First, the good bits - the action's great. The CG is pretty good. The themes are actually updated pretty well to be relevant for the new era as well.
I actually liked how they gave Murphy much more backstory and development. Unlike the original, where Robocop starts off fully-robot, Murphy starts off fully-human here. But then that issue gets "fixed" as we enter the second act of the film. So instead of a rather powerful theme from the original where a man who has lost everything regains his humanity... this one is more like a man who already has his humanity just stops some people from drugging him up. Which doesn't feel as meaningful.
Now here's another bit where it falls apart: in the original, the villains are over-the-top, cookie cutter villains. But the whole movie is like that. The entire thing borders on the edge of cartoonish, dark comedy - from the villains to the action to the in-universe TV commercials.
In this remake, the villains are pretty cookie-cutter villains who are evil just because. But there's no comedy to be found in this film, it takes itself way too seriously and as a result, the villains are just far too bland and shallow to really have any impact in a film with such a serious tone.
I can see that they meant well and they did make a serious attempt at a good story, but it just doesn't quite make it. It's an okay film though.
Actually decent, just not as memorable as the original.
First, the good bits - the action's great. The CG is pretty good. The themes are actually updated pretty well to be relevant for the new era as well.
I actually liked how they gave Murphy much more backstory and development. Unlike the original, where Robocop starts off fully-robot, Murphy starts off fully-human here. But then that issue gets "fixed" as we enter the second act of the film. So instead of a rather powerful theme from the original where a man who has lost everything regains his humanity... this one is more like a man who already has his humanity just stops some people from drugging him up. Which doesn't feel as meaningful.
Now here's another bit where it falls apart: in the original, the villains are over-the-top, cookie cutter villains. But the whole movie is like that. The entire thing borders on the edge of cartoonish, dark comedy - from the villains to the action to the in-universe TV commercials.
In this remake, the villains are pretty cookie-cutter villains who are evil just because. But there's no comedy to be found in this film, it takes itself way too seriously and as a result, the villains are just far too bland and shallow to really have any impact in a film with such a serious tone.
I can see that they meant well and they did make a serious attempt at a good story, but it just doesn't quite make it. It's an okay film though.