Robocop Review

from en.wikipedia.org

I starting to notice that a occurring pattern in my reviews is movies related to robots. First I reviewed Transformer The Movie then I reviewed Gobots Battle of The Rock Lords. I then reviewed Robocop 2,3, and the remake. I also reviewed Avengers Age of Ultron which features the main villain Ultron who is a robot and there is Iron Man with his suit and the gigantic suit called the Hulk Buster. Since I reviewed all the other movies in the Robocop series I should review the original, this review will include spoilers. The first Robocop movie is about a Detroit police officer named Alex Murphy(played by Peter Weller) who after being shot to death by gang of criminals lead by a man named Clarence Boddicker(played by Kurtwood Smith) is resurrected as a cyborg cop named Robocop. While his former partner Lewis(played by Nancy Allen) starts to see that he is actually Murphy although he doesn’t remember at first. As Robocop continues to fight crime he starts to remember who he once was and then goes on a mission to find the men who killed him. 

The first thing I have to mention is the action its absolutely superb with every action being exciting as Robocop’s ability make them mixed in with the action makes them awesome. Robocop himself is bulletproof, can survive small explosions along, has a targeting system, has a USB that looks like a knife, and has a holster in his leg for his gun. While the action and even the entire movie itself is gory at times the violence is stylized into the action and it doesn’t come across as unnecessary or ridiculous. The movie has some hilarious satire in it such as how in the news reports, the reporters tell about all this news of events such as a nuke accidentally been detonated in a very claim manner.

There is also a fake commercial for a board game called Nuke’em which is basically Battleship but with Nukes. And a fake car commercial featuring a claymation T-Rex. The movie also makes commentary on things such commercialism that was going on at the time with the company OCP(Omni Consumer Products). Who in the movie owns/runs the Detroit police department and were the ones who turned Alex Murphy into Robocop. The film’s special effects hold up very well. A big robot that OCP originally created to patrol called the ED-209 is done in both stop motion and a life size model and it still looks and moves greatly.

In scenes such as the elevator shaft of the OCP building and some of the back drops of Detroit were done using glass paintings, they also had to make multiple Robocop suits as well. As for the story its very intriguing as Robocop starts to regain his memories we get to see more of his past and what happened to his family after he got shot down. The characters are all very well written as Alex/Robocop has a very strong bond in his partnership with Lewis, the main villain Clarence while he may seem a bit generic he’s personalty and action make him a very memorable character.

Robocop is an amazing action Si-Fi movie that has managed to stand the test of time. With its cool action, special effects that still hold up well, and a intriguing story with great characters. This may seem like an exaggeration but Robocop is a masterpiece and I absolutely recommend this movie it is a movie that you can watch more than once and not get bored with it.

Score:10/10

 

 

Robocop 2 Review

  image from http://wikapedia.org

Following the success of its big hit first movie Robocop Orion Studios went and made a sequel that was released in 1990 Robocop 2. The movie was written by Walon Green and Frank Miller! Yes! Well known comic book writer Frank Miller wrote part of the script for Robocop 2 the production team decided to bring him in as a writer after his success with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. He even makes a cameo in the movie as a guy named Frank who works for the main villain Cain. However though his parts for his original script were cut out and changed in the final script of Robocop 2 so the final script wasn’t exactly the original version that he wanted to see in the movie. Frank Miller did take his original script though and make it into a comic series called Frank Miller’s Robocop.

The second movie takes place a year after the first movie in which Robocop a.k.a Alex Murphy(played by Peter Weller) must stop a gang of drug dealers lead by a guy named Cain(played by Tom Noonan) who spreading a new dangerous drug across the city known as nuke. While at the same time Omni Consumer Products (also commonly referred to as OCP) wants to build a new Robocop to replace Murphy as they also still don’t believe that Robocop is Alex Murphy and they think that Robocop is just a machine. While OCP also wants to take over Detroit since the city is in bankruptcy which is something that actually happened to Detroit in 2013.

The action in the movie is just as great as it is in the first one as it all done very well and it helps keep the dark mature tone that the first two Robocop movies are most well known for. The bond between Robocop and his partner Lewis(played by Nancy Allen) is very strong is this movie as it does convince you that they’ve been partners for a long time.The effects are also just as great as the first one especially with the robot Robocop 2(yes they actually call it that) which uses mostly stop motion and even a bit of CGI. The satired commercials also return in this one like take for example there is one for a car security system that straps the theft in once there in the car seat and it electrocutes them. The plot works for most of the movie however there are some flaws like one of the villain’s that works for Cain is…Sigh a twelve year old drug dealer, why is one of the villain’s of the movie a kid it doesn’t make much sense, they don’t even give the kid a back story as to why he’s a drug dealer. Another thing that this move could have benefited from is if they had the story acknowledge more that Robocop’s true self is as Alex Murphy.

At times the movie seems to forget that Robocop’s wants be acknowledge and seen as a human being and as Alex Murphy. The rest of the plot though does play out well though making the movie very enjoyable. So if you’ve seen the first film or if your a fan of action movies than Robocop 2 is worth seeing. It may not be as good as the first one but the sequel does prove to be worth your time.

Score: 7/10