Review of RoboCop (2014) by Frederic C. B — 16 Apr 2015

I never held the Robocop franchise particularly dear to my heart so when news came out that a reboot was on the horizon to inevitably ruin this "flawless" (pause for mocking laughter) series.

That said, I always found the first instalment cute and enjoyable enough to rewatch whenever I thought about it. Which to be fair last happened in about 2002 so there you go.

While I'll admit I did enjoy a handful of the references to the old film, and I was holding out for the inevitable drop of the "Dead or alive" line, by the time it finally came about it certainly felt more like an unpleasant shock than a gleeful old friend come to visit.

Because where Robocop [2014] finds its strengths is in what it doesn't try to copy from its original. Because let's face it the original is pretty universally adored and rightly so. Trying to replicate something that was already done perfectly just won't work out in your favour. It's like if NBC's Hannibal kicked around with Mads doing his best Anthony Hopkins and Anthony Hopkins had been doing his best Brian Cox impression, it'd be shit! But lo and behold Bryan Fuller accepted that'd be a stupid fucking idea and dared to have a bit of originality which is the greatest thing about it.

Firstly I'm aware that this isn't a Hannibal review so I'll get off of that and secondly, I'm aware that the concept of originality in a "reboot" can be written off as completely missing the point, here is exactly what "reboots" need to be doing... Well really what they need to be doing is stop getting made... but who am I to complain? I gobble up the 2006 Hills Have Eyes and Rob Zombie's Halloween like so much discount sushi, so maybe I should get off of ragging on remakes just because they're remakes as well.

If you give the remake a go you'll understand what I mean. The Boddicker (or in this case "Antoine Vallon") central focus still exists in the remake, but it feels uncomfortably forced and sort of falls to the wayside to make room for drone-warfare allegories, the Alex Murphy dichotomy and "What makes a man a man" speeches. The most approachable bit of the film is "The Novak Element" which not only doesn't occur in the original, it out right flies in its face.

Walking out of a film I often ask myself a few questions to help myself establish my feelings on it. In the case of Robocop [2014] these questions went.

Is it as good as the 1987 film? Certainly not.

Is it better than I was expecting: Actually, yes.

Was it decent for a modern day sci-fi?: Pretty much.

Was it necessary for this film to be made?: Absolutable not.

65%.

-Gimly.