Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
SCOTT DOWNEY
Special to The Leader
I often complain that Hollywood has let us down. Every new movie is an old idea. Nothing with imagination seems to come our way.
In the long line of failure is the new Robocop movie.
Robocop originally came out in 1987 and starred Peter Weller as the cybernetic juggernaut. The movie was rated R. According to Box Office Mojo, it was shown in 1601 theaters and grossed $53 million domestically. It had an opening weekend of $8 million. It cost $13 million to make (double it for today’s price).
The 2014 version was released in 3372 theaters on Feb. 14. It had an opening weekend of $21 million and has made $36 million domestically so far. It cost $100 million to make and is rated PG-13.
The new movie stayed true to the original plot. Both movies are centered on newscasts that appear randomly in the films. The original has one ‘80s-appearing news brief and silly commercials while the new movie has two.
The first is The Pat Novak Show, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson’s character is a right wing nut job with his own TV show.
The script shows a lack of critical thinking. Novak rants about the positive aspects of a robot police force throughout the film. He never comments on the negatives.
He goes so far as to stop a live combat feed when a robot kills a little boy with a knife in his hand. He dismisses a U.S. Senator that has a different view than his. After his actions, he would have trouble getting other politicians on his show.
Jackson gives the impression that his character is in the back pockets of the robot manufactures. He is an example of biased journalism and would not survive on the national scope for long. He comments on nothing but robot positives. The fact that a robot police force would make thousands jobless is not mentioned.
The other newscast is a news brief and is a shot at being humorous. As they report serious news, the caption briefs on the bottom are silly and irrelevant.
“Beer replaces water,” “no intelligent life on Earth” and “giant squid sushi forbidden in California” were some of the lines.
Robocop was an innovation in 1987. It is true that he is huge. He makes noise when he moves. Every foot fall is a heavy thud. He walks slowly, with all the grace of a tin can on legs. He could not sneak up on a deaf man.
But it was cutting edge for the time. It was amazing to see what they could do. Almost art.
This is where the new Robocop does a huge face plant. Granted, he is smaller, but he still moves like a tin can. Turns are 90 degree angles, and today that just looks bad.
He still makes a lot of noise. The big difference is that he no longer sounds like he is talking out of a tin can.
The only impressive move he does is jumping a twelve foot wall off the dead run. He falls short of what we expect with today’s technology.
The only other innovation was a rip off from the Iron Man movies. His biological structure was nothing more than a meat sack with a head. In seconds they reassembled his body with the parts coming out of the floor. Don’t get me wrong, it looks cool. But it shows lack of imagination.
Robocop was always silver over black. They changed him to full black half way through the movie. It was a desperate attempt to set themselves apart from the original. It was a failure in critical thinking.
At first I was happy to see the new modern version of the “ED-209” attack robot. Its new skin looks really modern and they move better. The only problem is that they are just as dumb as they were 30 years ago.
The old version turned a man into Swiss cheese because it could not tell that he surrendered. Robocop took out several new ones by standing underneath them while the other ED-209’s shot each other up.
The 1987 version of Robocop is a classic. For its time, it was an artform that is worth remembering.
The new movie is entertaining, but that is where it ends. It will make a lot of money, and then sadly, it will go away. A little imagination and critical thinking could have made this movie great.