Memory is a tricky thing. In the 1987 original RoboCop, Detroit police officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is revived as a machine-man who recalls only echoes of his former life. He’s more wiring than wet-works, and his human memory is corrupted. Reading the initial reaction to the RoboCop reboot (mostly from people who have yet to see the movie) it seems that the memory of those who watched the original may also be suffering some corruption.
Some have called the new RoboCop the most "unnecessary reboot ever." Forever ever? Oh, I get it — it’s hyperbole, right? Like, "I’d rather get shot in the head by the dad from That ‘70s Show than listen to your whiny nostalgia-drenched nerd rage?"
Certain RoboCop diehards have the idea that the original is a piece of high-brow cinema. "It’s social commentary and satire!" But, that doesn’t make it smart or high art. What is the intellectual value of Murphy’s porno-gor-ific death in the ‘87 original? Or the flash of bare breasts in the police locker room? Or the toxic waste bath that turns one baddie into a melting, gooey mess of walking flesh?
It’s a comic book on the screen, so lighten up. It was a black comedy that poked fun of corporatization, consumerism, media and government, but it was also a super-silly ultra-violent action movie intended to entertain. This is a franchaise that has sold action figures and cheeseburgers and video games, and, I’d say, it shouldn’t be held so high as to consider any attempt at reinterpretation (even a dreaded PG-13 take on it) as cinema sacrilege. After all, as RoboCop reboot head bad guy OmniCorp CEO (Michael Keaton) says about changing Robo’s paintjob from showy silver to tactical black: “People don’t actually know what they want until you show it to them.”
I'd buy that for a dollar.
So, take a deep breath and hear me out. Believe it or not, there are some things the new RoboCop does well... after the jump!
Some have called the new RoboCop the most "unnecessary reboot ever." Forever ever? Oh, I get it — it’s hyperbole, right? Like, "I’d rather get shot in the head by the dad from That ‘70s Show than listen to your whiny nostalgia-drenched nerd rage?"
Certain RoboCop diehards have the idea that the original is a piece of high-brow cinema. "It’s social commentary and satire!" But, that doesn’t make it smart or high art. What is the intellectual value of Murphy’s porno-gor-ific death in the ‘87 original? Or the flash of bare breasts in the police locker room? Or the toxic waste bath that turns one baddie into a melting, gooey mess of walking flesh?
It’s a comic book on the screen, so lighten up. It was a black comedy that poked fun of corporatization, consumerism, media and government, but it was also a super-silly ultra-violent action movie intended to entertain. This is a franchaise that has sold action figures and cheeseburgers and video games, and, I’d say, it shouldn’t be held so high as to consider any attempt at reinterpretation (even a dreaded PG-13 take on it) as cinema sacrilege. After all, as RoboCop reboot head bad guy OmniCorp CEO (Michael Keaton) says about changing Robo’s paintjob from showy silver to tactical black: “People don’t actually know what they want until you show it to them.”
I'd buy that for a dollar.
So, take a deep breath and hear me out. Believe it or not, there are some things the new RoboCop does well... after the jump!
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