Reviews Film / Robocop

Sequelitis At Its Worst

The first Robocop movie was a thoughtful examination of what makes the human "soul" and takes a look at a Super Hero Origin from a more realistic point of view. Alex Murphey didn't make the decision to become Robocop, but it was only his sense of right and wrong beyond his origin and "superpowers" that turned him into a hero. The movie also framed future Detroit as a place that has the technology to create Robocop, but also the need for such a powerful law enforcer. Clarence Boddicker is a creature without remorse or guilt and Dick Jones is a slimy executive that makes it entirely justifiable to kill in the end. Add in impressive production design (even today the Robocop armor looks good, though the ED-209 stop-motion is dated) and taut action sequences (Robocop killing upwards of 50 people in the drug warehouse and the fight between him and the ED-209).

Robocop 2 is where things start to suffer. A change of director and a heavily swiss-cheesed script makes the proceedings confusing and illogical. It tried to recreate the violence and satire but bloated its use to where it is obvious they were just modifying the "casual murder and destruction" news joke from the first movie. And it doesn't help that it falls back on the "Evil Twin" formula that so many comic book heroes go for. And even though the evil Robocop is defeated, the story doesn't resolve any of the NUKE cartel.

Robocop 3 hardly fairs any better. The best I can say is that the story is more coherent then #2. And Robert John Burke manages to evoke the performance of Peter Weller as Robocop pretty well so that it is hard to tell they are different actors (it helps that they have similar features and the suit covers most of their face). But the budget was slashed from the prior films which resulted in several clunky FX. Robocop and his jet pack was also gimmicky and the movie lacked an edge as a result of toning it down to PG-13 levels, with little psychological bite to it.

The TV shows had varying degrees of success, with individual parts of the individual series being better then other parts. It doesn't help that the films were designed as being R rated violent and bloody films and the shows ended up giving him weapons such as a "golf-ball launcher" or something to make him more family friendly.