Film Review: RoboCop 3

The part-man-part-machine-all-cop hero is back! Unfortunately, he's not the same.  The third film in the franchise swaps out Peter Weller for Robert Burke, and director Fred Dekker doesn't have nearly as much guts his predecessors.

The good news is that the film is still pretty fun.  There is plenty of action to be had, with lots of shoot-outs, chases, and explosive scenes of all-out revolution.  RoboCop continues to beat the snot out of bad guys (including samurai robots), and in one daring scene, he even straps on a jetpack and flies!

However, the experience of this film is substantially fluffier and more lightweight than the last two films.  As a PG-13 film, all the pulp and gore is stripped away, setting a totally different tone and style.  This also leaves the door wide open for a plethora of scenes that are silly and cheesy.  Even though the film maintains a decent pacing, and it can be serious when it wants to, most of it is ridiculous to the point of being unamusing and daft.

The story has a few bright spots:  it is pretty interesting to see how OCP becomes so Nazi-esque that they incur RoboCop's wrath.  However, the film takes a few liberties that might be upsetting for fans (especially concerning one of the series' most beloved characters).  Aside from that, the story plays out in a pretty standard fashion, and little is added to the established characters.  Despite a few interesting ideas, there's little satire or thematic depth to be found.

This film uses good, but rarely great, photography and editing.  Acting is pretty silly and over-the-top from the whole cast; it worked great under Paul Verhoeven, but with Dekker's direction, this level of excess is not nearly as effective.  Writing is average at best.  This production has some okay-looking sets, props, costumes, and special effects.  The music score brings back the classic theme of the first film, but doesn't really much variation on it.

RoboCop 3 is the film where RoboCop commandeers a pimpmobile, catches a bullet with his bare hands, and where ED-209 becomes loyal as a puppy.  This is pretty much on the same level as 1995's Judge Dredd; both films have the potential for some serious edge, but it is dulled pretty heavily by simply being too cheesy and lightweight.  It's easily the worst of the original series, but still entertaining as a guilty pleasure.

Recommended only to the most diehard of RoboCop fans.

3/5 (Entertainment:  Good | Story:  Average | Film:  Marginal)