The Big Picture: Why Robocop Still Rules

[Evonisia]

Haven't seen the original Robocop but from the sounds of it the film is a smart film disguising as a goofy action flick.

I might look it up.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

RoboCop was one of my favorite childhood movies as well, even though I'm a 90's kid. And I never got that damn toy. I still kind of want it.

 

[Yoshi Dragon]

what do you think of the tv series that came out for a while?

 

[Rad Party God]

Well gaming has done some good homages to Robocop with Blood Dragon, Deus Ex, and even Metal Gear Rising REVENGEANCE!

YES!, OMG, so fucking YES!.

Not only Deus Ex, but Metal Gear Rising I think is the closest to Robocop, both in theme and tone, I swear, every time Raiden is on his car, I half expect the Robocop theme to kick in.

BUT, we still get a pretty kick ass soundtrack either way:

 

[Darth_Payn]

This time around, I don't agree with Bob.

OCP did come off as cartoonishly evil to me. I never believed watching those boardroom scenes that this is what the upper echelons of big business, even 80's big business, is actually like. Now, that would have been okay, if the movie wasn't pushing the 'cautionary tale' button so hard, because in order for that to work, you've got to make me believe that some broadly accepted progression of logic could potentially take us from our present to that vision of the future.

As well as this, OCP are cartoonishly incompetent as well as evil, which also gets in the way of my capacity to believe that a bunch of people this dumb could effectively seize ultimate control of the United States and it's culture. The aforementioned stairs incident with ED-209 stuck out for me, as well as the scene where they test ED-209 using live ammunition in a confined space with the entire OCP board present. I'm sorry Robocop, but do you really just expect me to swallow that shit?! Private contractors being incompetent isn't unbelievable in itself, but there's a limit. It didn't help that there were precisely 4 people in the movie who exhibited anything above a 2-dimensional personality either.

I'm not saying that Robocop is terrible. I'd rate it as a pretty decent 80's action movie even besides some laughably dated special effects, but I don't think it's half as 'smart' as Bob describes. It's trying to be smart, which I suppose in the context of 80's action movies is still a step in the right direction, but looking back at it today it's message comes off as a shallow, half-formed thought to me. Not to say that the remake will be any better (it could certainly still turn out a lot worse), but I think at least, unlike some other remakes, it has a lot of potential to improve on the original, especially with the idea of machines making us more detached from our own conflicts being very relevant at this moment in time.

Well, that sounds like Verhoeven in a nutshell. Slightly goofy, very campy, and not exactly subtle.
OT: Bob slammed Man of Steel (again) for it's lack of subtlety, but praises Robocop for its wit? Sweet Cyborg Jesus, did we watch the same movie?! And claiming the bad guys won, I thought that's why he hated MoS (I know for sure that's what Chris Sims thought happened in his hatchet-job of a review of MoS, and that's why I haven't been to Comics Alliance since).
I will agree, though, that the two movies after that SUCKED.

 

[Sejborg]

"...easily one of the best of the 1980's" Bob says about Robocop.

What... the... hell...!? Are you kidding me?

The 1980's has:

The Shining
Star Wars episode 5
Airplane!
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Evil Dead
The Thing
Blade Runner
Scarface
Once Upon a Time in America
The Terminator
Back to the Future
Aliens
The Fly
Platoon
The Untouchables
Predator
Full Metal Jacket
Wall Street
Die Hard
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Rain Man

Among those and even more movies Robocop is "easily one the best"?! No way Bob. You might have a very specific taste regarding movies, but this is just ridiculous.

 

[schwegburt]

"...easily one of the best of the 1980's" Bob says about Robocop.

Among those and even more movies Robocop is "easily one the best"?! No way Bob. You might have a very specific taste regarding movies, but this is just ridiculous.

Cool your jets kid. Bob said "His PERSONAL favorite" and "ONE of the best". Neither of those statements invalidates the list of movies you cited. Do folks a favor and think about what someone said instead of using the fanboy filter and then knee jerk geeking out.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

I think the series was pretty good, too. no match for the movie of course but they tapped on some of the
in-between topic of the theme. E.g. the relation between Robocop and the A.I. (forgot her name)
for both of them realize the surpassed/ lost where they orignated from and are 'trapped' now somewhere between human and machine.

I liked the series.


captcha: come on down

 

[Zontar]

I don't think everything by Kubrick is perfect. Like, Barry Lyndon is kinda' boring. I have no opinion of Clarke. It's strange to me that you say the movie has no "substance", since that's exactly what I like about it. I guess the technical aspects of it are pretty impressive, but that's not why I like it.

I always have a interesting time when I watch it. I like that the pacing leaves you time to think about what is going on. Stuff like man's relationship to tools, what it means to be human, what it means to be alive, etc. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I never found the movie to be hamfisted about this. I usually think of new things every time I watch it.

Well, that's perfectly up to you if you wish to see it that way, but I just don't. When I watch it all I can see is special effects and music which combine to give a good atmosphere. Now it does that well, and I'll give credit where credit is due, but like good acoustics won't make or brake a song, that just isn't enough for me to enjoy it.

What kind of story do you want? How is there not a story? People don't talk about anything besides "The Dawn of Man" section? What about HAL? I think I've heard people mention him before. What about Dave "killing" HAL? What about the "Star Child" that is literally pictured below your avatar? There's a basic story: Aliens influence the developement of humans through various stages. Humans use tools (the bone, spaceships). Dave goes on a mission to find the next monolith but is almost killed by the tool created to achieve this. Dave survives and ushers in the next phase of human evolution.

The 2nd act (the one with Hal) was the one I was referring to. The first act is almost entirely effects and showpieces demonstrating either landscapes, setting up a story that has does fit in with the movie but in the end doesn't effect the story in any way, and showing us what Clark thought the future would look like. The 3rd act, for it's part, doesn't really say anything about anything for the most part and ends with imagery that isn't understandable without reading the book since the context is one that is impossible to show in a visual means.

Why the name calling now? I'm not sure if I'm a "movie snob". I didn't go to film school or anything. It just sounds like this isn't your kind of movie. I'm not going to claim that you are some category of bad person because of that though. Like, I don't think you "just don't get it man, it's real deep" or something. I'm not "pissed off" either. Lots of people don't like 2001. I do find it weird that you've never heard anyone talk about the themes of the film or stuff besides the apes.

Well, I guess my reaction towards the movie stems from the semester I had film at my CEGEP (a school between high school and university where I live) where my teacher, the textbook and every source I came across form my research praised the movie. I have yet to find one professional critic who had something negative to say about it from more then a year after the movie came out, which is something I've never seen for a movie, no matter how good a movie is.

 

[MrBaskerville]

Ditto. Love Robocop. Still have the VHS lying around somewhere. I didn't mind 2 so much, though it doesn't hold a candle to Robocop.
Robocop 3 on the other hand... I never even watched that. Even though it probably is as bad as it's made out to be, I really want to watch it.

Robocop 3 is pretty damn terrible, however there is one scene that had me laughing my ass off at its sheer absurdity. Robocop pursues one of the baddies by commandeering a car from a pimp. After having a door fall off for no reason, said pimpmobile ends up copping four (or was it five?) direct hits from a grenade launcher, and it's still driving (at this stage, it's literally just a chassis, wheels and engine). There used to be a clip of it on youtube, but I can't find it anymore.

Just to top it all off, the theme kicks in, it's amazing!
Robocop 3 is a very bad movie, but it's also kinda hilarious and almost worth checking out if you ask me.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

decided to watch it agian today because of this video Bob

Why Robocop Still Rules

MovieBob lays down the law on why the original Robocop is still a fantastic film.

Watch Video

thing that worries me most about the 2014 Robocop, is it being 12a/PG13. not because of the lack of violence/blood/swearing; but the fact it signifies the studio wants the broadest audience possible, probably to recoup their massive budget.

that usually means the films gonna be bland and lowest common denominatorwith most aspect of it, and as few risks taken as possible.

I'll see it at some point, and would love it to be good, but I'll wiat for it to be dirt cheap.

saw a trailer, Robocop vs a handful of ED209's. it looked like a scene out of Metal Gear Solid 4 - Raiden fighting the Metal Gears

 

[LordLundar]

Just curious, what was that fighting game at 2:41?

 

[shiajun]

Children of Men... Pretentious..? But that must mean... Oh no. Oh, dear Christ... Angels and ministers of Grace, no...

I'm... Pretentious... No... No!

"...And while Mr. Heim was experiencing his world collapse around him, the silent walls of N 20 merely shrugged, whispering 'Big fat surprise there, you dramaprince' to his fevered, beating eardrums."

It really was a terribly violent film, though. But what I love about it is that it wasn't the only gimmick, the lone reason it had to exist. It busied itself with being a good movie, too. Being as clever as it could be with what it wanted to, and could, be.

Bob did mention that he thinks Cuarón's use of magical realism of the whole silent long-shot in the third act with everyone just awe-struck is rubbish (trying to avoid spoilers). He alluded to that in his Gravity review. Aside from me not seeing the "magical" part of that, just a very logical reaction from most people, he seems to ignore that Alfonso Cuarón, like a lot of people in Latin America, grew up with literature and art that's full of magic realism and probably influences some of his artistic sensibilities. Apparently Bob feels that particular cultural baggage isn't worthy of the same respect as the Japanese quirks he often lets slide or even some of the very United States qualities he praises about Robocop in this very video.

So yeah, in his opinion, Children of Men is pretentious, but in the end it's Bob's opinion. I personally find it's much better made than a lot of the movies Bob bends over backwards defending.

 

[RTR]

I've been waiting a long time for this one.

 

[Ragnarok2kx]

Paul Verhoeven is capable of putting some great social satire on film, in comedic and biting ways. The "news" updates from Starship Troopers and the advertisements in Robocop are great examples. Unfortunately the overall films these gems are inserted into frequently are too easily dismissed due to larger problems of plot/storytelling/acting (see Starship Troopers, Showgirls).

Verhoeven's greatest are without a doubt Total Recall, Robocop and to a lesser extent Basic Instinct. But to think the same guy is capable of producing Showgirls and Starship Troopers is just baffling.

Now that we're talking about Verhoeven and Starship troopers...
Would this be a good moment and place to tell Jim Sterling to give it the Movie Defense Force treatment?
Just sayin', Jim.

 

[pearcinator]

Paul Verhoeven was the best sci-fi director ever! His big 3 movies were some of the best movies ever made!

Robocop
Total Recall
Starship Troopers

I hope they don't remake Starship Troopers next...that movie was a fluke. Nobody could remake that movie to the same effect. Hell, I hardly think Paul Verhoeven knew what kind of movie he was making at the time he made Starship Troopers!

Is it just me or is Neill Blomkamp the 'new Paul Verhoeven'? With his R-Rated sci-fi movies that are freaking awesome!

District 9
Elysium
Chappie (this isn't out yet but it sounds awesome!)

Verhoeven's greatest are without a doubt Total Recall, Robocop and to a lesser extent Basic Instinct. But to think the same guy is capable of producing Showgirls and Starship Troopers is just baffling.

Are you saying that Starship Troopers is an awful movie? Hehehe you must not have understood it. It is almost a parody of itself.

 

[GinraiPrime]

"...easily one of the best of the 1980's" Bob says about Robocop.

What... the... hell...!? Are you kidding me?

The 1980's has:

The Shining
Star Wars episode 5
Airplane!
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Evil Dead
The Thing
Blade Runner
Scarface
Once Upon a Time in America
The Terminator
Back to the Future
Aliens
The Fly
Platoon
The Untouchables
Predator
Full Metal Jacket
Wall Street
Die Hard
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Rain Man

Among those and even more movies Robocop is "easily one the best"?! No way Bob. You might have a very specific taste regarding movies, but this is just ridiculous.

Just because those are good doesn't mean 'Robocop' can't exist alongside them. It's an art form, not a competition.

Exactly. Those are all excellent movies but everyone's got their own favourites and Robocop happens to be Bob's personal fave. He didn't say it was the best movie, its just his favourite. My favourite movie is Ghostbusters simply because it had everything I wanted in a movie when I was younger. Action, adventure, comedy, romance and just alot of fun. I'd never say its the greatest movie of all time, its just my personal fave.

 

[thehorror2]

I saw Robocop for the first time when I was 8 years old, too. My dad rented the tape from Blockbuster, hid it from my mom until his day off and my mom's job aligned, and sat me down in the living room and said "OK, you're going to love this, but DON'T TELL MOMMA." And off we went. To this day, it's still the action movie I compare all others against. (Fairly or not.) A lot of my enjoyment is probably nostalgia, but I had the same response Bob had when I revisited it as a teenager: it was a smarter movie than most of what was coming out then, and even now. Not many movies can say that, especially not action movies from the 80s.

 

[Airon]

What a fun movie this is. Saw it in the cinema when it came out, and oh boy was this a blast.

Lots of pop culture came out of it. Songs featured lines from the film. Toys, extreme violence, the brilliant sound design(I'm a sound designer/editor myself), the iconic music by Basil Poledouris that served the film so well and all the actors who seemed to have a great time making this, giving great performances. Always worth a watch if you want funny and gritty side by side.

I enjoyed the second film(in the cinema). Gritty fun though it was a bit silly. Never saw the third, 'cause no Peter Weller.

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