Review of RoboCop (2014) by Sanity Assassin ! — 25 Jun 2016

There is a big difference between an unnecessary remake and a BAD remake. Just because Hollywood has devoted itself to tirelessly, heedlessly mangling every single popular film from the past fifty years, it doesn't mean you can't occasionally end up with a decent new take on a classic film at the end of the day. And while the new RoboCop isn't nearly the well-oiled model of cinematic perfection that its predecessor was... nor is it nearly as smart or as challenging... it is something you're hard-pressed to find in this day and age: a simple, well-told story.

Jose Padhila's RoboCop is one of those remakes that does the smartest thing you can do when rebooting a classic film franchise: it doesn't try to be the original movie. While the 1987 film was a razor-sharp satire of '80s corporate culture and a gore-filled action-sploitation extravaganza, the new film is an earnest sci-fi actioner, slick and polished and inoffensive, and with a surprisingly human heart beating at its core. It's awkward and lumbering at times, and suffers from a serious lack of personality throughout (the toned-down color palette and bland compositions make one wonder whether the film was directed by a robot), (more to come).