If you are going to remake a film, the Studios will usually fund it for a very specific reason. And more often than not its because the original was quite a popular film and the paying customers liked something particular about it. So it’s a good idea to try and recapture those elements again.
I found the original Robocop to be one of the most violently gory and shockingly satirical films about American culture I’d ever seen. And that’s was in a sci-fi film for goodness sake. It was truly unlike anything that had come out before and, to some extent, it blew the socks off the genre. That “wow” factor, that unforgettable impact is why some films are remembered with such fondness by “the fan boys”. That unshakable “ affection ” for something that made you go OOOOH that was an unexpectedly great two hours of my life !!!!!
I was hugely disappointed by the subsequent film sequels . They were made for twice the money of the original and were ten time worse. They lost nearly every element that made that first film good. Don’t even start me on the TV series.
And that I’m afraid is why the trailer leaves me under whelmed. Like a lot of films this year the trailers look superb because visually they all look stunning. But beneath that shiny, slickly edited glimpse of the contents the stories are so bland and derivative they may as well have been written by robots, beat for beat out of the box. They’ve just got no personality at all, all surface no substance.
What made Robocop such a poignant story at times WAS the modern day Frankenstein elements of the story, not just the Robocop but the corporation that made him.
I actually had to look away when Murphy was shoot to pieces and it hurt to know what he had lost, his life, his wife and his son in the pursuit of being a good cop. Even when he’s resurrected they deliberately wipe any part his memory and personality so that any trace of his humanity is lost and he “becomes” an automaton running on their programming. All to make MORE money for a soulless corporation that caused all the problems to start with. Felt true then, feels even more like that today.
And its Murphy’s internal fight, his moral humanity seeking to reassert its authority over the programming and corruption of the system, despite what it has cost him that really struck a cord with me. That, the clever adverts, the brilliant one liners and killer phrases . There’s not too many films where you can say “I’ll buy that for a dollar” and somebody will immediately know what you mean. Or “You’ve twenty seconds to comply” or “Bobbie, can you fly”. At a satirical level it was about the first film I ever saw which made it pretty clear if you are a powerful corporation and you commit a crime ,you’ve just made a mistake, but if you’re poor and break the law you are punished by the system. Banking crisis anyone?
So when I see “Robocop” reduced to the mundane level of a dysfunctional family drama I‘m filled with a quiet dread for the story. Murphy lost everything but at his core he remained true to himself ,over riding his programming by OCD (even the corrupt executive subcommands) and still remaining a cop. But he never saw his family again.
Here ,it seems he’s become less cop more “Robodad.” “You’ve got to talk to your son” pleads his wife, so he obviously retains his connection to his family. His visor now pops up, revealing an handsomely unscarred ,expressively human face to his son. He looks more like a tactical opps version of “Iron Man” from Stark industries. It appears like he was chosen for the Robocop program not so much for his injuries but his good looks and the community friendly smile.
Everything in the trailer appears like just about every other superhero film I’ve seen in the last few years, and THAT kind of writing was definitely NOT what the original was about or like. Not by a million miles.
I’m grateful they’ve kept some reference to the old armour. I think the effects will be outstanding just like every film this year. Its got some great people in it and at one hundred and twenty odd million they've tried to broaden the appeal. But will I care a few hours after I watch it if I ever see it, or any clips from it again? Somehow I doubt it.
