Stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Michael K Williams and Samuel L Jackson Directed by José Padilha For anyone who grew up in the 80s, the original RoboCop is a gloriously violent and heavily satirical look at a specific era in time. The movie itself is quite dated although as a ‘brand name’ it did survive well into the next century be it with the sequels through the 90s, the cartoon series, a TV series, another TV mini-series (RoboCop: Prime Directives) as well as a mini resurrection in comics. All before this new incarnation and reboot even arrived. For this new movie to succeed tho, one really has to forego the original movie and try to take this one on its own merits. Easier said than done since Basil Poledouris’ iconic theme does thump away over the opening title and (if you sit through the credits) close the movie as well. Still, composer Pedro Bromfman does utilise the theme throughout the movie. The choice of José Padilha as the director is clear. His previous action films did tackle the issue of cops and violence (the two Elite Squad movies) while having an outsider’s view of the American aesthetics that permeate throughout the story, much like with Paul Verhoeven and the original flick. There are certain touchstones between the two movies as well, not just in dialogue but some action beats.The drug factory bust being an obvious action highlight. Some of the original dialogue is cooped in different ways. The edgy satirical humour of the original is nowhere to be seen or heard. While the family aspect was done away with in the original movie, it becomes more relevant here as it is the anchor for Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) once he undergoes his transformation. Kinnaman himself delivers a decent performance, particularly fluctuating between the human and robot personas that flip during the course of the story. Although, try as he might, there seems something lacking on the human side of things, and the outfit - particularly with the headpiece in place - doesn’t help matters in terms of his performance. Still, the effort in terms of a physical performance has to be noted and can almost match to that of Peter Weller’s performance in the suit. Of course, given the technological edge the 2014 edition has, a little more flexibility is expected and excused (making way for a more CG take on the character.) Unlike with the original, the cops are not run by corporation this time so the dynamic of the overall situation is different. The political edge is focussed on drone warfare, something a little more relevant in today’s world than just corporations taking over of businesses and services. Then there’s the media aspect, which is boiled down to just a single commentary type show with one host (Samuel L Jackson) delivering a single and one-sided rhetoric on the drone warfare issue, which makes it sound like he’s sponsored by the very corporation manufacturing the drones and robots. The point isn’t driven as well as it could be though, as I said, it’s fairly one sided. The movie does well enough on its own merits but it also doesn’t help the cause of the ongoing efforts to remake such ‘classics’ of the 80s. The action beats are solid, the effects are quite stunning in some cases (like when the RoboCop armour is stripped away to reveal what is left of the man inside) and the performances are acceptable for the most part. Padilha does give us a decent balance between the drama and the action, and in doing so, delivers a solid enough movie to enjoy. Fans of the original may disagree, likely having a preference for that one. Rating: 3/5 stars
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