Robocop–Film Review

 

The newest incantation of Robocop is one of the better remakes to come along in recent years.  But it still commits the cardinal sin of diluting the ingredients that made its fore-bearer so successful and attempts to make up for it with a consulted mess of subplots of half-hearted ideas.  Despite pushing the emotional core down our throat with heavier exposition and more screen time, Robocop 2014 still feels colder and cynical.

The plot is very similar: an honest cop is severely injured and reincarnated into prototype cyborg police officer, capable of performing exceptional feats at the expense of his humanity, identity and soul.  In the original, Offcer Alex Murphy appeared to have perished, which added some credibility when his human parts are salvaged for corporate greed.  In the 2014 installment, Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is never declared dead, but is severely handicapped.  His robotic persona retains all of Murphy’s memories and feelings, which makes his subversion  into a corporate tool hard to swallow, even in a “dystopian” future.

The film’s best moments are when Murphy awakens to discover the hell of being a fraction of his human self, incapable of loving his wife and fathering his son.  But the film tosses the human elements aside as the Robocop’s conflicted inventor, Dr. Dennett Norton (a fine Gary Oldman) tries to reduce the Murphy’s human factor in order to meet the efficiency needed to appease the corporate overlords, including Omnicorp CEO Raymond Sellers (Michael Keaton).  There’s a point in which Norton reduces Murphy’s emotion levels to the miniscule levels in order to bolster his killing efficiency.  But doesn’t this severely undermine the whole purpose in building a robot with a human side?

The ideas are there, but it’s all hazy and conflicting rather than stimulating.  There’s the conflict between human emotion and robotic efficiency that demonstrated early in the Middle East patrolled by robots.  The film’s assertions on drone weaponry is hazy at best; there’s honestly no grounds for why technology doesn’t trump over human soldiery.   I’m not sure if that was the film’s point.

There’s also the drama as Murphy’s Robocop reunites with his family, but these scenes are rushed and abrupt and there’s no sense of tragedy, especially since Murphy’s mental and emotional factors remain intact, albeit for a while.  Murphy’s wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish) is another example of the “wife role” where they show up to cry and smile on cue.  Even in the 21st century in a film set in the “future”, women’s role remain an oversight for screenwriters.

Robocop omits the humor and edgy, social commentary such as the original’s fun with 1980s Reaganomics.  It even fails to villify the corporation until the very end, which leaves the film’s conclusion without any genuine jeopardy or threat.  The final action sequence is a rush against…I honestly don’t know.

Robocop’s action pieces never really soar — like the original to a certain degree.  Our hero is limited to exchanging gun fire while bullets ricochet off his inpenetrable armor.  The thrills pick up near the end as Robo battles more dynamic foes, but the action escalates into CGI madness that robs the sequence of any real suspense.

The 2014 Robocop is not bad, but it is clearly in want of a more coherent screenplay.   This science-fiction film plays more attention to the corporate meandering.  In fact, the film only comes to life whenever Keaton and Oldman share the screen and debate over their financial and ethical dilemmas.  But there’s also needless focus on other subplots, such as the pending law which would allow robotic soldiery in the United States.  There’s more Congressional bill voting here than Star Wars Episode I and it negates the juicy human tragedy elements.

There’s also a weird bit with Samuel L. Jackson as a conservative news commentator, Pat Novak, whose opening scene is an embarrassing attempt at story exposition–nothing more.  It also reveals that Jackson’s star power trumped sound judgement.  His scenes weren’t necessary and should have been removed.  Period.

The 1987 Robocop was able to (in just 100 minutes) toss in both satire through inventive television ads and an emotional core through brief flashbacks and stirring music, which, coincidentally, is recycled in the opening titles, but is quickly thrown away for something generic and unmemorable.  But that’s Robocop 2014–a fitting example of today’s remakes: pleasant, occasionally fun, plain, boring, and unmemorable.