RoboCop

RoboCop on the surface feels like an average mindless gun-shooting non-thinking action film from the 80s, but much like the character, it harbors much more than what was expected. Even just from looking at the design of this character would give off the impression that it wasn’t going to try and be anything more than a crowd-pleasing action flick that would spark tons of merchandising, and even though that did happen, it also achieves more for itself and for action films in the future. Even though action films with a hint of intelligence would become more commonplace as time went on with other flicks like Demolition Man and Total Recall entering the party, RoboCop didn’t look like it was going to have much to say outside of showing the cool cyborg do cool action moves and such. However, it proved people very wrong when it came out in 1987. In a dystopic crime-ridden Detroit of the future, a critically injured rookie cop named Alex Murphy (played by Peter Weller) is used as a test subject for a corrupt business organisation who plans on creating the ultimate police officer through robotic enhancements. Now more machine than man, his abilities are unmatched, and he succeeds in striking fear in all criminals in sight. However, he flashes back to scarring memories of his past existence that the corporation would rather he forgot. Going from following the law to running from the law, and with the help of his partner Anne (played by Nancy Allen), he plans his revenge on those that killed him and condemned him to his fate. Even with the incredibly cool design and concept of a RoboCop in general (whose mere marketable presence became strong enough to turn this R-rated flick into something that could make toys for kids), the film proved to do well with critics and even did decently at the box office. It stands out with some very impressive practical effects, goofy and over-the-top characters, and a fair amount of intelligence and thought put behind the characters, its themes and commentary, and the story.

The set-up is a very basic 80s action film plot with strong main characters, corny gun-wielding villains, psychotic environments, corruption everywhere, and a large amount of gore. Creating a world this violent and filling it with all these cliches may come across as putting too much on your plate at once, but all of it works in its favor when it comes to conveying its message and showcasing its satire. Director Paul Verhoeven has also done similar movies of this type like Total Recall and Basic Instinct, where the film glorifies insane scenarios with its characters, environments, and tone, but all have more meaning to their mindlessness than expected which produces an engaging and unique viewing experience. Robocop stands for a lot of things that were highlighted during the era of its release, with concepts like the nature of humanity, corporate greed, and corruption among all types of modern society. It’s about losing your identity and even your humanity through the influence of others, and how much humanity can someone latch onto when it has literally all been stripped from them on a physical level. It is a surprisingly character driven movie, and one that provided a surprisingly sympathetic and introspective look at a character and style of movie that usually relied on the stoicism and unemotional nature of its action leads. The newscaster segments also highlight the overall subtle brainwashing the media and government organisations do on a general basis to the public and how the aggression and sleazy nature behind some of their creations can be just as harmful to others without them fully realizing it, which sets the tone and mood perfectly for what’s to come and how this world operates. It feels like the expected components of an action film helmed by Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier (who would later write another Verhoeven film, Starship Trooper, which also contain a similar satirical look on glorified violence). While the movie keeps this fun yet interesting momentum throughout a majority of the film, the ending does feel very rushed and unfulfilling, not even attempting to resolve any of the brought-up issues that were being addressed throughout the film. The lack of an epilogue ruins the film’s good pacing and just ends abruptly without much closure or feeling of completion, especially when it comes to the characters and how their stories conclude. Normally, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue for the genre, but since this one is more in-depth and character-driven, it doesn’t match and falls pretty flat.

The main actors have hit and miss moments, much like other action films can be like, but this movie’s effective characterization means that it can be a little more distracting when it isn’t handled as well. While Peter Weller as RoboCop is pretty good and does look and feel the part when he becomes the actual machine, his acting before he transforms is a bit stale (ironically showing more emotion and believability as an emotionless robot than as a real person). That coupled with over exaggerated facial expressions, it makes it look like the robot has more humanity than the person did, but he still does nail half the performance considering that this part was originally going to go to someone who feels more natural within an action environment (with the front runner being Arnold Schwarzenegger) it feels more fitting for this role to have someone who doesn’t come across as a superhuman specimen before being changed. Nancy Allen as the other cop is also not very good. The character is supposed to come across as tough, grounded, and quick to respond, but the performance comes across as too weak and soft-spoken to be that archetype. The acting is also flat and awkward, and the character isn’t given any depth to make her interesting, but nothing is awful, but rather just underwhelming and not leaving any impression and it is at least nice from a story telling perspective to have her act as RoboCop’s connection back to his humanity even though that could’ve been the role for his family (who aren’t showcased much in this movie at all). The villains are entertaining, being a good mix between funny and intimidating. Being the 80s, even simple gangsters have distinct characteristics and personalities which makes them more entertaining to watch and separate them as individuals. The man behind Robocop’s creation played by Miguel Ferrer is enjoyably slimy and pathetic but is quickly overtaken by another older guy played by Ronnie Cox who isn’t as entertaining or memorable as the others were. Even if it serves the message and gives the hero appropriate karma, he could have been made more interesting or at least as entertaining as the others, but it instead feels like he’s there to serve the commentary rather than the story and characters.

The practical effects look amazing and considering the team was led by Rob Bottin who worked on projects like The Fog and The Thing, it’s no surprise they are as fantastically effective and impressive visually as they are grotesque. RoboCop himself looks both very sleak and simple, but also giant and threatening. The make-up is beautifully detailed and realistic, going from life-like facial textures on metal bodies, to grotesque mutated humanoids, they all look stunning. The various gruesome instances where gore is used in this film is overblown and extreme to the point that it was often criticized at the time for going too far and had the potential to be heavily censored, but the gore looks painful and severe in the ways that make the world more violent and the pain more believable, depending on how its acted. The integration of stop-motion on the robotic creatures is also fresh to see. In a world now drenched in CGI, seeing a large robotic death machine interacting with the actors is quite interesting to witness. The movements do look like obvious stop motion and the differences in perspectives, the ways it shot and the screen resolution at times can seem odd, but it works to the films advantage and creates a unique presence for the creature. Besides one awful effect at the end when the villain dies, all these effects hold up and still look amazing to this day. Sadly, and ironically, most of the action is not particularly strong, opting for more basic car chases and gun showdowns than anything more unique and memorable. Since the movie actually does really well with its commentary, its world and its characters (aspects that aren’t always the best treated in an action flick) the usually strong aspects of an action flick (the ACTION) aren’t anything that out of the box. While the gore and explosions are all glorious to witness, it never gets more interesting than a simple shootout.

RoboCop has all the elements that make a great 80s film, interesting main character, funny and scary villains, large violent moments, but also contains a smart satirical edge and the struggle that the main character must go through to makes it more interesting, starting a longer line of action films that would take its example of being more than a mindless combat experience and helped produce more complex and thought-provoking work in the future. It’s that perfect blend of stupid and smart that makes the film that much more fun. The world is realistic, the characters are archetypes, but they work for this story, the writing is simple and straightforward, but it gets across the message, and the tone is perfectly balanced from gritty harsh reality and over-the-top action extremes that we all love. It does feature a couple of blemishes like its weak conclusion and replacement villain, but outside of that and even through all its goofiness and awkward moments, Robocop still manages to be one heck of a ride.