While many fans have been upset over this remake, I personally expected worse. There are a few things I found likable about the new film. Even though the film doesn't divulge in satire as much as the original did, it does spit out a few bits of faux media that underscores issues concerning drone warfare, foreign policy, corporate greed, manipulation of the media, and technology - all of which are pretty relevant to modern times. The transformation of Alex Murphy into a machine is a pretty harrowing sight, but once it is complete, RoboCop exhibits some interesting new abilities (including access to CCTV, wireless networks, and the complete police department database, all at a whim). The film maintains a steady focus on the character and his family (drama that was never really explored in the original films), and Alex's internal conflict of man and machine factors into the film's most interesting scenes.
Of course, there is also plenty of action to be had. RoboCop busts through with all guns blazing in several scenes. At one point, he even takes on several ED-209 drones all at once. The shootouts are loud and the chase scenes are fast. However, the filming of these scenes tend to be erratic, and the scenes themselves don't leave much of an impact.
The story covers some interesting ground, given the focus on Alex's constant struggle to maintain human emotion within his mechanical shell, and the focus on his wife and son. However, the plot twists can be seen coming from miles away (especially for those already familiar with the tale). The actual conspiracy involved only makes sense to a point, but it never feels as tight or relevant as it did in the original film. The actual plot structure seems jerky and loose, before reaching a rather flat climax. Given the serious tone of the film, all characters are pretty lacking in personality, and it only accentuates how flat and one-dimensional they are.
Some of the most grievous complaints about this film, however, stem from the sheer lack of edge. This film pushes on the boundaries of its PG-13 rating, dishing out only as much curse words and violence as it's allowed to. While a film certainly doesn't have to be hardcore-R-rated to be good, this rendition of RoboCop glosses over the violence and candy-coats things to a more unrealistic degree. Paul Verhoeven made it a point to show violence on-screen, with extreme gore and pain, because he felt it was dangerous to shy away from those things and give audiences an unrealistic interpretation of violence. 2014's RoboCop might as well be living proof of his notion; a child is murdered in the opening scenes, but you don't see it, because of the way the film is edited and shot. Thus, the film loses its impact, and the scene just breezes by without invoking much of a response. The movie doesn't just gloss over the blood and guts though; it's also stripped of most of the satire that populated the original film, and I also found it odd that very little crime and crime-fighting is shown. I mean, this is Detroit, right? Why does it look so shiny and modern? You'd never guess there was a crime problem in the film, if it wasn't for the characters talking about it.
This film is made with some pretty shaky photography. Editing is okay, but it felt like some scenes were chopped off a little too short. Acting won't really knock anybody's socks off; Gary Oldman easily provides the best performance of the lot. I wasn't sure about Joel Kinnaman at first, but as he went on as RoboCop, I felt he handled the emotional and robotic sides of the character pretty well. Michael Keaton is fine and dandy playing a slimeball character, Abbie Cornish is okay as Mrs. Murphy, didn't care for Jackie Earle Haley's character, and Samuel L. Jackson pops in on occasion to yell some stuff at us. I really didn't care for anybody else's performance in the film, but it is notably disappointing to see that nobody has any lasting stature, especially when compared to the original film. Writing is not that great; it's able to get things moving along, but without really filling anything with good meaning. Occasional references and lines from the original film do little to mask the shortcomings. This production has some slick-looking sets, props, costumes and locales. Some of the choices (like the black RoboCop outfit, or the revamped ED-209) will not sit well with everybody. Some of the music choices seemed really odd to me; I didn't mind the actual music score, but it seemed pretty random.
There are things I enjoyed about the RoboCop remake, but the film is not without its issues. The most glaring of which is that it's rather watered-down. Paul Verhoeven originally showed us a gritty world of corruption and crime where people really bled and died in the name of justice; José Padilha shows a slick-looking dramatization with a few neat ideas, but it doesn't have nearly as much weight. It's pretty much on-par with the Total Recall remake, which also had its share of neat ideas, but was not nearly as memorable. The best that can be said is that this version of RoboCop might be the closest thing we have to a Metal Gear Solid film.
I'd only recommend this as a rental to interested sci-fi fans.
3/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Average | Film: Average)
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