Review of RoboCop 2 (1990) by Adrian Z — 07 Jun 2013

Irvin Kershner''s direction seems to have focused on the technical aspects of the film, rather than the emotional ones: the special effects are great and the action sequences are solid. If you're looking for nothing more, you're set.

However, the screenplay, which is based on a story by comic book maestro Frank Miller, incorporates too many ambitious themes, some of which are left unresolved. Case in point, Robocop's internal struggle with his still living humanity causes him to stalk his wife, which leads to a great dramatic scene in which they actually meet, but he feels forced to reject her to spare her feelings.

The whole thread then dies off for the remainder of the film. That said, some of the views on corporation's ability to manipulate democracy to reach their nefarious goals are solid "comic book" fodder, and the concept of the role of psychology in cybernetics is the stuff of SF.

The weird thing about Robocop 2, is that with it being an R rated, ultra-violent movie based around a character that was actually very popular with children at the time (perhaps due to the popular arcade game that was spawned from the first movie, or the proliferation of VHS at home), one of the main baddies is a child ,which obviously stretches credibility to well past snapping point.

In fact, other children feature in the film as well, often committing un-PG13 criminal acts, which gives the film an uncomfortably nihilistic tone. If these are the children of the people Robocop is fighting for, are they worth the trouble?