Robocop (1987)
Your move, creep.
THE SUMMARY: A Detroit police officer is brutally murdered by a criminal gang, but is revived by a weapons development corporation as a cyborg, and then patrols the streets mercilessly fighting crime and searching for his lost identity. If you want cheap laughs at ridiculous violence, this one is for you. If you want anything deeper than the pools of blood it spills, pass.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER KYLE: A bloody brutal sci-fi action movie set in a dystopia future. Surprisingly accurate in its portrayal of what Detroit would become, it's also a good commentary on violence itself. Just an all around fun movie that comes from a rather ridiculous plot.
THE BEST:
The over-the-top violence is hilarious: It’s hard to tell if the movie is trying to be funny with its violence, or if the intent is brutality, and the dated style and effects just make it funny. Either way, the movie’s best entertainment comes in its killings: guys getting shot by machine guns for uncomfortably long periods of time, Alex Murphy eating 12-gauge until he’s more buckshot than man, Emil’s skin melting off from chemical exposure until his grotesque husk is decapitated by an oncoming car. It’s up there with the most ridiculous movie violence I’ve ever seen, and each one is a different demonstration in brutality. Or maybe it just seems like exaggeration - this is Detroit, after all. For all I know, this is a fair and accurate portrayal of daily life in the city.
Bitches leave!: For as much feminist nonsense as this movie pushes, the ‘bitches leave!’ moment when Boddicker confronts and murders Morton is also hilarious, even if Morton’s bitches look like they’re about fifty. Extra points for the oblivious one asking ‘ya gonna call me?’ as her guy is being held at gunpoint, about to be killed. For a murder scene, high comedic value.
The ‘glitch’
The murder of Alex Murphy
Emil’s toxic death
Bitches leave!
THE WORST:
No complex themes or moral dilemmas: Apparently I’m supposed to find some sort of meaning in the corporate control of justice, or the concept of what it means to be human, or something like that, but all of these themes fall flat. None are deeply explored. What is it about the corporation that makes it evil? Is it its leadership? Is it its profit seeking? Is it its priorities? Is it just this corporation that is morally flawed, or all? And even if Omni Consumer Products is corrupt and deceitful, am I really supposed to believe it’s so much more corrupt and deceitful than Detroit politicians generally?
On the topic of humanity, if we’re supposed to learn some lesson that being human is more than a skin suit, it’s about a soul - we don’t. In the end, Murphy doesn’t satisfy his soul. He just kills a guy robotically, as a robot would do. He doesn’t maintain humanity. He loses it.
Disappointingly, I just don’t see any sort of moral dilemma or complex philosophy in this movie. Good guy killed by bad guys. Good guy revived. Good guy kills bad guys. The end. Great, but that’s not anything to think about later.
The female lead is atrocious: Good lord - this woman makes Ally Sheedy look like a stunner. It’s not just her frumpy looks though. She is the most boring, personality-free lead character I’ve seen in any movie recently. Absolutely no energy, no interest, no purpose. Watching her beat up men was even more insulting, though in fairness, I guess the first guy was cuffed. Yes, I’m sure this nearly menopausal spinster is really physically tough on the criminals of Detroit. Thank God we have her grandma haircut on the thin blue line.
Regardless, she’s supposed to be capable, but her incompetence is central to the plot. She’s primarily responsible for Murphy’s murder. If she displays any policing skill, she makes the arrest and Murphy isn’t isolated. Instead she gets bitch-slapped unconscious, awakening only to watch Murphy get murdered.
The main points aren’t tied up: A central point of the movie is Murphy’s search for his identity and family. We’re supposed to feel for him as he revisits his former home, and struggles to remember what his family life was like. In the end, there’s no resolution - he just shoots a guy and says his name is Murphy. Why am I supposed to take the search for family seriously if the movie doesn’t?
Additionally, we get no resolution on Lewis, the atrocious female cop. Did she die? Is she okay? Apparently she must be, since she returns in future movies. It’s implied that she will live by Murphy’s line: ‘they [Omni Corp] will fix you - they fix everything.’ But we get no demonstration of the fixing. No scene of evacuation. No hospital visit later. No demonstration that she did not, in fact, bleed out. Which is disappointing, because Lewis bleeding out would be a fantastic ending to the movie. Lewis bleeding out before she ever appears on screen would be even better.
Stop. Just stop.
They’ll fix you
THE RATING: 2/5 Wickies. Outside of the violence and gore, there was nothing here for me.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: A Few Good Men (1992)
AFTER THAT? YOU PICK - VOTE! June’s movie nominations are from listener Kyle.
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