RoboCop Reboot

[faefrost]

I think it's in the same boat as, say, Total Recall.

The original was fine and still holds up. There's really no reason to reboot it, except as a guaranteed "moderate success" by Hollywood. Every person who sees it will say, at best, "It was okay, but I prefer the original."

I might watch it when it ends up on Netflix or in the bargain DVD bin, but probably not.

Heck, the original better than still holds up. It's downright prophetic. Robocop perfectly mapped out the fall of Detroit 30 years ago. The underlying message, story and themes become even more powerful today. Whereas what are we going to get with this new one? Some same old same old retarded Hollywood message blaming Bush for something or other? The new movie is guaranteed to suck, simply because there really isn't anyone left in Hollywood willing or capable of making a strong powerful message carrying genre movie (well except for Occupy Orbit, which while having a message, had a stupid one and beat us over the head with it.)

 

[ninjaRiv]

I think making him a ninja was a terrible idea. I hate the fact that his family has more focus than the original. I think it looks kind of sloppy. I think it's silly how his face is FINE after being blown up.

But... This trailer could just be trying to draw in a casual audience while the film may appeal to Robocop fans. it could have more updated symbolism, which the original was famous for. There could be humour there that they kept out of the trailer just to make people think it's a basic action flick. It's not out yet, so I'm not immediately hating the whole thing. But I'm sure as shit not happy about it so far. Although, I did like the design while it was grey.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

If we're going to be totally honest, there's really only one good Robocop movie. It was witty, it was satire at it's finest, and it had some heart. But as a series, it's already been sullen. Then there were 2 sequels that are awful by any measure, a television series that was middling on it's best day, and a bunch of comics that I honestly didn't read because I couldn't be bothered (they may be awesome, they may be awful, I have no way to judge).

This new trailer strikes me as the right direction. Reboot rather than remake. It seems like they're taking the original framework but going in their own direction, which is really the only way to go with a project like this. It may still end up being a stinker, but this latest trailer is just a taste.

I'm also a big fan of Michael Keaton, so it's hard to be too judgmental. Looks like a decent cast, looks like they're going with some new ideas (to my knowledge Murphy never had contact with his family as a 'borg), and the design of the armor... is still pretty terrible but Normandy 7 Robocop isn't the most offensive thing I've seen in a reboot... err, remake... reimagining?? Whatever this is, I'm not going to a theater to see it or anything else (I hate going to the cinema). But I'll check it out with a reasonably open mind when it hits Blu-Ray.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I want to hate it, I really do. The original is a brilliant combination dystopian/cyberpunk film and a childhood favourite. But damn does that trailer look good o.o

That's not even mentioning Samuel L. and the fantastic Gary Oldman. They only way the movie could've been better is to put Hugo Weaving in it.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Just looking at that trailer after having watched it half a dozen times, I can say with quite some confidence that I feel the makers of this yet-another-reboot did not quite get RoboCop and are doing a piss poor job of 'updating' it.

Everything is off with this one, just as it was with Total Recall, Prometheus or The Thing. The general feel of the not-quite-dystopian, yet grimy and shoddy and angry near-future. No more Clarence Boddicker going nanananana before shooting Alex Murphy's hand off with a shotgun (yeah, you didn't see that bit on TV or that censored VHS/DVD - NOT THE SAME MOVIE WHEN IT'S CRIPPLED!), instead it looks like Murphy gets car bombed. Not quite the same, is it. No Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Smith or Ronny Cox? They got Miguel Ferrer, and I'd only go pay to watch this movie to show him some support.

Instead, we get a rag tag band of nice-to-have actors paying off their boats, homes and golfing fees? Pretty meh, is it not.

The new RoboCop riding a motorbike looking like goddamn Kamen Rider 2013 US Edition doesn't help, either. All in all, this thing lacks respect and greatly pisses me off.

We still watch RoboCop (I'm partial to the BluRay one ever since I got that one), we still enjoy it. I love me some Verhoeven as foreplay and the basis of some less serious and more brainy human interaction. The new one looks instantly forgettable. Samuel L. Jackson is pissing me off without even trying and then there's the absolutely disgraceful misuse of Jackie Earle Haley.

You want a Verhoeven, you gotta go with Verhoeven. Accept no substitutes.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Whatever the trailer looks like, I think we can all agree it'll probably still be better than the Frank Miller sequels.

Hey, Robocop 2 was alright. It had the robot on robot violence that short pants wearing Dirty Hipsters junior craved. But yeah, Robocop 3 was abysmal.

I'd even go one or two steps further.

Kershner already did the first Star Wars sequel, and while I understand people who claim it's the worst (best), most forgettable (most iconic) of them all, I'd just like to say that it's still better than all three of the prequels.

Same goes for RoboCop 2. While Kershner lacked that special little zingy, sweet-sour-bitter strawberry ass flavour of a genuine Verhoeven product, I think he did an exceptionally well job with RoboCop 2. As with Star Wars, he managed to emulate a lot of the mannerisms, flavour and texture of the original, and he brought in some new bits, shifting the focus and bringing in a new level of - mostly human - issues big and small. His use of Tom Noonan as the bad guy was brilliant and while I don't think it should have been his final film, I still go back to RoboCop 2 when discussing the current state of psychology today and the mostly sub-par handling of psychopathologies and the severe issues we're experiencing with insanity pleas vs. proper, adequate punishment of murderous thundercunts.

In its way, RoboCop 2 was a social commentary that was spot on when it was first released (we're talking 1990 here), but it's quite prophetic (as was the original) when we look at it twenty years later.

The movies of late (at least the past decade, generalizing a wee bit here, of course) are mostly forgettable empty calories. If RoboCop is a shepherd's pie with gently simmered oxtail meat and RoboCop 2 is a kosher veggie lasagna, the new RoboCop 2014 looks like Mighty Wings with too little meat and way too much breading, soaked with sickness inducing vegetable oil, overcooked and dunked in wasabi just to be hip. I don't like it.

 

[Tiger King]

parts of the trailer look interesting, the future tech etc but as most are saying, why the reboot?
what is it with reboots anyway? Did we hit a golden age in the 80s and can't come up with new ideas anymore?
This extends to transformers and the upcoming ninja turtles film.

I'll watch it but as some dude above me said "I'll probably still prefer the original"

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

After the Total Recall remake buzzed past me and proved I don't have to give a fuck... well, they can remake as many movies as they want.

 

[Lunar Templar]

That wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be, and the ED-209 looks pretty sweet, wonder if they fixed that nasty 'stair' problem.....

 

[optimusjamie]

and I hear "Startship Troopers" is next.

What the fuck?

Starship Troopers is basically a sci-fi joke movie like Scary Movie is a horror joke moive.

How do you remake a joke movie? Especially if they want make it all dark and serious, it just won't work.

Well, they could try and make it more faithful to , at the very least.

Back to the topic of RoboCop: Cautiously optimistic, but I hope they avoid the mistakes Total Recall 2012 made.

 

[Timotei]

I can tell from the trailer this is going to be another bad remake. It seems to focus more on Murphy himself as opposed to the world around him (i.e. why he exists in the first place).

I'd also like to place a bet that the film won't have the satire the original did. We didn't like Robocop because HURR DURR IT ROBOT MAN SHOOTING PEOPLE. We liked it because the main character wasn't the focal point of the film, but rather just another actor on the stage. It was more about the dark tone and the extremely cynical and facetious nature in which the film portrayed the sleezy, cutthroat business world that was beginning to emerge at that time as well as the hardline conservative method of justice.

Oh yes, and we liked it for the fact it had scenes horrific and unapologetic violence, like a man being being violently and excessively shot by an out-of-control robot, and a man being burned and deformed by acid only to be turned into mush in the grill and window of a car.

 

[lechat]

thank god i thought i would get to the end of this thread and not see michael keaton mentioned once cause seriously, michael keaton.

 

[piinyouri]

It looks like a good action movie.

It doesn't looke like a good Robocop movie.

That's all I have to say about it, I'll reserve my proper judgement untill the movie comes out.

That's pretty much what I thought as well, with an additional "You could rebrand this and sell it as "MGS Raiden: The Movie".

 

[Pescetarian]

I think this is the embodiment of the current reboot-happy Hollywood climate - sure, it's a cool action movie, with an accomplished supporting cast, great-looking special effects and one (1) actor from the original... but they seem to have no idea why the original was so good, and had the impact it did.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

I just feel a really really REALLY big "Meeeehhhhhhhhhhhh" for the whole affair. The drama looks painfully contrived and it seems to lack the mean-spirited satire that was a major aspect of the original flick. I also doubt it's gonna be anywhere near as entertainingly gory. His chief opponents in this look to be like your standard 21st-century scifi-actioner robot dudes. Lame.

 

[Stryc9]

I liked the part where they're discussing how to make him more appealing and they show a picture of the silver armor and you can see red and blue lights on the shoulders like lights on a cop car. Beyond that I'm really not that thrilled about this movie, the whole "black, more tactical" thing aaaannnnd suddenly we're somewhere in the middle east and RoboCop is killing brown people...hooray?

 

[Vrex360]

Not particularly pleased. The sheer fact that they actually had the original ROBOCOP suit and then changed it to black in the trailer is kind of annoying (though maybe it was a self aware satrical reference to bad remakes and how we customize technology but given the lack of any other wit present in the trailer I question that assessment. Though it was cool that Michael Keaton, the first cinematic Batman suggested it.). But also there are other things I don't much like, the fact that he has memories and self awareness right from the get go. The theme of being a human being mixed with a machine and human emotions and memories interfering with 'the program' was a factor in the original movie but it was subtle. He started out as a blank slate robot with just a few hereditary quirks remaining and over time he became more human as the plot increased, him just being a person right from the beginning is just silly and misses the subtlety of the original movie.
And I will remind you that ROBOCOP was a movie where a man gets shot to pieces in a boardroom by a minigun because some moron decided to have the rest prototype of a war machine still be loaded with actual ammunition, so if you're making THAT movie look subtle, you done fucked it up.

Speaking of which, the original was pretty dark in terms of theme. The main character wasn't merely wounded in the first movie, he was murdered. Brutally. He had his arms and legs blown off and his internal organs destroyed by multiple gun shots by a gang of sadists and for all purposes died. Likewise he never sees his family again because they move away to try to move on because they believed, nay they KNEW, him to be DEAD. Likewise the main villains were truly evil sadistic monsters murders, torturers, thieves and rapists. You WANTED to see them die horribly and it was awesome to see our hero get his revenge because of how needlessly sadistically cruel they were and how personal they made it.
By contrast THIS Robo-cop does have his memories and his humanity intact so it should come as no surprise to the company that built him that they'll have a hard time controlling him. Likewise being blown up in a car explosion is much more impersonal then what happened in the original. Being quickly blown up by some guy who isn't even on screen when it happens is not nearly as effective as making you hate an antagonist then seeing them all dispensing cruel mocking laughter while they shoot him literally to pieces.
On top of that he does survive what happens to him, he's in a coma and badly burned and would be paralyzed below the waist but that's not as bad as being, again, ripped into literal shreds by gunfire. I had to laugh when the guy's wife is told he will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair or he can be made into robo-cop. Like seriously lady? You can either have your husband back but he now is in a wheelchair or you can lose him completely and turn him into a mechanical abomination. Why was this a hard choice?

So yeah so far not loving the look, and it doesn't seem to have any of the ultra violence or dark themes of the original nor the clever biting social satire and the story just has no stakes because our hero is not losing anything. He still has a wife and a child and he still has his memories and the only thing he would have lost if he didn't become robocop was the ability to walk, something many people don't have but can still live good carefree 'not being shot at by criminals' lifestyles with.

His voice is awesome though.

 

[BakaSmurf]

This is the first people have heard of this? I first saw the concept art for the new black body a while ago, was just as dissapointed as I was then- Actually, no, I'm even more dissapointed now, seeing as how they actually have a really nice looking steel version of the body and "modernize" it for no good reason. I don't care what people say, it just doesn't look like RoboCop with a "tactical black" paint job. Hell, he looks downright fucking villainous with the black body and glowing red visor. Way to fuck that up so horribly guys.

Also the trailer simply lacks the same feeling as the original RoboCop movie, there's a good way to remake a classic... Homogenizing all the elements of the original story isn't it.

I'll be gleefully skipping this one without a second thought. Maybe watch the original on the remake's release date instead, I'm certain I'll enjoy it more at the very least.

EDIT: Also, standard sappy family detachment scenario, bleh, thanks guys, RoboCop REALLY needed that story element added in, didn't it?

 

[Zetatrain]

I actually thought the trailer was alright. While the Total Recall movie was crap, the Judge Dred remake was good IMO, so this might turn out alright. However, the original Robocop was a great movie so I'm not gonna expect this remake to top the original, but it'll be interesting to see how a modern take on Robocop will turnout.

Cautiously optimistic I believe is the proper term.

and I hear "Startship Troopers" is next.

What the fuck?

Starship Troopers is basically a sci-fi joke movie like Scary Movie is a horror joke moive.

How do you remake a joke movie? Especially if they want make it all dark and serious, it just won't work.

Eh, in my opinion Starship troopers was not a joke/parody movie. Sure it was campy as all hell and had some elements that could be considered satirical, but as a whole it isn't meant to be a parody of an entire movie genre like the Scary Movie franchise is.

That being said a remake of Starship Troopers could mean a more faithful adaption of source material/novel (and you know have actual power armor suits). Plus there has been an American CG cartoon series and two anime OVAs all of which have a less campy and more serious tone. A remake doesn't necessarily mean it will carry the same tone as the original.

What I'm basically saying is that there's obviously way more to Starship Troopers than the silliness of the American movies.

 

[Zen Bard]

and I hear "Startship Troopers" is next.

What the fuck?

Starship Troopers is basically a sci-fi joke movie like Scary Movie is a horror joke moive.

How do you remake a joke movie? Especially if they want make it all dark and serious, it just won't work.

Supposedly, they're trying to make it more like the book. But Heinlein's novel, while still a satire, was very PRO military. Verhoeven went the other way and sort of made fun of all the chest-thumping, macho, "jarheads in sapce" movies.

Either way, it was meant to be satire. Because there's no way any movie where Denise Richards is a pilot can be taken seriously.