RoboCop 2

"RoboCop 2" , the sequel to 1987's ultra-violent "RoboCop", is not quite up to par with its predecessor. The film still manages to entertain on a large level. I know that a lot of people do not like this movie, but I personally think it is still pretty good. I'm not writing a review of this movie, I am just expressing my thoughts on it.

First off, this movie is a lot more violent than the first "RoboCop". You get scenes of bloody shootings, grisly scenes of torture, and a surgery which I'd rather let you see for yourself than describe here. Paul Verhoeven does not return to shock his audience with graphic violence and ultra dark humor, which has since become trademark in his films. The director this time is Irvin Kershner, who made "The Empire Strikes Back" nearly ten years before this movie. Kershner seems to focus a lot more on action, rather than story.

Second, the movie's villain, Cain (Tom Noonan), to me is a direct opposite of Clarence Boddicker (the villain from the first film who was played by Kurtwood Smith). Cain enjoys giving people pleasure (through his highly addictive designer drug called Nuke) while Boddicker was a sadist who took pleasure in the death and suffering of others. (Though after Cain's "transformation", none of this really matters).

Lastly, this movie does not exploit children. The kid in this movie, Hob (played by Garbriel Damon) is Cain's twelve year-old side kick. He is a violent, foul-mouthed little child who runs errands for Cain. The writers for this movie did this intentionally, to show that crime holds no age barrier. Regardless of age, crime is crime.

Like I said, "RoboCop 2" is not trying to be better than its predecessor, it's just trying to be something different.

8/10

Following the original Robocop movie, which is deservedly a classic, is a hard act to follow but I thought this film made a pretty good effort to do so.

The plot here is a bit more loosely defined - it mixes between a drug epidemic of "nuke", and also OCP's attempts to build a successor to Robocop. All of the same components are here but everything is a bit simpler, if anything. Robocop spent a good deal of the first movie grappling with his humanity, whereas other than a quick diversion at the start, this doesn't feature quite so much here. It's more of a straightforward fight with OCP's attempts to mess him up. The police are still straightforwardly the good guys here, the one exception is flagged up so heavily that it's impossible to miss. The memorable villain here is Cain, the dealer of the drug gangs distributing nuke, and I have to say I think his performance is massively underrated. His delusions of grandeur, weird philosophical statements and calm creepiness are really well done. His gang are straightforwardly loathsome, and you never feel much but contempt for Angie and Hob. OCP are more straightforwardly the villains here, and the Old Man (plus new character Dr Faxx) has moved much more towards being a straightforward supervillain. Johnson is perhaps the exception. He has become more Smithers-like, but as with the first film, he seems to be the one force for good in this film even if his motives are not pure, much like Bob Morton in the first film. The mayor of Detroit is an interesting nuanced character; he's a bit more like the OCP executives of the original as he considers ways to get the city out of the hole it's in.

The humour is still there, but it's much more in-your-face now. It is still genuinely funny, for instance when Robocop is reprogrammed by OCP, or OCP's early attempts at Robocop 2 (or the one-liners: "This could look bad for OCP Johnson!"), but there's not much subtlety there anymore. Neither is there with some aspects of the plot, and this is where it can sometimes start to feel a little too comic-book. Robocop's directives need resetting? No worries, he sorts that, somehow avoids damaging himself in the process and then functions as a policeman despite having no directives at all. Police in a long bitter strike? No worries, a quick talk from Robocop is enough to sort that out. Also, by this point, there is quite a lot of people standing in the open endlessly firing machineguns at quite obviously bulletproof entities, yet somehow not bothering to seek cover when they are fired back at. This is much the same as the original, but by now it's starting to get a bit old.

The violence this time somehow manages to not quite be so shocking. There is one sudden rather nasty scene somewhere in the middle, but otherwise, imagine most gunfights in movies you've seen of a police vs machines variety, and you'll get the idea. The plot does take a sudden and rather interesting twist about halfway through as OCP develop Robocop 2, and its own unpredictable behaviour is quite an interesting watch too, taking over as the ED209 equivalent from the original. The special effects still hold up pretty well. Overall, I think there is a bit to criticise about it, and it's not as good as the original, but this is still a pretty good sequel and worthy of the name Robocop. Recommended as a solid sequel.

RoboCop 2 follows RoboCop as he attempts to tackle the growing threat of the drug 'Nuke' on the streets of Detroit, along with the mysterious drug lord Cane, who is pushing its distribution. Alongside that we also have the mega company OCP, who are attempting to privatise the city, and to do this they decide to make a new RoboCop to earn public trust. Thing is, all the attempts fail... until OCP's Dr Faxx decides the best person to use in the project is none other than Cane himself...

This follow up to the amazing RoboCop didn't sit too well with critics at the time, but I enjoyed it. It maintains the gritty atmosphere of it's predecessor, along with some of the satirical comedy. The new RoboCop is a formiddable foe... and bizarre child psychopaths aside the film manages to entertain with some pretty good action scenes and decent effects. The only issues really are that in many ways it feels like a retread of the first film, and there is barely any delving into RoboCop's human side - aside from a strange scene where he stalks the Murphy family home... but then that doesn't really amount to anything. There is also a section where RoboCop becomes reprogrammed into a pacifist, that is frankly hilarious. Overall it's a decent film and worth a look, but it's not as good as the original.

If you believe the video game that was made out of RoboCop, it was set in the same year that RoboCop 2 was released. RoboCop is simply one of the best films ever made, and it brought me much relief from a very sorrowful childhood. Which brings me to the point I am trying to make here: anything was going to be something of a letdown. Another rebuke I would like to make of other critics of this film lies with their complaint that the movie was too mean-spirited and had too much violence. Let me quote Paul Verhoeven's commentary about the original: "the whole style of the movie is 'too much'".

The real failing of this sequel lies in the story, which is full of threads that are either resolved badly (the attempt to reprogram RoboCop with new directives) or not resolved at all (RoboCop's memories of his wife). Considering that not a single second in the original was wasted when it came to drawing the viewer into the hero's mind or building some emotional connection, the lack of sympathy one feels with even Lewis or the Sergeant is worrying. Then there's the villian. A film with a superhero, like Robocop or the Bond series, is only as effective as its main villian. Cain is not an effective villian, and gets very little development in the bargain, the exact opposite of the situation with Clarence Boddicker in the original.

The mock commercials are something of a hit and miss affair. The OCP Communications commercial was hilarious, but the Sunblock 5000 commercial was just plain tasteless. The use of children in RoboCop 2 also counts against it. There were no children in the original, reflecting the fact that the film just wasn't made with children in mind. The use of children in RoboCop 2 smacks of a cheap attempt to appeal to the children who are allowed by their parents or whomever to see the film. It doesn't work because the writers are trying to transplant adult dialogue into a child's mouth. Similarly, the attempt to transplant the manner in which the Christian Coalition think children talk into Robocop fails.

All in all, RoboCop 2 is a passable sequel, but it pales in comparison to the harsh perfection that is the original. Give it a chance because it does have some entertainment value.

There was no way this was ever going to be as good as Robocop but they could have done so much better. What's really missing is Basil Poledouris' wonderful fanfare theme tune. In its place we are giving some appalling brass'n'percussion with a chorus singing a ridiculous 'Robocop' theme on top. It's amazing how much music can change a film, and really, a decent score would have improved the film immensely.

Also, Rob Bottin's ultra-violent effects were sadly missed. The film is full of violence but it's mainly of the long-range bullets-hit-bad-guys type: the only thing close to the original's over-the-top nature was the brain removal and the stomach-slicing.

Phil Tippett is on hand, luckily, to deliver some entertaining stop-motion action scenes which really liven up the final scenes of carnage.

Sadly, the bad guys never come across as meanly as Clarence Boddicker did in the first, OCP seem unnecessarily annoying and the little kid is just annoying. It's not a TERRIBLE film but we really could have expected more from the man who brought us 'The Empire Strikes Back'.