"RoboCop" Review

If I was to tell you that I had high hopes for the RoboCop remake, I would be a tremendous liar. Nothing about any of the trailers or promotional material inspired confidence. Not a single person I know, be they a colleague or a classmate had any faith that the film would do well. I've just come back from seeing it, and the fact that I was one of only four people in the theater leads me to believe that the film will not succeed. However, I do have to say those five words that can mean anything for a movie: It could have been worse.

This version of RoboCop tells Alex Murphy's story as he is blown up in a car explosion by vengeful gangsters. He doesn't die however, and his wife Clara elects to have what remains of Alex put inside an experimental robot body by the OmniCorp conglomerate. However, the human side of Alex can't be suppressed, and he tries to solve his own murder which leads him to discover a deeper tapestry of deceit.

I'm gonna stop right there. Read the beginning of that last sentence of the plot description one more time.

One of the most interesting aspects of the original 1987 RoboCop was the fact that Alex Murphy was awakened with no memory of who he was, and with a loss of his humanity. He isn't trying to cope with what he has become, he is a blank slate without empathy. Here, there is way too much back and forth of who Alex is now. They can't pin point any sort of balance on who the character is. He is so out of sorts, and we never really feel like we're watching a movie about a RoboCop. If anything, he becomes mentally comatose briefly. But his humanity never goes away. Part of that is the writing, the other part is the flattened performance of lead actor Joel Kinnaman. But i'll get to that in a minute.

Another part of the original that worked so well was how satirical it was of the society at the time. Be it the entertainment, or the news that they watched, it was making a mockery of 1980s society. This is an aspect that this film actually kinda got right. Mainly through Samuel L. Jackson's character Pat Novak. It serves as a delicious parody of political pundits on both sides of the spectrum such as Bill O'Reilly or James Carville. The media will take an issue and make you believe that if you believe anything less than their side, you are un-American. The politics of war and gun control are skewered in a way that doesn't come across as the director trying to force his beliefs down your throat. Again, it could have done better, but it also could have been worse.

Normally a prerequisite for a good film performance is showing emotion, but in the case of characters like RoboCop and Dredd, it's more about brooding and using the lower half of the face to fuel a performance. Peter Weller was able to do it magnificently 27 years ago. Karl Urban excelled 2 years ago. Joel Kinnaman not only fails to convince us that he is a RoboCop, he doesn't even come across as interesting. He is trying to be different in the role, but he just feels stale and two dimensional. Not even in a way that a robot should. He's frankly just boring and whiny.

Michael Keaton doesn't do his best in the role of OmniCorp CEO, but he is pretty remarkable. He comes across as a shady yet ambitious businessman. Not someone that you would trust, but not someone you would suspect of nefariousness. He puts his shaky Keaton stamp on the character, and he is pretty damn good.

Andrew's Standout is easy. Gary Oldman. Hands down, Oldman is the most interesting character. He is working to both help Alex, and his companies interests. He is conflicted, emotional character with a moral dilemma that doesn't feel like a waste of Oldman's time.

It doesn't justify itself completely, but RoboCop is far from the travesty it could have ended up being. Watch at your own discretion.

C+