Review of RoboCop (1987) by Calvin W — 10 Dec 2011

Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop is truly the anti-Terminator, due to the nature of its titular hero. While the Terminator was always a machine, with no heart or soul, only the mission, RoboCop is a horribly altered human who, after having his organic parts and memories removed, becomes a force for good (albeit a corrupted force for good) for the citizens of Detroit, and eventually, with the help of his former partner, attempts to rediscover his humanity.

Peter Weller is a bit of an odd choice for the part, considering his average appearance and physique, but he plays his part as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger did in T1. Nancy Allen's role as Murphy's former partner Lewis is a thankless task, due to the character being a big ball of nothing, but she does her best with the material.

The two standouts are Ronny Cox (the chief from Beverly Hills Cop) and Kurtwood Smith as the film's villains, who both gleefully play against type. Verhoeven's craftsmanship, however, is the true star of this film.

Made on a low budget with practical effects, the FX of this film are absolutely brilliant by those standards. The main issue with RoboCop is the fact that they never get us to care much for Murphy, and thus, it's somewhat difficult to care for him once he becomes RoboCop.

They attempt to give him some backstory, which works to a degree, but it would have been better to see this earlier in the movie. Overall, though, RoboCop is a fun, violent 80s action picture, but like The Terminator, there's actually some depth lurking underneath.