn't help that RoboCop's wife keeps popping into the picture at inopportune moments. The filmmaker wants to show more of RoboCop's family life, but this is the part of the film that fails miserably.
The idea of having robots patrolling cities was a new one in 1987. But, in 2014, with all the news about US drones taking out Afghan Taliban rebels, the idea of that now is much more plausible.
Padilha frames his film with the notion that US robots and drones are maintaining law and order in faraway lands (Iran) but can't do the same back home because of a piece of legislation that bars them from doing so.
Samuel Jackson plays TV host Pat Novak, whose in-your-face reportage is often incendiary. He asks if Americans are robo-phobic. "What's more important than the safety of the American people?"
The preamble doesn't aid the film in any way. The film should have just cut out the first few minutes and leapt headfirst into the story. It wants to comment on current issues, just like what the 1987 film did, but its preface bogs down the film.
Similarly, it showing OmniCorp as thinking about ways to maximise profits from its robots and drones in the US market is nothing short of boring. Isn't that what all corporations do? There's nothing devious about it.
The firm wants to humanise its robots because OmniCorp boss Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) says Americans want a product with a conscience, or something that knows what it feels like to be human. I take this to mean that American troops or security forces will always think twice before killing civilians. I had to suppress a sAmerican Inventor when I heard Sellars say that line.
Detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman of TV's The Killing) is a righteous cop who stumbles on a plot about dirty cops working hand in hand with drug lord Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow).
For that, he gets blown into smithereens. When he next wakes up, he's in a body armour. He recoils at the sight of his metallic structure and runs out of the lab and into the fields in a scene similar to that in Avatar.
The scene of Dr Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) showing RoboCop what's left of his body is touching, and so is the scene where he meets his son for the first time. RoboCop's wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), is competent as the strong wife who wants to know what happened to her husband.
Her total acceptance of his new body is commendable but it would have been more realistic to show her gasping or taking a moment to take it all in. She could also have been showed wondering how they would ever make love again.
However, Clara becomes persistent and a pain in viewers' necks. I don't think viewers will for one minute believe in their unusual relationship.
For the rest of the film, viewers will see RoboCop being put through his paces and watching him expand his limited acting skills. This brings us to Kinnaman, whose sardonic and wisecracking ways are curbed by the suit he's wearing. In fact, he's just a lump of metal.
Peter Weller was in a similar situation in the first film but he allowed his acting to show us his pain, anger and desire for revenge. Kinnaman, meanwhile, just goes through the motions.
In short, RoboCop is a huge mess that lacks emotion. Heck, I can't even make myself be angry with this film or take it as an affront to the first film.
2 1/2 out of 5
Viewers will still get to see a Christ-like figure being killed, resurrected and saving his city, or flock, from the evils of capitalism. There's still a corporation that's pulling the strings of the city, and maybe the whole country, by promoting its saviour, which in this 2014 version comes in a sleek black chrome finish.
The 1987 was a satire about TV news programmes and the greed of corporations. However, its main theme was that underneath the Judge Dredd-like armour lay a heart teeming with humanity.
The 2014 version still places the story in Detroit but doesn't mention that the city in reality is bankrupt. It also focuses more on the relationship between RoboCop and his wife and son, who were not prominent in the first version.
This film has its moments, particularly when RoboCop faces off against a multitude of robotic cops in a warehouse. He disposes of them with the elan of a confident gamer, and viewers even get to see his point of view.
However, for a film that talks a lot about emotions, this film feels strangely detached, meaning, it doesn't encourage viewers to root for our "black" superhero.
It doesn't help that RoboCop's wife keeps popping into the picture at inopportune moments. The filmmaker wants to show more of RoboCop's family life, but this is the part of the film that fails miserably.
The idea of having robots patrolling cities was a new one in 1987. But, in 2014, with all the news about US drones taking out Afghan Taliban rebels, the idea of that now is much more plausible.
Padilha frames his film with the notion that US robots and drones are maintaining law and order in faraway lands (Iran) but can't do the same back home because of a piece of legislation that bars them from doing so.
Samuel Jackson plays TV host Pat Novak, whose in-your-face reportage is often incendiary. He asks if Americans are robo-phobic. "What's more important than the safety of the American people?"
The preamble doesn't aid the film in any way. The film should have just cut out the first few minutes and leapt headfirst into the story. It wants to comment on current issues, just like what the 1987 film did, but its preface bogs down the film.
Similarly, it showing OmniCorp as thinking about ways to maximise profits from its robots and drones in the US market is nothing short of boring. Isn't that what all corporations do? There's nothing devious about it.
The firm wants to humanise its robots because OmniCorp boss Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) says Americans want a product with a conscience, or something that knows what it feels like to be human. I take this to mean that American troops or security forces will always think twice before killing civilians. I had to suppress a sAmerican Inventor when I heard Sellars say that line.
Detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman of TV's The Killing) is a righteous cop who stumbles on a plot about dirty cops working hand in hand with drug lord Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow).
For that, he gets blown into smithereens. When he next wakes up, he's in a body armour. He recoils at the sight of his metallic structure and runs out of the lab and into the fields in a scene similar to that in Avatar.
The scene of Dr Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) showing RoboCop what's left of his body is touching, and so is the scene where he meets his son for the first time. RoboCop's wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), is competent as the strong wife who wants to know what happened to her husband.
Her total acceptance of his new body is commendable but it would have been more realistic to show her gasping or taking a moment to take it all in. She could also have been showed wondering how they would ever make love again.
However, Clara becomes persistent and a pain in viewers' necks. I don't think viewers will for one minute believe in their unusual relationship.
For the rest of the film, viewers will see RoboCop being put through his paces and watching him expand his limited acting skills. This brings us to Kinnaman, whose sardonic and wisecracking ways are curbed by the suit he's wearing. In fact, he's just a lump of metal.
Peter Weller was in a similar situation in the first film but he allowed his acting to show us his pain, anger and desire for revenge. Kinnaman, meanwhile, just goes through the motions.
In short, RoboCop is a huge mess that lacks emotion. Heck, I can't even make myself be angry with this film or take it as an affront to the first film.
2 1/2 out of 5
Seeing more positive reviews than negatives. Den of Geek is giving it 4/5, Metacritic has more positive than negative. Fingers crossed.
"The opening sequence, partly set in an anonymous Middle-Eastern city, is effectively staged, and the sight of the remake's new, towering ED-209s barking "Peace be upon you" to terrified civilians quaking on the pavements is a memorable one."
Read more:RoboCop review | Den of Geek
That sounds pretty damn awesome.
"The opening sequence, partly set in an anonymous Middle-Eastern city, is effectively staged, and the sight of the remake's new, towering ED-209s barking "Peace be upon you" to terrified civilians quaking on the pavements is a memorable one."
Read more:RoboCop review | Den of Geek
That sounds pretty damn awesome.
Yes, I'm sure this movie will be fantastic. Please go spend your money on the super deluxe 3D edition.
Szlia
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Saw it today.
The movie should have decided for a theme and stick to it. As it stands, there are like 7 storylines and ultimately none feel satisfying. A bit of a shame because several of them were promising. For my money, the biggest mistake of this production is that the director, Jos? Padilha, should have been given carte blanche with his buddy Br?ulio Mantovani to rewrite the scenario, because these two, as proven by Tropa de Elite 1 & 2 (highly recommended), know how to mix a potent action thriller with super sharp socio-political commentary.
The movie should have decided for a theme and stick to it. As it stands, there are like 7 storylines and ultimately none feel satisfying. A bit of a shame because several of them were promising. For my money, the biggest mistake of this production is that the director, Jos? Padilha, should have been given carte blanche with his buddy Br?ulio Mantovani to rewrite the scenario, because these two, as proven by Tropa de Elite 1 & 2 (highly recommended), know how to mix a potent action thriller with super sharp socio-political commentary.
spronk
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iannis
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Robocop has always been pretty cheesy. But the thing is that most of those movies were pretty cheesy. Cheesy wasn't something to be ashamed of and on the scale of "how cheesy was it?" Robocop doesn't come anything CLOSE to the Toxic Avenger. Robocop is a serious sci-fi introspective compared to that shit. They knew it was a little bit cheesy, it wasn't accidental.
They were more willing to take action movies less seriously. Their primary audience was playing super mario brothers (AND NOT EVEN ONLINE!) rather than gears of assrape hatehate nazifuck.
They were more willing to take action movies less seriously. Their primary audience was playing super mario brothers (AND NOT EVEN ONLINE!) rather than gears of assrape hatehate nazifuck.
j00t
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Regime
LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
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I think you posted this in the wrong thread. The Drunk Thread is in the Rickshaw now I believe.