From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon May 20 17:40:55 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!solace!paladin.american.edu!gatech!pacifier!news.ac.net!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!cbgw2.att.com!nntphub.cb.att.com!not-for-mail From: rparker@slip.net (Randy Parker) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: ROBOCOP (1987) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 14 May 1996 21:01:22 GMT Organization: LineX Communications (415) 455-1650 Lines: 80 Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Message-ID: <4nasb2$7kq@nntpb.cb.att.com> Reply-To: rparker@slip.net (Randy Parker) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtcts2.mt.att.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #05262 Keywords: author=Parker Originator: ecl@mtcts2 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:4531 rec.arts.sf.reviews:947 ROBOCOP A film review by Randy Parker Copyright 1996 Randy Parker RATING: *** (out of ****) (Review written in 1987) ROBOCOP is an intelligent science fiction thriller and social satire, one with class and style. The film, set in Old Detroit in the year 1991, stars Peter Weller as Murphy, a lieutenant on the city's police force. 1991's Detroit suffers from rampant crime and a police department run by a private contractor (Security Concepts Inc.) whose employees (the cops) are threatening to strike. To make matters worse, a savage group of cop-killers has been terrorizing the city. On Murphy's first day of duty, after his transfer from another precinct, these cop-killers brutally murder him by shooting off his limbs one by one. (Orion Pictures had to edit this extremely graphic scene in order to get an R rating from the M.P.A.A.) After the emergency room staff at the hospital cannot save Murphy and declare him clinically dead, S.C.I. recruits his remains for their new "Robocop" program. Using the remains of Murphy's body as a foundation, their scientists build a cyborg, made of both flesh and metal. The cyborg (Robocop) is half human (Murphy) and half robot; the S.C.I. engineers have erased Murphy's memory and replaced it with a computer program (or so they think). With his lightning quick reflexes, immense strength, and impenetrable armor, S.C.I. envisions Robocop as an indestructible super-cop: the solution to Detroit's problems. The remainder of the plot follows Robocop's crime-foiling and vengeance on his murderers. As a science fiction action-thriller, ROBOCOP is extremely effective. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven combines gritty action with suspense, shocking gore, and spectacular special effects. Several sequences in the film, such as the one in which Robocop employs his extremely precise aim to stop a rapist, are destined to become cult-classics. Because ROBOCOP is so visually and emotionally rousing, it demands to be seen on a large screen with an audience--in other words, in a movie theater. Although the special effects and action are exciting, they do not by themselves set ROBOCOP apart from other films in the genre. Rather, ROBOCOP stands out for its accurate and biting satire of American society. The movie makes a mockery of The Star Wars Defense Initiative, terrorism, board games, and television news broadcasts with air-headed anchors. These news broadcasts, which are exceptionally clever, recur periodically throughout the movie and help to provide comic relief from the intense action and gore. The satire in ROBOCOP, however, is almost as frightening in its own way as the suspense and blood. 1990's America, as portrayed in the film, may seem far fetched but is in actuality (I think) only a slight exaggeration of the current state of American society. The humorous satire in Robocop is simultaneously credible and absurd. Verhoeven adroitly balances the satirical comedy with the gory action to create an entertaining and enlightening piece of science fiction/social commentary. Unfortunately, ROBOCOP possesses several flaws which prevent it from qualifying as a classic within the genre. The movie lacks the lasting impact of such films as THE ROAD WARRIOR, THE TERMINATOR, and ALIENS. ROBOCOP's main problem, aside from its dumb title, is that it does not sufficiently develop Murphy's character. We never learn the degree to which Murphy (as Robocop) is human and the degree to which he is a robot. Does Murphy have any human spirit or free will left, or is he merely a computer following a program? The script halfheartedly raises these issues but then abandons them in its climactic flurry of gory action. Moreover, it almost completely ignores the question (and tragedy) of denying a man his right to die in favor of turning him into a machine. ROBOCOP also contains several bothersome loose-ends. As you watch ROBOCOP, you experience deja vu; you feel as if you have seen the film before. In many respects, ROBOCOP is reminiscent of several other films, including THE TERMINATOR, RETURN OF THE JEDI, and even DEATH WISH. However, to its credit, ROBOCOP easily has enough originality and unique personality to avoid becoming a cheap rip-off. --- Randy Parker rparker@slip.net http://www.shoestring.org From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Oct 30 14:05:06 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!globalcenter0!news.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: ChadPolenz@aol.com (Chad Polenz) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Robocop (1987) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 19 Oct 1997 19:02:14 GMT Organization: None Lines: 80 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <62dlfm$ig2$1@nntp5.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer37.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp5.u.washington.edu 877287734 18946 (None) 140.142.64.2 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #09426 Keywords: author=polenz X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer37.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:8742 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1561 Robocop Chad'z rating: **1/2 (out of 4 = OK) 1987, R, 103 minutes [1 hour, 43 minutes] [science fiction/crime] starring: Peter Weller (Officer Murphy/Robocop), Kurtwood Smith (Clarence Boddicker), Ronny Cox (Dick Jones), Nancy Allen (Officer Anne Lewis), Miguel Ferrer (Robert Morton), written by Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner, produced by Arne Schmidt, directed by Paul Verhoeven. As long as there are people on this planet there will be two things: crime; and an attempt to stop crime. "Robocop" exploits that notion by painting a picture of grim future and then offers a ray of hope through its hero's actions. Unfortunately, the film tries to maintain a level of satire through its Gothic atmosphere, and the two moods do not work well together. The setting takes place in a typical futuristic Detroit where crime is so rampant the police force is controlled by OCP - a security corporation that develops military technology. The CEOs of this company are straight from the cliche book. There is the old president and two vice presidents that bicker with each other like little children. The "bad" V.P., Dick Jones (Cox), has developed a huge robot that would replace human police officers. His model, ED-209, is quite menacing through its appearance alone. But here is where the film makes the first of many mistakes - it doesn't seem satisfied with simple mood alone, it goes too far to define the obvious. ED-209 talks with an evil, computer-generated voice, and it growls like a lion. There is also the "less bad" V.P., Robert Morton (Ferrer), who kisses up to the president and has his "Robocop" project approved when ED-209 malfunctions (didn't see that one coming). A need for a heroic figure is quickly apparent here and when we meet police officers Murphy (Weller) and Lewis (Allen), it's clear who the savior will be. Murphy is an honest cop who has just transferred with Lewis, who is a female cop but does not display any feminine qualities at all (which is not a complete flaw). And as soon as they get together they are separated when Murphy is blown to bits by a gang of criminals who are entirely too nasty (they look like The Village People on crack, and talk and act like cartoon villains). Murphy is pronounced legally dead and is used in Morton's Robocop project. And so we get a superhero of sorts and we just can't wait for him to stop the rampant crime spree - or at least that's what we're supposed to feel. We get the obligatory scenes of Robocop using his high technology to stop crimes other cops could not. But these scenes aren't as exciting as they should be. Robocop shoots firsts and asks questions later, and he doesn't seem like some kind of hero, more like a cyborg vigilante. Stories about vigilantes, or at least "superheroes" tend to have a bit of complexity and mystery to them, but this film is virtually plotless as it wanders between the OCP V.P.s' rivalry and Robocop's recollection of his former life. The element of Jones' involvement with a nasty mob boss named Clarence Boddicker (Smith) is a little too predictable. Meanwhile, Robocop seems to take the law into his own hands. The ending follows the story's logical conclusion with Robocop running from the controlled police force, almost "dying," but manages to take out the villains anyway. Overall, "Robocop" is definitely interesting to watch but it seems a bit empty. The Gothic atmosphere could have been used much better had the layer of satire been so distracting. I saw enormous potential here and it really disappointed me it wasn't taken advantage of. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------ Please visit Chad'z Movie Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz - over 160 new and old films reviewed in depth, not just blind ratings and quick capsules. Also, check out The FIRST Shay Astar Web Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz/ShayAstar.html e-mail: ChadPolenz@aol.com (C) 1997 Chad Polenz From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Oct 15 15:08:34 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!Sprint!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news-backup-west.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!192.220.250.21!netnews1.nw.verio.net!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Dragan Antulov" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Robocop (1987) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 12 Oct 1998 03:12:46 GMT Organization: Croatian Post & Telecommunications Lines: 137 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <6vrs3e$1eb4$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer03.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 908161966 47460 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #14731 Keywords: author=antulov X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer03.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:13935 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2128 ROBOCOP A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 1998 When science fiction is discussed by people not accustomed to the genre and its concepts, they usually associate it with fantastic tales about little green men and space operas in distant futures and galaxies far away. In reality, some of the best and most influential works of science-fiction had its basis solidly in the Here and Now. The most elaborate imaginary worlds of the future were actually built by simple yet logical extrapolations based on the current trends, like Orwell did in his dystopic masterpiece 1984. Last decade, one of such dystopic worlds was created for the purpose of ROBOCOP, SF action thriller, known today as the great Hollywood debut of talented Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven. The plot is set in a very near future that hasn't seen much change from the Reagan Years. America is run by powerful and greedy corporations of the military- industrial complex who thrive through the Star Wars projects and low intensity conflicts in Latin America. In the mean time, industrial heartland of America has decayed and once proud city of Detroit is a pile of abandoned steel-mills and factories, drowned in poverty and rampant crime. Local authorities, with their financial power drained through industrial decay, low-taxes and laissez-faire economics, is forced to turn public services to private companies. One of them is Omni Consumer Products, who now runs Detroit Police Department. However, despite the best efforts, policemen can't cope with the well-armed criminals and Dick Jones (Ronny Cox), vice-president of OCP offers new solution - powerful, heavily-armed and almost indestructible ED 209 robot. Spectacular presentation of ED 209 abilities, however, turns into bloody disaster and the Old Man (Dan O'Herlihy) is willing to listen to the alternative plan by young, hot shot yuppie executive Morton (Miguel Ferrer). His idea is to combine the body of deceased police officer with the high tech equipment, armour and weaponry and create the invincible cyborg that would rid the city of criminals. The body needed is Murphy (Peter Weller), good police officer who died at the hands of a vicious gang of street punks, led by Clarence Bodiker (Kurthwood Smith). The experiment succeeds, and Robocop project is put in motion with formidable results. However, Officer Lewis (Nancy Allen), Murphy's former partner, recognises the body and the human part of Robocop starts to remember his true identity. Superficially, the plot of the movie looks like a combination of comic book clich‚s: noble man dies only to be resurrected as a superhero; he fights the bad guys and has his moment of doubt/weakness before he takes his revenge in a final spectacular showdown. On the other hand, very clever script by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner uses such weak plot in order to spice it up with a destructive satire of 1980s America (like the name used for the latest model of American car). Especially effective is the use of fictious three-minute-news in order to illustrate the future world; two anchors, played by the real-life newsmen Mario Machado and Leeza Gibbons, present the grim tales about wars, disasters and human misery with a cheerfulness that strikes a frightening chord with "news as entertainment" policy of today's media. Paul Verhoeven also contributed to this film, offering an outsider's perspective to the absurdities of Reagan's America. His background - European welfare-state, with its own "gentler, kinder" version of capitalism - was a huge contrast to the dog-eat-dog ultra-individualistic yuppie culture that flourished in the Decade of Greed. Verhoeven was probably having a lot of fun by inflating the elements of those era to the levels of absurdity; it also emphasised the satirical point of the movie with his trademark use of over-the-top violence. Nice example is the scene in the beginning when the unfortunate OCP executive gets machine-gunned into a small pieces, and the next minute his friend and colleague uses the opportunity to suck to the boss. Nausea with the physical violence is effectively combined with the dark humour. Same is with the very gruesome, yet funny death scene in the end that can serve as Verhoeven's comment on environmental problems. Although ROBOCOP easily falls into the category of "author's film" and the name of Verhoeven is the first to be associated with it, the other artists also left their distinctive mark on it. Peter Weller was very good in his, somewhat limited role of machine that turns into human; with its cool, stoical presence of good policeman and good father he was ideal for the role that Verhoeven himself considered the retelling of the Jesus Christ story. Nancy Allen is also very believable in her very un-feminine and very realistic portrayal of Robocop's trusted sidekick, high above the usual clich‚s of women in action movies. However, those who play the bad guys are, us usual, stealing the show. Kurthwood Smith is excellent as a sadistic punk whose glasses give away the intelligence that would bring his criminal career above the street level, unlike his colourful stooges (played, among others, by reliable character actors like Ray Wise and Paul McCrane). Ronny Cox is also shadowed by him as a creepy corrupt executive, the role he would repeat in TOTAL RECALL. Another strength of this movie also lies in a tight (and "Oscar"-nominated) editing by Frank J. Urioste that gives a movie, despite a lots of content, very fast pace in its 102 minutes. The visual design of the movie is also very elaborate, with pieces of futuristic architecture of corporate and technology in stark contrast with the decay of industrial wasteland. However, the most recognisable element of the film is Basil Poledouris' musical score, with its epic theme that is somewhat inferior to his masterpiece in CONAN THE BARBARIAN, yet very effective. All in all, ROBOCOP is one of those rare movies that manage to be funny and entertaining, yet thought-provoking and dead serious in the same time. RATING: 9/10 (++++) Review written on October 11th 1998 Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-Mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr