The story for the new film is as such:
In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.
I was worried about this movie, I did not feel that the film would be any good. I was proven surprisingly wrong. The film starts off with a broadcast set in a foreign country where machines are being used to keep people in line. What happens is one of the men of the village attack and it ends with the death of a young boy.
The film does do some great work on its story mixing entertainment with political undertones with delicate precision. Jose Padilha does a fantastic job at updating the material. The film came together really well, it wasn't confusing or overtly violent. An R-rating can not guarantee a great rating or box-office, so PG13 was the right way to go. Now it is still disturbing, when they took off Alex's armour. Jose did brilliant work on this film and really drives home the issues of what makes for a good, solid protective society.
The cast is just phenomenal. Ranging from Michael Keaton (Batman), Joel Kinnaman (The Killing), Gary Oldman, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earl Haley, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel, and even Samuel L Jackson. All round the cast is phenomenal. Not one actor was non-believable. Michael played it up as the mysterious head of OmniCorp with great charisma. No one in this ever felt cheesy or lame. Joel was brilliant as Alex Murphy and was perfectly cast. I'm really starting to like Joel since this film. Gary Oldman was so much the human core of the film, him and Abbie (who play's Alex's wife). She was so real and strong. Jennifer and Jay worked well off each other as Mr. Sellars assistants. Jackie was also very strong as the secondary villain, he was really good in the role and did a very solid representation of the side of machines and how they have a better efficiency than a human.
The visual effects and costume designs are very terrific, astonishing even. The sequence that takes place out of America was very believable and strong, the robots were very well done. As for Robocop's suit, we get to see a great revival of the original suit and the new dark knight suit. I liked both, I did love the classic suit more than the new sleek black but the costume change worked for the story. When Alex was in the black suit, he was controlled by Mr. Sellars. It starts with the original suit and it does end with the original suit as well, so for any future sequel the original suit will come back in all it's glory.
Not many remakes are good but this year has had a few, Jack Ryan was one, this is another. These remakes were solid, though this Robocop was more entertaining than Jack's film.
2014's Robocop is intense, driven and fuelled with some solid political insight. If you are a fan of the original you should at least check out this re-adaptation. It's not as cheesy fun as the original nor does it have blood or guts, its a perfectly driven man vs. machine, political science fiction action film.
As far as being political, it deals with how the government allows robots overseas but not on their homeland. Politics get involved with the issues of citizen safety concerns or budgetary concerns, can a robot feel? Can a machine properly protect? Questions like this are thrown out there and the issue of a machine's emotional stance is questioned throughout. Samuel L Jackson is like a serious version of Jon Stewart, he deals in the political climate, reports it, but does seem to have a secret agenda. He's fabulous in the role and represents one the films outlooks into its political allegories on citizen safety and machines over human cops. The film does even go into detail on corrupt politicians and police. There are some questions left unanswered but they're no big concerns.
Robocop is by far a fun action flick, peppered with fantastic acting and action set pieces. I very much enjoyed this film. Another fun night at the movies.
Rating: B+
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