So, in case you are new to my blog full of reviews or one of the very few that has read the rest, I'd like to say thanks and let you know that this is my first movie review, so we'll see how this goes. I've reviewed hard rock/metal albums before and a few other ramblings, but I'm hoping to make this a regular thing moving forward. I end up seeing a lot of movies and been debating whether to do this or not, but seeing as I have the time, I now figure "why the hell not?" So, that being said, let's move onto the actual review.
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The original "Robocop" is a movie that I saw when I was younger, and I remember being blown away by how violent it was. The original scene, where Alex Murphy is brutally murdered, was ingrained in my memory for quite a while afterwards.
After saying that, I need to inform you all that I am not a stickler to the old film. I haven't seen the entire thing in quite a while, so I don't hold it in as high regard as some others might, but I still acknowledge it as being a good movie, albeit a somewhat-cheesy one, in hindsight. The film is full of social satire, as most Paul Verhoeven movies are, and I was very worried that they would forget that in the modern remake.
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The 2014 "Robocop" is actually... not that bad. I went in not expecting much more than a cash-grab sci-fi actioner, and what I got was a pleasant experience. It might have helped that I saw the film in IMAX, but the film was actually pretty damn good. It was entertaining, it didn't dumb itself down to the lowest common denominator as a lot of other sci-fi reboots do ("Total Recall," I'm looking at you), and the performances were solid. The action was a lot of fun to watch, and you actually got to sympathize with Alex Murphy's character more so than the original.
In the original film, Alex Murphy becomes almost a husk of a human being once he enters the suit, and I think that keeping his family in the mix after his "incident" and showing his human reaction to the things that happen really helped the film. I was genuinely rooting for Murphy to find his human side throughout the movie, and the times that he did, I actually felt for him. I found myself wishing that he'd find a way to be happy and whole with his family again, even despite knowing it can never be. To me, this is really what helped elevate the movie beyond a simple action flick.
The performances by the actors were great. Joel Kinnaman ("The Killing") turns in a quasi-star-making performance as Murphy, and I fully expect him to get many more great roles in the future after this and his even-better performance on "The Killing." I'd even say that I have a burgeoning man-crush on him, despite seeing him only in those two things.
Gary Oldman is also solid in this flick as Dr. Dennett Norton, the man responsible for building Murphy into Robocop. Of course, that doesn't really need to be said, as Oldman has yet to turn in a bad performance. Michael Keaton continues his career resurgence as Raymond Sellars, a rich businessman, and Abbie Cornish gives an underrated performance as Murphy's distraught wife, Clara. Samuel L. Jackson nearly steals the show in his five minutes of extended cameo time, playing a Bill O'Reilly-type talk show host with a temper that could rival the famous Fox News icon. The rest of the talented cast, including Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Jay Baruchel, and Jennifer Ehle, all give good performances, but unfortunately all have pretty small, limited roles that don't require much more than a few minutes from each.
Jose Padilha, making his English-language debut by directing this film, does a good job of taking the origin of Robocop and making it fit in the 21st century. One of the things I really loved about this movie is that, instead of just copying the 1987 classic, they decided to change some things to better translate to the screen and to better fit into current times, such as putting a big emphasis on comparing the character of Robocop to nothing more than a drone. The action scenes were well-shot, and after not seeing any of Padilha's previous works, I'm now intrigued enough to check them out.
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After all is said, "Robocop" isn't a perfect piece of cinema, but it's a damn fun movie. If you love sci-fi movies, action movies, or anything with robots, then this is going to be a good time at the movie theater for you. Even if you check it out from Redbox in 6 months, I can guarantee that you'll find something to like out of this movie.
If I had to give it a rating, I'd give it a solid 8/10. It's not perfect, but it wildly exceeded my expectations and I'm now looking forward to the sequel, which I hope will be incoming soon.
