Now that's over and done with... I'm glad to start providing some more new content for my fans here on Method to Madness.
Cast:
Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy, a police detective who is injured in an explosion and transformed into the cyborg RoboCop.
Gary Oldman as Dr. Dennett Norton, Omni Foundation Chief Scientist who creates RoboCop.
Michael Keaton as Raymond Sellars, the CEO of OmniCorp.
Michael Keaton as Raymond Sellars, the CEO of OmniCorp.
Samuel L. Jackson as Patrick "Pat" Novak, host of The Novak Element and prominent supporter of mechanized crime control.
Abbie Cornish as Clara Murphy, Alex's wife.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rick Mattox, a drone controller and automated military tactician expert responsible for training RoboCop.
Michael K. Williams as Jack Lewis, Alex's former partner.
Jennifer Ehle as Liz Kline, the head of OmniCorp legal affairs.
Jay Baruchel as Tom Pope, the head of marketing for OmniCorp.
Aimee Garcia as Jae Kim, a scientist who works with Dr. Dennett Norton.
John Paul Ruttan as David Murphy, Alex and Clara's son.
Patrick Garrow as Antoine Vallon
Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Karen Dean, Detroit Chief of Police.
Douglas Urbanski as Mayor Durant, the Mayor of Detroit.
Zach Grenier as Senator Dreyfus
Policeman Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is severely injured by a car bomb planted on orders from crime boss Antoine Vallon. Norton picks Murphy for the RoboCop program, and with consent from Murphy's wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), has him outfitted with the RoboCop body and software. Alex at first rejects his current condition, but is convinced by Norton to be strong for his wife and son. Rick Mattox (Jackie Earle Haley), OmniCorp's military tactician, is skeptical of Alex's abilities, saying he will never be as efficient as a fully mechanical robot. In order to make Alex perform better, Norton tampers with Alex's brain, making him believe that his tactical decisions are his own when he is actually executing programs.
While preparing for a public press conference to unveil RoboCop, Alex is emotionally overwhelmed and has a seizure while Norton is downloading the police database information into his brain. Pressed for time, Norton alters Alex's brain chemistry, lowering his dopamine levels until he no longer displays any emotions. Under control, Alex attends the press conference, where he ignores his waiting wife and son, and efficiently apprehends a criminal in the crowd. RoboCop is a public relations success, and drastically reduces the crime rate in Detroit. Public opinion on the Dreyfus Act begins to turn. Norton is told to prevent Alex from seeing his wife and son.
Clara manages to confront her husband as he is leaving the station, telling him about his son David's nightmares. Alex leaves, but then overrides his programming and detours from his current case to go to his house. He reviews the CCTV footage of his accident and realizes that David saw his body and was traumatized. Alex pursues Vallon for revenge. When Alex arrives at his hideout Vallon nearly succeeds in killing him but fails and is shot by Alex. At the station Alex arrests one of the corrupt cops and shoots the other. Alex is about to arrest the Chief of Police when Mattox shuts him down by remote control, and has him taken back to OmniCorp.
Sellars decides to spin this turn of events to his advantage, via television presenter Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), who thanks RoboCop for revealing the fallibility of the police, and points out that drones are incorruptible. A repeal of the Dreyfus Act goes underway, with votes overwhelmingly in support of the repeal. Clara goes to the press and angrily demands to see her husband. Sellars, seeing Alex is no longer useful and fearing that the truth of what has been done to him will be exposed, orders Mattox to kill him. Norton reaches the lab first and revives Alex, telling him everything. Alex, feeling betrayed, goes after Sellars.
Sellars has the OmniCorp building shut down and armed with drones. Alex gains entry with the help of his former partner, Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams) and other police officers. Lewis shoots Mattox while Alex reaches the roof, where Sellars is waiting for a helicopter and has Clara and David as hostages. Alex's programming prevents him from arresting Sellars, but he manages to overcome it and shoots, killing him.
OmniCorp's parent company, OCP, decides to review the drone and RoboCop program. The President vetoes the repeal of the Dreyfus Act based on the testimony of Norton, who confesses everything they'd done in the RoboCop program. Alex's body is rebuilt in Norton's laboratory, and then he waits for Clara and David, who are coming to visit him.
Abbie Cornish as Clara Murphy, Alex's wife.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rick Mattox, a drone controller and automated military tactician expert responsible for training RoboCop.
Michael K. Williams as Jack Lewis, Alex's former partner.
Jennifer Ehle as Liz Kline, the head of OmniCorp legal affairs.
Jay Baruchel as Tom Pope, the head of marketing for OmniCorp.
Aimee Garcia as Jae Kim, a scientist who works with Dr. Dennett Norton.
John Paul Ruttan as David Murphy, Alex and Clara's son.
Patrick Garrow as Antoine Vallon
Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Karen Dean, Detroit Chief of Police.
Douglas Urbanski as Mayor Durant, the Mayor of Detroit.
Zach Grenier as Senator Dreyfus
The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)
In 2028, multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of military "robot soldier" technology, supplying the US Military with mechanical soldiers that are used overseas. OmniCorp wants to sell their products for use in civilian law enforcement in the United States but public opinion, embodied by the Dreyfus Act, prevents this. OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) asks his marketing team, in conjunction with scientist Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), to create a new law enforcement product by combining human and machine that he believes can be "sold" to the American public. They begin looking for a permanently injured police officer to act as the core of their prototype.Policeman Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is severely injured by a car bomb planted on orders from crime boss Antoine Vallon. Norton picks Murphy for the RoboCop program, and with consent from Murphy's wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), has him outfitted with the RoboCop body and software. Alex at first rejects his current condition, but is convinced by Norton to be strong for his wife and son. Rick Mattox (Jackie Earle Haley), OmniCorp's military tactician, is skeptical of Alex's abilities, saying he will never be as efficient as a fully mechanical robot. In order to make Alex perform better, Norton tampers with Alex's brain, making him believe that his tactical decisions are his own when he is actually executing programs.
While preparing for a public press conference to unveil RoboCop, Alex is emotionally overwhelmed and has a seizure while Norton is downloading the police database information into his brain. Pressed for time, Norton alters Alex's brain chemistry, lowering his dopamine levels until he no longer displays any emotions. Under control, Alex attends the press conference, where he ignores his waiting wife and son, and efficiently apprehends a criminal in the crowd. RoboCop is a public relations success, and drastically reduces the crime rate in Detroit. Public opinion on the Dreyfus Act begins to turn. Norton is told to prevent Alex from seeing his wife and son.Clara manages to confront her husband as he is leaving the station, telling him about his son David's nightmares. Alex leaves, but then overrides his programming and detours from his current case to go to his house. He reviews the CCTV footage of his accident and realizes that David saw his body and was traumatized. Alex pursues Vallon for revenge. When Alex arrives at his hideout Vallon nearly succeeds in killing him but fails and is shot by Alex. At the station Alex arrests one of the corrupt cops and shoots the other. Alex is about to arrest the Chief of Police when Mattox shuts him down by remote control, and has him taken back to OmniCorp.
Sellars decides to spin this turn of events to his advantage, via television presenter Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), who thanks RoboCop for revealing the fallibility of the police, and points out that drones are incorruptible. A repeal of the Dreyfus Act goes underway, with votes overwhelmingly in support of the repeal. Clara goes to the press and angrily demands to see her husband. Sellars, seeing Alex is no longer useful and fearing that the truth of what has been done to him will be exposed, orders Mattox to kill him. Norton reaches the lab first and revives Alex, telling him everything. Alex, feeling betrayed, goes after Sellars.
Sellars has the OmniCorp building shut down and armed with drones. Alex gains entry with the help of his former partner, Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams) and other police officers. Lewis shoots Mattox while Alex reaches the roof, where Sellars is waiting for a helicopter and has Clara and David as hostages. Alex's programming prevents him from arresting Sellars, but he manages to overcome it and shoots, killing him.
OmniCorp's parent company, OCP, decides to review the drone and RoboCop program. The President vetoes the repeal of the Dreyfus Act based on the testimony of Norton, who confesses everything they'd done in the RoboCop program. Alex's body is rebuilt in Norton's laboratory, and then he waits for Clara and David, who are coming to visit him.
The Verdict:
Those of you who read my regular posts on Facebook know that I have been skeptical of this reboot since the debut trailer, especially when it was announced that the film would sport a PG-rating. Going into the theater, I didn't have my hopes up at all, but I'm glad to say that I was rather pleased with what I saw.
First things first, let's address the elephant in the room - PG-13 rating. The original RoboCop film went with a R-rating to compete with every other heavy duty, "macho man" action film in the '80s, especially following in the wake of the commercial success of the original Terminator film. In today's culture, media is slowly trying to shy away from over-the-top violence, while presenting most new franchises as family friendly affairs. Looking back, it was pretty silly that the original RoboCop spawned a regular television series and two cartoons despite the fact of how violent the original two films were. I honestly can't blame Hollywood for going with a much more tame approach to this film. Sure, it's going to piss hardcore fans, but let's face facts, people. It wasn't the end of the world after the PG-13 rating for the Total Recall reboot.
Hardcore RoboCop fans may feel alienated that most of the adult charm and satire found in the original film is absent here, but there are enough inside jokes and references to the original film to make fans proud. I honestly laughed when I understood why they changed the armor to look more "tactical". That was really smooth there, Michael Keaton.
First things first, let's address the elephant in the room - PG-13 rating. The original RoboCop film went with a R-rating to compete with every other heavy duty, "macho man" action film in the '80s, especially following in the wake of the commercial success of the original Terminator film. In today's culture, media is slowly trying to shy away from over-the-top violence, while presenting most new franchises as family friendly affairs. Looking back, it was pretty silly that the original RoboCop spawned a regular television series and two cartoons despite the fact of how violent the original two films were. I honestly can't blame Hollywood for going with a much more tame approach to this film. Sure, it's going to piss hardcore fans, but let's face facts, people. It wasn't the end of the world after the PG-13 rating for the Total Recall reboot.
Hardcore RoboCop fans may feel alienated that most of the adult charm and satire found in the original film is absent here, but there are enough inside jokes and references to the original film to make fans proud. I honestly laughed when I understood why they changed the armor to look more "tactical". That was really smooth there, Michael Keaton.
Secondly, let's discuss the narrative. I felt that this was a film about the value of humanity. It was told in a fashion similar to the live-action Casshern (2004) film from Japan with a few subtle nods to Kikaider, but not as depressing as the Casshern: Sins anime. It's not as a boring narrative as Casshern, but this film suffers from the same problematic issues that plagued that film. This is a film that weaves an intelligent story about the merit of humanity over an emotionless machine while at the same time blurring the lines of what does it truly mean to be human. I did appreciate that this version of RoboCop's origin took the time to flesh out Murphy's relationship with his wife and son, instead of phasing them out of the continuity. Before anyone says it in the comments, NO RoboCop: Prime Directives is NOT part of the canon as far as I'm concerned, even though that was the last time that RoboCop's family was referenced in somewhat positive light in this franchise. The film takes a few subtle nods to Kikaider in a sense in the way that Murphy is given the illusion that he is still human - much like Jiro's "conscience circuit" - when the scientists render him into simply into a machine that thinks its human until he overrides his programming with his own free will and humanity. The narrative is unique enough that it stands on its own as its own identity instead of hanging onto the original RoboCop narrative. Initially, I thought the human hand being added to the armor was a bit lame, but in relation to the narrative, I can see why they went with that design. The hand is a symbolic reminder of RoboCop's humanity and it is the same hand that he held his son with.
The narrative also has a few links to the original story, so hardcore fans will enjoy a few subtle hints thrown in between the lines - one major point being that OmniCorp is the bare-bones precursor to the OCP conglomerate that plagued New Detroit in the original RoboCop trilogy. Another example is how RoboCop cannot harm OmniCorp employees, which acts as reference to one of RoboCop's prime directives that are part of his core programming after he was constructed by OCP.
I wish we got to see more scenes of Samuel L. Jackson's The Novak Element, but I could understand why they didn't plaster this concept across the entire film. For fans of the original RoboCop, this is as close as you're going to get to satirical commercials found in the original film.
As we switch gears about the action in this film, I'm going to voice my major gripe about the action in this film. There's not enough of it. The action often times takes a backseat to progressing the plot at snail-like pace. When there is action, it's very short-lived, with the very minor exception of the last sequence near the film's ending where RoboCop faced off against the drones guarding OmniCorp. That being said, this is a visually gorgeous film to watch. From RoboCop's armor to the streets of Detroit, this is a future I wouldn't mind living in. I honestly had to laugh at the beginning moments of the film where the city looked exactly like the opening minutes of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I'm sure Hideo Kojima would be proud. To say that Detroit is apparently run down and plagued with crime, it doesn't look that bad on the surface. In the original RoboCop film, you could tell that was a horrible town to live in. Here, it doesn't look that bad at all on the surface. That was one major oversight that bothered me in the opening minutes of the film, along with the fact that normal police are rare and far away from the action. A little attention to small details would have benefited this film in the long run if this reboot expected to be taken seriously.
RoboCop has received a mixed reception from critics, with most citing that it's not as good as the original RoboCop. In my opinion, that's not a fair assessment. Sure, we want this film to recreate the magic that made many of us children of the '80s (and '90s) fell in love with the original RoboCop trilogy, but this is a different time and our culture has changed. Can't necessarily say evolved, but society is trying to shy away from the heavily violence that made the original film such a hit. While I would have loved to see more of the clever satire in this film, I won't bash the film for not doing it. There's enough cheap jokes and references to make most fans of the original RoboCop trilogy smile. Is it a bad film? No, not really. I have seen far worse films than this. RoboCop 3 and that mess called RoboCop: Prime Directives still ranks worse than this film.
I'm giving RoboCop (2014) a 7.5 out of 10. The narrative has enough meat on its bones to keep you invested for the entire film from start to finish, but at the cost of VERY few thrills on this roller coaster ride. It's a shame too as there's not enough action to justify the amount of gorgeous computer-generated environments and characters.
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