Right OK so time for one more review before the end of the month I think so this one is on another action film (yep I figured action films must make up at least two thirds of my reviews on here!). And the film in question is Robocop, and no not the new dull looking remake I mean the original 1987 Robocop.
So let's load up on the guns and take a look at this un.....
And yes again, SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So the story is set in the near future in Detroit, where crime is out of control and the police are struggling to deal with and as a result the city gives the mega-corporation Omni consumer products (OCP) control over the police. The company plans to replace the run down sections of Detroit with the new "Delta city" but they first must deal with the violent crime rate. During a presentation the senior president of OCP Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) unveils a prototype law enforcement droid, ED-209 however the droid goes awry during the presentation and kills a board member. The OCP chairman as a result then decides to back a younger rival to Jones, Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) and his experimental cyborg police officer project nicknamed "Robocop". In the meantime a police officer, Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is transferred to the old Detroit police force where he is teamed up with office Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen). Together they patrol and tail a gang of bank robbers to an abandoned steel mill where Lewis is knocked out by one of the gang and Murphy is captured by the gang members lead by the ruthless Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith). Boddicker taunts Murphy before he shoots off his hand and then lets his gang riddle his body with gunshots before Boddicker finishes him off with with a shot to Murphy's head. Murphy is then taken to hospital but is soon pronounced dead and his body is taken to the OCP labs where he is rebuilt as Robocop. As a result of Robocop's programming he follows three directives, one: serve the public trust, two: protect the innocent and three: uphold the law, but he also has a fourth secret directive.
Robocop is soon unveiled to the press and is sent out on the streets where he stops several crimes and soon gains alot of media attention as a result. Robocop however starts to have flashbacks of his old life as Murphy and of his murder. Lewis also stops Robocop just before he leaves the station and quietly tells him that he is Murphy after which Robocop starts to search out his killers. Robocop stops a robbery in progress at a petrol station by one of Boddicker's gang, Emil (Paul McCrane) who recognises Robocop when he uses the phrase that Murphy used earlier "Dead or alive you're coming with me!" which prompts Emil to shout "I know you! You're dead. We killed you!" and as he tries to escape on his bike Robocop disables Emil's bike and grabs him asking who he is but Emil passes out. Robocop then takes a visit by his old house where he has more flashbacks of his old life and then he decides to go after another member of Boddicker's gang, Leon Nash (Ray Wise) and interrogates him on Boddicker's whereabouts.
In the meantime Morton is promoted to vice president for his success with Robocop much to the annoyance of Jones who warns him that his creation "better not screw up!". And sometime later Morton has two models around his house with whom he shares some cocaine with only then for Boddicker to then interrupt them, he scares the models into leaving. Boddicker then shoots Morton in his kneecaps and plays a video messsage from Jones revealing that he sent Boddicker to kill him for going over his head to the chairman. Boddicker places a grenade on a table and walks out leaving Morton to die in the resulting explosion. Soon after Robocop tracks down Boddicker at a cocaine factory and he takes down most of the criminals there and he attempts to kill Boddicker but stops when Boddicker mentions that he works for Dick Jones and that OCP runs the cops and instead arrests Boddicker. Robocop then goes after Jones and tries to arrest him but he is suddenly incapacitated and Jones explains that this is because of Robocop's secret fourth directive, which prevents him from harming any OCP executive. Jones then sets ED-209 on Robocop and the two of them fight, injuring Robocop but he manages to escape as ED-209 falls down some stairs and the droid can't get up again. Robocop however is soon confronted by an army of Detroit police officers who have been given the order from Jones to kill him so they open fire on Robocop who is eventually saved by Lewis. Lewis takes Robocop to the abandoned steel mill earlier in the film but its not long before Jones sends Boddicker and his gang to kill Robocop. And this leads into the film's climax where Robocop must defeat Boddicker and then try and find a way to stop Jones......
THOUGHTS
Robocop is without much doubt a highly entertaining not mention an incredibly violent action film which is also quite intelligent and it also has some pretty good ideas in the story as well. The character of Robocop was said to have been influenced by Blade Runner as the film's writer Edward Nueimer liked the notion of a cyborg police officer chasing down criminals in contrast to Blade Runner where a cop chases down cyborgs. The film also further seems to echo the ideaology of corporations taking control of everything also as seen in Blade Runner where the Tyrell corporation is an all consuming enterprise and its fairly similar here with OCP. And the film also acts as a pretty good satire on the social commentary of crime in America and how Detroit is the prime example of a city that is out on control crime wise and is desparate need of a cure.
PERFORMANCES
Performance wise Robocop is pretty good overall starting with Peter Weller (whom I share a birthday with!) who does a fine job in his dual role of Alex Murphy/Robocop and he pretty much plays the part fairly straight down the line. Weller has some good moments in the film as well such as the scene where near the start Murphy plays with his gun by twirling it and Lewis notices him and he says how his kid once saw a TV advert which showed a cowboy twirling his gun and he wanted him to do it too and as Lewis gives him a look, Murphy says "OK I admit I get a kick out it!". And then there is the scene where Murphy is confronted by Boddicker at the steel mill and Boddicker says to him "You probably think I'm not a very nice guy" and Murphy says "Buddy, I think you're slime!". And then later on as Robocop, Weller also has some good moments such as the scene where Robocop prevents a woman from being raped by two thugs and he shoots one of them in the balls through the woman's dress and Robocop says "Your move, creep!". And afterward the woman runs crying up to Robocop thanking him and he says "Madam, you may have suffered an emotional shock. I shall notify a rape crisis centre!". Then there is the scene where Robocop crashes the cocaine factory and he targets all the men in the factory and he says to them "Come quietly or there will be trouble!" and one of Boddicker's men simply says "Oh fuck you!!" and they open fire on Robocop who takes most of them out leaving Boddicker alive. And after Robocop takes Boddicker to the police station he says to Sergeant Reed (Robert DuQoi) "Book him!" and Reed says "What's the charge" and Robocop turns and says "He's a cop killer!". Then there is the scene where Robocop is taken to the steel mill by Lewis after he survive the attack on him by the police and he removes his helmet and visor to reveal his own face and he look at himself in a mirror. And he asks Lewis what happened to his wife and son and she tells him and he says "I can feel them, but I can't remember them". And then (SPOILER!!!!!) there is the scene near the end when Robocop kills Boddicker by stabbing him in the neck with his sharp knife-like data access port. And Robocop calls out to an injured Lewis who says "Murphy I'm a mess!" and Robocop says "They'll fix you. They fix everything!". And last of all (END OF THE FILM SPOILER!!!!!!) there is the scene where Jones is killed by Robocop at last, who saves the chairman of OCP or "the old man" who says to him "Nice shooting, son. What's your name?" and Robocop stops and turns back and smiles saying "Murphy".
Kurtwood Smith is great in his part as the ruthless Clarence Boddicker and he appears to really relish in playing the role and why not as he must rank as one of the villains you would most love to hate. Smith also his share of good scenes such as his first one where Boddicker and his gang have just fled the scene of a robbery only to find that the money was burned as a result of one of the gang blowing the doors off the safe. And in the scene Boddicker says to the gang member, Bobby "I don't believe it! YOU BURNT THE FUCKING MONEY!!!" and then as they are tailed by Murphy and Lewis, Boddicker grabs Bobby who is shot in the leg and Boddicker says "Can you fly, Bobby?!" and proceeds to throw him onto the cops car. Then there is the scene where Boddick having captured Murphy says to him "See I got this problem, cops don't like me, so I don't like cops!" and he aims his shotgun and makes a noise like a tracking device and then shoots off Murphy's right hand and he says "Well, give the man a hand!". And then there is the scene where Boddicker meets with a drug dealer named Sal at the cocaine factory and he says to him "I don't want to fuck with you, Sal, but I got the connections. I got the sales organization. I got the muscle to shove enough of this factory so far up your stupid wop ass that you'll shit snow for a year!". And in the same scene after Robocop gatecrashed the meeting and gunned down most of the bad guys he grabs Boddicker and throws him through some glass windows and Boddicker wearily shouts "You cocksucker! I work for Dick Jones! DICK JONES! He's the Number Two Guy at OCP! OCP runs the cops!". And after Robocop takes the bloodied Boddicker to the police station, Boddicker spits on the front desk and says to Reed "Just give me my fucking phone call!". And last of there is Smith's last moment where Boddicker stabs Robocop with a piece of piping and Robocop screams out in pain and Boddicker leans in and says "So you're not a Robocop!!" and Robocop then activates his sharp knife like data access port and uses it to kill Boddicker by stabbing him in the neck!
Ronny Cox is also great in his role as the corrupt No.2 man at OCP, Dick Jones who secretly is working with Boddicker. Cox has some good moments as well in the film such as the scene where Jones confronts Morton in the bathroom and he tells him "I always knew where the line was drawn, and you just stepped over it, buddy-boy. You've insulted me and you've insulted this company with that bastard creation of yours!". And Jones proceeds to threaten Morton saying "You just....fucked with the wrong guy!" and grabbing his hair and Morton angrily pushes him back and Jones finishes by saying "You'd better pray that that unholy monster of yours doesn't screw up!". Then there is the scene where Robocop comes to arrest Jones at his office and Robocop says he will arrest him for "aiding and abbetting a known felon" and Jones says "You better take me in". And as Robocop goes to arrest Jones he suddenly short circuits and Jones walks around him saying "What's the matter officer? I'll tell you what's the matter. It's a little insurance policy called "Directive 4", my little contribution to your psychological profile. Any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown. What did you think? That you were an ordinary police officer? You're our product, and we can't very well have our products turning against us, can we?!". And then Jones activates a button and ED-209 stalks into the room and Jones says "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now its time to erase that mistake!". And lastly there is the film's last scene where Robocop barges and he plays back the previous quoted comment Jones made about killing Morton in front of the OCP board. And Jones suddenly grabs the old man and holds him at gun point and he says to Robocop "I want a chopper on the roof! Now! If anyone tries to stop me.... the old geezer get's it!!". And then the old man says "Dick! You're FIRED!!" and Robocop who was held back by directive four suddenly no longer is as a result of the old man's actions and shoots Jones who falls to his death out the window.
Nancy Allen (who I ALSO share a birthday with!) is also pretty good in her role as Lewis, Murphy's partner who later on helps out Robocop in taking down Boddicker. Allen also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Lewis stops Robocop in the corridor and she asks him "Don't you have a name?" and Robocop just stares at her and she then moves in and quietly says to him "Murphy. Its you!". And in the next scene as a result Reed is grilled by Morton and Lewis says apologetically "Sorry, Sarge. I fucked up" and Reed smiles saying "Forget it, kid. This guy's a serious asshole!".
And then there is Miguel Ferrer who is great as the young arrogant and cocky Bob Morton who is the mastermind behind the Robocop program. Ferrer also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where after Jones makes his disastrous presentation involving ED-209 killing someone during a demonstration, Morton seizes his chance to get the go ahead for his project. And afterward Morton says to his associate Johnson " Yes! Now that's how it's done in the big leagues, Johnson. You see an opening, you GO for it!". And when Johnsons asks "when do we start?" Morton says "As soon as some poor schmuck volunteers!". And then there is the scene during Robocop's unveiling he asks Robocop what his prime directives are and Morton delighted turns to a female in his team and kisses her saying "I fucking love that guy!!". And then there is the scene where Morton is confronted by Jones in the bathroom. And just prior to Jones confronting him, Morton laughs about Jones to one of his fellow colleagues and says "Hey we're young, he'd old and that's life!" only for Jones to suddenly appear from one of the stalls and everyone but Morton rushing out of the room in panic! And Jones berates Morton by angrily saying "I had a guaranteed military sale with ED 209 - renovation program, spare parts for twenty-five years... Who cares if it worked or not?!" and Morton says "The old man thought it was pretty important....Dick!". And last of there is the scene where we see how Robocop eats as he is given what is basically baby food which is dispensed out of a machine and Johnson tries some saying "It tastes like baby food!" and Morton smiles saying "Knock yourself out!".
And the last two I will mention are first off Paul McCrane who is pretty good in his role as one of Boddicker's gang, Emil and he manages to make Emil quite menacing. McCrane's best scene comes in the film when he robs a gas station and he taunts the scared attendant by saying "Give me your money bookworm or I blow your brains out!". And as Emil notices the attendant has a book he says "Hey man what are you reading in there?" and the attendant holds up a book which is titled "Plane geometry" and Emil laughs saying "Are you college boy or something?". And Emil walks over and taunts the terrified attendant more by saying "I guess you think you're pretty smart. You think you could outsmart a bullet?! Hey what do you say we find out?!" and the attendant silently shakes his head and continues "I'M TALKIN TO YOU!!". But Robocop at this point turns up and says "Drop it! Dead or alive you coming with me!" and Emil suddenly recognises him as being Murphy "I know you. You're dead. We killed you!" and he shoots at him and runs off on his bike only for Robocop to shoot out the engine causing Emil to crash off it.
And last of all is Jesse D.Goins who plays the role of one of the Boddick's gang, Joe Cox who does well enough in the role although his character is a bit of a pain in the ass and has one of the most annoying laughs of any onscreen character so when he is finally offed its no great loss. Still Jesse does some good moments such as the scene where Lewis spots Joe taking a piss at the old steel mill and she tells him to "freeze" during his urination and he turns around and says "Sure. You mind if I zip this up?!" and Lewis is distracted for a sec by Joe's meat and he uses that to knock her out as she falls a few floors below to the ground and Joe looks over and points and laughs (sick git!). Then later there is the scene where Jesse turns up and reunites with Clarence and the others and he has a new car and Clarence produces his new cobra cannon gun and Joe says "Oohh a new toy! Can I play?!" but Clarence proceeds to blow up his new car. And later on as Clarence and the others show up at the steel mill for their last showdown with Robocop, Joe get's a good line when they arrive he says "The wreckin' crew are here! Where is that metallic mother??!".
DIRECTION AND MUSIC
Finally getting on the film's director, Paul Verhoeven does a great job here as this was his first major Hollywood film having spent the last decade or so making films in his native land in the Netherlands. Verhoeven strangely intially turned down directing the film but was later persuaded by his wife to do so after she insisted he re-read the script. Verhoeven injects alot of pace and good fun into the film and film's humour is largely tongue in cheek despite its strong levels of violence but Verhoeven confidently handles the film's action scenes and it would something he would continue to do well in his future Hollywood films.
Music wise the film also features a pretty good score by the now late Basil Poledouris and he provides a pretty memorable title theme for Robocop which is quite catchy and is sure to stick with you but in a good way. Poledouris's score also has some good dramatic moments as well and makes good use of both its orchestral and electronic arrangements.
FLAWS
As for Robocop's flaws....... yes OK it does have some. To kick off I think one of the things that is a bit daft about the film is the whole "directive four" idea which is OCP's security get-out clause that no high ranking exec of the company can be arrested by their own product. And in the scene where Robocop short circuits when he attempts to arrest Jones is pretty daft as Jones says "Any attempt to arrest a high ranking executive of OCP will result in shutdown" but Robocop doesn't acutally shut down he is just temporarily incapacitated! And surely if they wanted Robocop to shut down they should have programmed in directive four in a more specific way in that it should completely shut him down as opposed to rendering him disabled for a bit!
I also think that Jones reinforcement droid, ED-209 is basically just a pile of shit and could Jones not have thought of investing the company's money into something a bit more efficient than that???!! I mean the thing can't even walk down stairs without collapsing and not to mention squealing like some sort of animal either. ED-209 can't even follow simple instructions either as we see in the scene at the start of the film where they demonstrate the big clunky monstrosity to the COP board and one of the members, Kinney aims a gun at it and ED says in a big voice "Please put down your weapon! You have 20 seconds to comply!". And the board member does so only for ED-209 to not recognise this and it instead counts down and says "I am now authorised to use physical force!" and it brutally guns down Kinney. Oh yes I would put this pile of junk out on the streets for sure for the purposes of law enforcement the only problem is it would gun down everyone in sight and not just the criminals!
Also not to mention Jones at the end of the film during his COP boardroom meeting intends to have ED-209's dispatched throughout the city and he has one guarding the COP headquarters only for Robocop to show up and blow it to bits with one of the powerful explosive military guns. And even though the meeting is on the top floor surely they would have heard the explosion from up there! But no they don't! And it allows for Robocop to casually walk into the building and head upstairs to the meeting to confront Jones.
Which leads me onto one of the things I found to be a bit daft about Robocop's design for that matter and that is in how he walks as he is basically far too slow at moving as he makes big clumpy steps and wouldn't it be better if somehow could have made Robocop a bit more slimelined and agile on his feet???? And a perfect example of this problem comes in the scene where Boddicker and his gang show up at the steel mill with their powerful military-based firepower and Robocop shoots one of the gang and slowly walks away leaving plenty of time for Boddicker and the others to blow him up!
I also thought that some (or more specifically one) of Robocop's abilities are never properly explained such as the big sharp spike like device he uses in one scene to access computer databases but we can only make a guess that's really only what its main use is for (well that and stabbing bad guys!). And there is no time in the film where someone asks "Oh and what is that big spike that comes out of Robocop's fist???". And more to the point why bother make it so sharp other than make it serve as a plot device to kill one of the main bad guys in the film?!! For whatever its actual purpose is, its still handy as a technical tool and a weapon of death.
SUM UP
Anyway to sum up Robocop is a very enjoyable not to mention hugely over the top and incredibly violent action movie which even after nearly 30 years is still worth checking out. Some of the film does of course look a bit dated and the film's stop motion effects in particularly for ED-209 are a bit hit and miss but apart from that (and the aforementioned flaws) there is plenty to enjoy making Robocop worth a revisit.
And on that note I shall say as Robocop would "thank you for your co-orporation, good night!".
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