Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

RoboCop was a blast out of the blue when it appeared near the end of the Reagan Administration – freshly inventive, appallingly entertaining. Star powered, brilliantly conceived, smartly executed, it spawned two sequels, both inferior. Now it’s spawned a 21st century reboot, which I’ll review next. First the original.

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven elevated himself into the big leagues when he launched RoboCop on an unsuspecting world. He would go on to deliver a string of Action and SciFi blockbusters throughout the Nineties. None were as freshly smart as RoboCop however. All were star powered, including the RoboCop.

Peter Weller was a real moviestar on account of having been Buckaroo Banzai. Most notably he had the right profile for the role, critically important when wearing the mask. As several hapless leading men know, more than just a strong chin is required. Ask Ben Affleck. For instance, Jagger-lips help. Weller had it all.

Studded with great lines (“You pick the heart.”), deadly media spoofs, great robotics and deft robotic-POV filmmaking, this was a crowd pleaser that delivered more grey matter than it splattered on screen. And it splattered one hell of a lot of grey matter, believe you me. One famous scene involves an exploding creep.

Its intelligentsia appeal stems from an exploration of human identity through the prism of cyborgian transformation, the associated topic of the Laws of Robotics, and not least through oodles of brilliant TV satire. Hell, viewing it should be worth Adult Ed. credits or something.

So what if it trades in pronounced sadism. Verhoeven cravenly chucks that aside for a jaunty ending. Like I said, RoboCop’s conception and execution were smart as hell. If only its spawn could have kept up.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Peter Weller’s rockstar looks were perfect for the Officer who became RoboCop in an iconic tinman role.

Nancy Allen played his somewhat hapless partner Lewis.

Powerful Supporting Cast

• Kurtwood Smith as a devastatingly dangerous Detroit crime lord. Smith’s was a legendary performance and a key reason why the movie works so well.
• Ray Wise as his top henchman. Powerful casting.
• Jesse Goins as a henchman who uses his dick to distract a policewoman
• Dan O’Herlihy as the tycoon who privatized law enforcement
• Miguel Ferrer as a sniveling corporate jerk
• Ronny Cox as the biggest dick in the company. Character’s name is Dick Jones. Clever.
• Robert DoQui as a perpetually pissed-off Police Sergeant
• Leeza Gibbons as an annoyingly chirpy TV News Personality. Gibbons was an annoyingly chirpy TV News Personality in real life.

Film - Great 4.0

Paul Verhoeven brilliantly transitions from an omniscient POV to Robocop’s POV after his human precursor passed through death. Scintillating.

The devastating TV satire includes commercials (the Nukem game spot) and chirpy news personalities.

RoboCop featured the radically new Ford Taurus as Detroit Police Cruisers, making the film appear truly futuristic. Sound crazy? Not if you were around when the Taurus launched. Nobody had ever seen anything like it, least of all from mass-market Motown. Thus, RoboCop driving a blacked-out Taurus became the best Hollywood-Detroit pairing since Bullitt.

Which makes it all the more curious that Ford isn’t mentioned in the acknowledgements during the closing credits. Why would that be? Perhaps because the bad guys drove a car called the 6000 SUX. At the time, the biggest selling model from the sporty division of rival GM was the Pontiac 6000. And it sucked.

Kudos also for the revenge humor, e.g., the Best Mirandizing Ever, which includes some well deserved tossing thru windows.

Edge - Sordid 3.2

Nasty & savage, Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop was a notable benchmark in the Late 20th Century escalation of on-screen violence. Oh yeah, it was also provocative elsewhere, e.g., when a white chick peaks at a black dick only to get her ass kicked. Can you say incitement?

The pronounced sadism includes Kurtwood Smith’s cooly terrifying execution of Peter Weller’s undercover cop. Hall of Fame Badass

Reality - Supernatural 3.8

Gotta love how they monitored the big data emanating from RoboCop: strip-tape. Yeah, that’ll get ’er done.

1 Comment

• BrianSez Feb 21, 2014 7:41PM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  Clearly the remake doesn’t stand up to the classic.

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