Review of RoboCop (2014) by José C — 17 Jun 2015

While it largely misses the humor and the subversive wit of the original, this version is vastly underrated. A first-rate cast and good performances all around lend credence to the story, which explores themes ranging from drone warfare, commercialism, media sensationalism, outsourcing of industry, playing God with science, and what makes us human. The decision to more deeply explore the character of Murphy was a smart one, considering the vastly evolving fields of cybernetics and robotics in the real world.

This movie wisely stayed away from trying to be a copy of the original, which would have opened it up for even more criticism than it got. Padilha made a good choice by not "remaking" Verhoeven's film. Instead this film "reimagines" the character in the modern world.

I was especially struck by the performance of Kinnaman, who had to convey and modulate Murphy in at least three iterations: as fully human, as Robocop with Murphy's heart and soul, and as full-on Robocop. His depiction of the "ruined man inside the machine" was subtle but powerful and seemed to come from his gut and, as a result, was gut-wrenching. One scene in particular, in which Murphy was confronted with the remnants of his human body, was extraordinarily well done.

This movie had its flaws, and if you are looking for the same tone of the original, you will be disappointed, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.