Film Review – RoboCop

Directed by Jose Padilha
Screenplay by Joshua Zetumer
Genre: Science Fiction Action
Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L Jackson, Abbie Cornish
Rating: **

RoboCop is a futuristic science fiction story set in 2028 in Detroit. It is about a cop, Alex Murphy(Joel Kinnaman), whose life is turned around completely after an attempt on his life by those he is seeking to bring to justice. After the attack, he is severely wounded and in his critical condition. However, a multi-national company, OmniCorp uses the opportunity not only to save his life but also build him into a half-robot half-human crime fighting machine. Previously their robotic drones have been refused in the USA because of the lack of the human element, a conscience. So OmniCorp now uses Alex as a human robot hero mainly for their own profit.
Unfortunately, OmniCorp has not considered the fact that there is still a real -life human being within all this robotic technology. As he returns to the crime ridden and corrupt streets of Detroit, Alex Murphy begins to face many human issues a regular cop and other normal officers has never had to face.
This is not the best movie I have seen this year yet it is also not the worst. I am not entirely impressed with it, however the characters are good, I especially enjoyed the role of the scientist, Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) and how he came to realize the damage he had caused. It makes me wonder how people who are capable of so much good can easily be manipulated into taking up a project for good intentions but used for evil purposes instead.
Another character I looked out for was the wife Clara (Abbie Cornish). Her screen time was limited but nonetheless she made it worthwhile every time she appeared in a scene.
I find it a little suspicious, the roles Samuel L Jackson chooses to play these days. Somehow they are all war related and the similarities are just too much, almost as if he is playing the same persona in all the movies. Others may beg to differ from me, but this is how I perceived it. In RoboCop he plays Patrick Novak, the host of The Novak Element and a prominent supporter of mechanized crime control.
The storyline is good but I still think it could have been worked on, maybe with some more realistic action scenes. Somehow I am not satisfied with the ending but maybe this was the intention of the scriptwriter and producers. The movie is a remake and I understand the producer must try to beat the previous versions of the same theme. But I think it is time we all come to agree that we don’t want remakes anymore. Especially if it is going to fail and not meet already high expectations.
Ethan Saathoff, a movie reviewer writing on badassdisgest.com said, “I had a hard time understanding the few positive reviews I found. Now that I’ve seen it, I have a much more difficult time understanding the outright dismissals. This isn’t a great film. It doesn’t have a clear point of view, yet seems to constantly strive for one.”