RoboCop

In a crime ridden Detroit of the near future a corporate company OCP has the answer to fighting crime - invent a new type of policeman who won't go on strike . After the death of a policeman called Murphy they stick his body in to a metal shell . Murphy however can still remember a time when he was human

I once did an evening film course called Talking Pictures which would involve watching a film then having a two hour group discussion on the film . I saw the filmography before the class started and the vast majority would be art house foreign cinema . The one exception was ROBOCOP and I knew instantly this was the one that was going to split the group right down the middle in to love it or hate it with no in between . True to form this how things worked out . Most the class despised it wondering why the class had to watch such a cartoonish commercial film . I however did state I loved it and considered it to be the third best SF movie of the 1980s behind THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS

What makes ROBOCOP such a cerebral enjoyable film is the uncommon mix of social satire and no holds barred Verhoeven excess . While " greed is good " to a certain extent the idea of corporate capitalism is something to be rejected . A small self elected clique ruling over the Universe in order to maximise profits is a bad mix of capitalism meets self serving communism . Not so much a mixed economic system but more a combination of greedy speculators from one system being merged with the unthinking party loyalty of the other system . It's greed for money plus greed for power which is a marriage made in hell and being dead isn't enough to make you escape the clutches of OCP and the film revolves around the human element of Murphy remembering who he once was and it's this that is at the core of the movie

Of course Verhoeven isn't a director who does sentimental mawkish stuff and I doubt if the audience was wanting to see a Walt Disney film . What they were wanting to see was bad things happen to very bad people and you can't help cheering as criminals get killed , maimed , mutilated and in one case melted . It's a violent film but one that is so cartoonish that the violence is not to be taken seriously , a fact reflected in the loud slightly unrealistic acting style . This attitude wasn't enough to stop its British network premiere on ITV becoming farcical with a TV version being broadcast with notorious lines like " you gonna be a bad mother crusher " along with key scenes like the ones with mister melty conspicuous by their absence

There is of course a new version of ROBOCOP hitting the cinema this week but is a film I have no interest in watching judging by the clips I've seen of it . It's strange to think that another Verhoeven classic TOTAL RECALL was also recently remade . As it stands the original ROBOCOP remains one of the greatest genre films from the 1980s containing wit , satire and enjoyably mean carnage

Robocop, born of technology is a cyborg, half man/half machine. The future of Law enforcement is here, and he's kicking ass.

Alex Murphy was the unfortunate candidate chosen to be robocop after he was brutally massacred by a gang of scumbag criminals. And the robocop program was brought in, after the E.D. 209 (An all robot killing machine) proto-type failed so disastrously.

Alex Murphy, now Robocop is effectively dead, but he still has a memory, and sets out on a quest to avenge his own Death, by finding the scumbags responsible.

With some quite horrific violence (E.D. 209 and Murphy scenes mainly) and some brilliant action, Robocop is character that you will warm to, as he fights crime on a personal level.

Solid entertainment 8/10

When I look at the modern day West, and the 2008 financial crisis, I often see parallels with images from RoboCop: protests, mind-numbing commercials, crime as the result of huge poverty, profit as the main goal of life, no matter at what (or whose) expense. There is not one OCP today, but dozens of OCPs, huge modern mega-corporations that influence every aspect of the society and drain it of its wealth. Just like in RoboCop, the middle class is almost gone and we only have the poor and the rich.

RoboCop started out as a pure B-movie, but unlike Cyborg (1989) or The Six Million Dolar Man (1974), it kept its relevance, satire and sharpness precisely because it is so close to today that it hurts. Even as a kid, I somehow got that one of the messages of the film was how the power was slowly shifting from the government to the OCP. Let's be fair, though, Verhoeven sometimes directs a scene in a heavy, clumsy manner, and some cheap ideas slightly reduce my enjoyment whenever I re-watch this. Overall, this is still a strong film, and I stand behind what I say. Kurtwood Smith is one of the most fiendish villains of the 80s, and one of the most unorthodox ones, too, with those glasses, but we must also mention Peter Weller who is often overlooked under that armor, yet his stoic presence tells us everything we need to know. His Murphy is a character designed by the corporations, a being that is a product, not a being anymore. The way he finds his humanity, nonetheless, is still powerful. He defies the system, he defies the cold exploitation - and he becomes worthy to become recognized. And the ED-something-something robot is still cool as ever, too.

Paul Verhoeven's career in recent years has been wildly uneven, but back in the 1980s he rocked! His movies 'Spetters', 'The Fourth Man' and 'Flesh & Blood' are all brilliant and worth tracking down. His next movie, his first Hollywood one, could have been a complete disaster. Verhoeven initially passed on it without reading the script and wasn't experienced in working with special effects or a fan of science fiction. Thankfully his wife insisted he make the picture and the end result was a triumph. Apparently this was a very tough shoot for all concerned but the bottom line is what is on screen, and it really works. Few movies if any have managed to juggle SF, action and grim satire in such an entertaining and original fashion. Verhoeven was blessed with an excellent script, a well chosen bunch of actors, and a great behind the scenes team, and added to his own vision 'RoboCop' turned out to be one of the best movies of the 1980s, whatever the genre. Peter Weller ('Buckaroo Banzai') pulls off a difficult job - making the audience care about a guy in a monster suit. Probably the best performance of its kind since Boris Karloff in James Whale's 'Frankenstein' back in the 1930s. Nancy Allen ('Dressed To Kill'), Kurtwood Smith ('12.01 PM'), Ronny Cox ('Deliverance'), Miguel Ferrer ('Twin Peaks'), and the rest of the supporting cast are all first rate, and everything about this movie is perfect. Verhoeven stumbled with his next movie 'Total Recall', and apart from 'Starship Troopers' has pretty much failed to fulfill his potential, but 'RoboCop' remains a classic SF/action movie and a fantastic way to end a great decade of work.

Detroit is under siege by a corrupt CEO in the police department...also by rapists, robbers, and the group of thugs who murdered Officer Murphy. Murphy (flawlessly played by Peter Weller) was a family man with a big heart whose body is eventually 'saved' by tech-geniuses, transforming him into a robot-cop (with a big heart, natch). The violence in the film is incredibly brutal in the manner of "Death Wish", yet it can almost be overlooked--even deemed necessary--in the context of the plot. Weller exudes sensitivity (not easy to do under that coat of armor), and he's matched very well by Ronny Cox (delightfully sinister and sniveling) and spunky Nancy Allen (in her best performance). A bleak vision of the future, though one which offers hope underneath its chestplate of destruction. Followed by "RoboCop 2" in 1990, "RoboCop 3" in 1993, and a television series in 1994. ***1/2 from ****