No, I haven’t seen it, I don’t know if I even will see it, but the commercials are now on all over the place so the release must be eminent.
Seems he starts out looking like Robocop Classic, then for some lame reason they paint him black. Something about being more tactical or something, which IMO completely misses the spirit of Robocop. He’s not tactical or stealthy. Hold the mayor hostage? He’ll break right through the wall to get you, not sneak around in the dark. Drop it creep or he’ll Roboshoot your rapist balls right through your victim/hostage’s skirt, not sneak up behind you.
Also seems like in this one his wife knows about him, and the procedure that makes him Robocop is intended to save him, instead of the way the original just let her think he stayed dead and they just considered him a meat CPU for their new toy. Kinda diminishes the cold, heartless feeling OCP had going in the original.
That said, it’s still probably going to be better than Robocop 2 (and a pile of Roboshit would be better than part 3). I just get the sense that, like Total Recall, this is just a flashy pointless redo that leaves out a lot of what made the original special. I hope I’m wrong.
You seem predisposed to not liking it, which I suspect is going to end up a self-fulfilling prophecy for you.
I think the best kind of remakes are where an interesting idea is remade into something new. I like the original Robocop, and I’m excited to see what they do with this new one. I personally don’t expect slavish devotion to the source material… I own the first one, and I can watch it any time I want. I like changes and new interpretations and new developments, because it lets the story grow and try new things. In my personal opinion, I’m glad they’re “missing” the spirit of Robocop, because that means they’re trying to tell me a new story, not the same one I’ve already seen. I’m going to let this film impress me (or not) on its own merits.
Also, for the record, I enjoyed the new Total Recall just fine, warts and all. I didn’t find it as good as the first one, but I really liked their new approach to the story.
Any reason they’re apparently opening this on a Wednesday? Usually they only do that if there’s a long weekend or that’s Christmas Day or something of that sort, but I doubt there’s anyone taking Friday off for VD day.
This is 2014, where we know that Corporations Are Our Friends.
Why, those primitive, unenlightened Eighties people really thought that there was some reason to distrust corporations, or regulate them, or even tax them…what a bunch of silly-billies!
Just what IS the rationale behind remaking Paul Veerhoeven 1980s movies?
Are we going to see a remake of Flesh and Blood, or is it just SF action movies? will they go into the 90s and give retreads of Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, and Showgirls? The mind boggles.
I’d like to see a remake of Starship Troopers in the hands of someone who doesn’t have Verhoeven’s utter and misguided contempt for the source material.
I wouldn’t mind them trying a new Robocop movie if it was a new story. I don’t see the point of making the same story with better FX. Sort of “Robocop: TNG” kind of thing could work. It would acknowledge the source material and build on it. If the setting was something like Murphy had died and they needed a new robocop.
But I doubt very much that this is what they did for this film. I probably won’t like it.
In fairness, they couldn’t have known what we didn’t learn until the first movie came out: that a wise CEO will save the day by firing anyone who acts like a dick.
Responding to myself (is that as bad as talking to myself) apparently I forgot about Presidents Day, but does anyone really get that day off but banks and mailmen?
I saw it and I liked it a lot more than I excepted. It was similar to the original but different enough to not feel warmed over. Also there was a sequence in the beginning that, frankly, could have been a movie in and of itself.
Something else I liked was how one of the “bad” characters was actually just flawed and constantly compromising his principles over and over rather than being a mustache twirling villain. I would recommend it. It won’t be the best movie I saw this year but it was good.
I haven’t seen it yet, but a friend of mine has a great feature role as “Man with Prosthetics Playing Guitar”. Its really cool that he got the part - him, me and every other classical guitarist in Toronto auditioned for it.
Just got back, it was better than expected. Pure origin story tho, with room saved for a sequel I’d imagine.
There were a few places where I was like, WTF, you guys, really? But overall I thought they did a decent job.
1, the extra unattached hand drove me a bit bonkers.
2, there’s an otherwise lovely side shot where Robo is hyperventilating, and his suit over his chest and stomach is heaving dramatically with his frantic breathing -after we’ve seen that his stomach is entirely artificial, and that his lungs are encased in solid containers. Derp.
3, there are a few front shots where his brainbits are so totally in the wrong place in relation to his face and head.
Robo himself had a tough one - he had to act just with his face and voice, and that can’t be easy.
I also disagree with the review above that said they were playing it straight. I thought it was quite obvious that they were lampooning the idea of peace through superior firepower and surveillance.
I have a weird mental image of the lead scientist sitting down with Tony Stark ans having a kibbutz about the challenges of building bipedal robotics that mimic human proportions.