Unrated
(Theatrical Version Rated R)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 43 Minutes
Cast:
Peter
Weller-Officer Alex J. Murphy/RoboCop
Nancy
Allen-Officer Anne Lewis
Ronny
Cox-OCP Vice President Richard 'Dick' Jones
Kurtwood
Smith-Clarence J. Boddicker
Miguel
Ferrer-OCP Executive Robert 'Bob' Morton
Daniel
O'Herlihy-OCP CEO/The Old Man
Robert
DoQui-Sergeant Warren Reed
Ray
Wise-Leon C. Nash
Paul
McCrane-Emil M. Antonowsky
Jesse
Goins-Joe P. Cox
Calvin
Jung-Steve Minh
Directed
by Paul Verhoeven
 |
| Dead or alive, you're coming with me! |
Note: Part of the "RoboCop Trilogy" Blu-Ray set.
Sometimes
when I get really bored, I hold my TV remote like it’s a gun and pretend I’m
RoboCop. What, do you think that’s stupid? Well, I don’t care what you think!
“RoboCop,” released 24 years ago in 1987 and directed by Paul Verhoeven, is
another one of those films that I grew up with. Come to think of it, my mother
let me watch way too many films that were wildly inappropriate for my age but I
turned out fine. Originally a stand-alone Blu-Ray released in 2007, the film is
now packaged with the other two installments as part of the “RoboCop Trilogy”
box set. Despite a silly name and premise, “RoboCop” attacked and satirized
American capitalism to gleeful effect in addition to providing plenty of
explosions, making it one of the best action films ever made.
In
a dystopian future, the city of Detroit, Michigan is teetering on the brink of
collapse due to unchecked crime and financial ruin. Mega-corporation OCP
(Omni-Consumer Products) privatizes the city’s police force, planning to
destroy ‘Old Detroit’ and replace it with a supposed utopia called ‘Delta
City.’ Unable to proceed due to rampant crime, the company looks into building
a robotic replacement for law enforcement. Vice president Dick Jones (Ronny
Cox) presents a large, bipedal robot named ED-209 in a board meeting but during
the demonstration, an executive gets accidentally killed. Another executive,
Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer), reveals that he has a backup plan and is given the
go-ahead to proceed by OCP’s CEO (Dan O'Herlihy). Meanwhile, Alex J. Murphy
(Peter Weller) has joined the Metro-West precinct and with his partner Anne
Lewis (Nancy Allen) chases a group of criminals led by Clarence J. Boddicker
(Kurtwood Smith) to an abandoned steel mill. The two officers split up but when
Lewis gets knocked out, Murphy is surrounded by Boddicker’s men, who brutally
dismember him with shotguns before being shot point-blank in the head by
Boddicker himself. He is pronounced dead by the hospital but OCP recovers his
body’s remains and use him for Morton’s backup project, dubbed ‘RoboCop.’
Murphy’s memories are wiped and he is rebuilt as a powerful cyborg to clean up
Detroit’s crime-ridden streets. His first patrol is a success but he soon
begins suffering nightmares of his death and subconsciously remembers his wife
and son. RoboCop must reconcile his human and machine counterparts while
dealing with corrupt elements within OCP.
At
first glance, “RoboCop” looks ridiculous but you should never judge a book by
its cover. The film opens with a commercial about buying a mechanical heart
replacement (extended warranties included!) and then a newscast depicting civil
unrest around the world. A number of these would pop up throughout the film and
it was Verhoeven’s way of poking fun at our capitalist society while exploring
a dystopian future run by corporate politics. Other commercials had a family
board game called ‘Nukem’ where the goal is to impose sanctions and force
regime change until a player gives up and launches a nuke. Why, that sounds
awfully similar to our situation with Iraq, except there were no nukes found.
Finally, there’s the hilarious car commercial of the 6000 SUX, with its
terrible gas mileage of 8.2 miles and yet everyone wants one! What’s surprising
is that despite being made over two decades ago, “RoboCop” remains surprisingly
relevant. OCP privatizes Detroit’s police force because the city government can
no longer support it financially. Didn’t former president George W. Bush speak
about privatizing Social Security at one point? Wasn’t the financial crisis, which
we are still feeling the effects of, due to corporations being unchecked and
unregulated? It’s like Verhoeven went to the future, came back and made this
movie as a warning! Besides the social commentary, RoboCop himself takes on a
Frankenstein aspect as he is literally a corpse remade. His subconscious
memories of Murphy’s former life are his way of exploring human emotion. When
he faces a hail of gunfire from OCP’s security force, it is reminiscent of
Frankenstein being chased down by the townspeople. The film also goes
over-the-top with the gore and it originally received an X-rating (this was
before it was replaced with NC-17 in 1990) eleven times before the MPAA gave an
R-rating. The scene with Murphy being shot at repeatedly might be hard to stomach
for some as his whole arm gets blown apart. Some of the violence is presented
tongue-in-cheek, such as when RoboCop encounters a rapist holding a woman
hostage and he shoots between her legs, hitting his genitals. The one action
scene that really takes me back is when RoboCop busts up a cocaine operation,
guns down over 20 armed men with nothing but his modified Beretta and proceeds
to beat the crap out of Boddicker. I absolutely felt giddy!
The
acting won’t be winning any awards but the cast certainly do not phone it in.
RoboCop is Peter Weller’s most memorable role and despite being covered in a
cumbersome suit, he still allows Murphy’s humanity, his sense of honor, duty,
and vengeance, to shine through. Wearing the suit wasn’t exactly a picnic as he
lost up to 3 lbs. a day due to water loss, and eventually an air conditioner
was installed inside. Nancy Allen is fine as his partner Ann Lewis. She was
required to cut her hair as Verhoeven wanted to desexualize her character.
Kurtwood Smith (Eric Foreman’s Dad!) does an incredible job making Clarence J.
Boddicker as despicable as possible and when he gets his comeuppance, I
practically cheered! Finally, there’s Ronny Cox as corrupt OCP vice president
Dick Jones, who represents the worst aspects of corporate politics, literally
eliminating his competition and valuing profit above all else. He would feel right
at home at Weyland-Yutani.
As
part of the “RoboCop Trilogy” box set, this release is virtually the same as
the 2007 release. Picture quality is a mixed bag with certain scenes looking
sharp but others are marred by excessive grain. The increased resolution also
reveals the aged special effects with the obvious stop-motion of ED-209 and the
literal rag-doll effect as Jones falls to his death at the end of the film.
Audio is impressive as we’re treated to loud explosions and gunfire but at
times they drown out Basil Poledouris’ excellent score and it lacks that sense
of clarity in modern films. This is bare-bones release so there are no special
features besides the trailer, which is really disappointing.
“RoboCop”
was released on July 17, 1987 and received positive reviews with 88% on Rotten
Tomatoes. Critics found it ‘over-the-top and gory, [but] is also a surprisingly
smart sci-fi flick that uses ultra-violence to disguise its satire of American
culture.’ A box office success, earning $53 million domestically against a $13
million production budget, Orion Pictures immediately approached Verhoeven and
the writers to make a sequel but he wanted to wait for a proper script. Typical
of Hollywood, the studio went ahead without him and the next two sequels only
served to sully the reputation of this film…but that is another story for
another day. “RoboCop” introduces one of the most iconic characters of the 80’s
and what made it a great film was that it had something meaningful to say in
addition to all the action on display. They sure don’t make action movies like
they used to!
Final
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
"Come
quietly or there will be...trouble!"
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