Robocop 2014

[McAvoy]

RoboCop 2014 trailer

So it looks like instead of a RoboCop that is mostly a robot with a human brain, the new one is a built up prosthetic cyborg with an organic right hand.

He is blown up by a car bomb. They should have done it like the original but 2013 style.

Oj and they changed the gun. Should have kept the gun.

I like the look where he looks like a streamlined version of the original. I do not like the all black version. It appearars though the two are different too.

[Jim]

I want an ED209

[McAvoy]

I want an ED209

New or old one?

Speaking of which I got the toy Ed209 for Christmas when I was 8 or 9. Cool toy. It lasted as long as me eating breakfast before the demon dog got to it.

[Jim]

I want an ED209

New or old one?

Um... yes. HA!

THe new one looks pretty cool, but the old one still looks cool too. I'll take either.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

I recently re-watched the original. It's clear the remake won't have as much gore (or profanity, according to a review I read) - it is a PG-13 this time around. Soon we'll see how well it's generally received but I'm rather curious to see this.

[Tsukiyumi]

A review I read the other day made me cringe; changing his design is one thing, but changing the whole setting and premise...

His origin is different - that one I can deal with, given the PG-13 rating.

Officer Anne Lewis? No, now it's John Lewis, replacing the only strong female character with a dude who dies at the beginning of the film.

Struggling to regain his lost humanity, with his fragmented memories of his lost family haunting him? Nope, now he's just angsty about being a robot, and not being human enough for his wife and kid.

OmniCorp as ruthless corporate scumbags? Nope, they're downplaying the "evil" aspect of the megacorporation. Guess it would be hard to get sponsors nowadays with an evil megacorporation as the enemy in your movie.

On OCP, instead of a scathing satirical jab at corporate greed and overreach, it's an analogy for drone strikes. And, not a subtle one in the slightest.

Fucking human hand. 'Nuff said.

[McAvoy]

About to see it.

From what I understand it is a suit not a complete body like the original was. In the original the face and brain was all that remained. In this new one Robocop is basically a suit with added prostheses for missing limbs.

[stitch626]

Have seen it, and 99% of all complaints about it (from before it was out) were wrong.

Its pretty decent,

though the switch from a female partner to a male one was odd. Maybe they couldn't get a decent actress for it?

[stitch626]

And this is to cover the Spoiler tag for Tsu.

John- Doesn't die, though the role is toned down in importance a lot... while I can live with it it isn't as impressive as Ann from the original.

Angst- not much, most of the story is him figuring out who killed him, and fighting OCPs programming

OmniCorp/OCP- Not downplayed at all. Still evil, just hidden evil. They aren't as obvious (to the public and such) but the commentary on corporatism has just been extended to include civil liberties, which makes sense based on the time we are in.

Human hand- not human at all, its an artificial prosthetic for social purposes. He can hand shake without the other feeling weird (help OCP image). In fact, other than head and lings, not much human to him.

[Jim]

Why is Lewis being male considered a spoiler? Looking at a cast list, or watching the previews will show you that. He actually has one of the best lines in the movie when he tells the "tactical black" Robocop that at least now he is the right color.

The female partner becomes male, and the male captain becomes female. The wife plays a much bigger role in this version and she doesn't take guff from anyone.

I liked the point where the one tech guy was showing different versions of the ... armor and said that this one tested VERY high, and when they showed the picture it was the original armor from the first movie.

[stitch626]

That was a nice tie to the original.

[McAvoy]

My review:

The Suit: As you could have guessed there are two suits. One which looks like the original with a different spin. The second which is black, a more S=WAT look overall. In fact the silver one was designed and built before they did their study which turned his suit into black. During that study there was a CGI model of one possible look which was the original. One thing new about the suit over the original was that Murphy's organic parts can be removed similar to the Borg Queen. The legs detach, the arms detach with the exception of the hand which I think is his original hand. The chest plate opens up reveals his lungs, heart and throat and brain. In the end, he gets the first suit, so no more black suit.

Robocop was introduced as a response to America's 'robophobia' of not wanting a robot make life or death decisions on humans. So they introduce the idea of Robocop. Unlike the original, where he was killed and then brought back to life, in the new movie he suffers extreme damage to his body to the point that even the movie's extremely advanced prosthetics couldn't bring him back to functionality. He lost a leg, and arm, 4th degree burns over 80% of his body and damage to one of his eyes. His spine was severed as well. it is his wife who made the decision to make him into Robocop. Unlike the movie, his memories are wiped but in fact his whole personality is retained. However, he has trouble adapting to his new role and the improvements to his mind (he goes nuts when they download all of the police's database and when his own near death case comes up he has severe issues which causes the guy in change of his development to basically lower his ability to use emotions down to 5%. So he basically becomes a robot until a confrontation (similar to the original between Lious and Robocop starts to jolt him into becoming Murphy again.

Unlike the original, his visor goes down only in combat or riding on his Robocycle. The whole helmet can come off but it reveals his brain. Robocop can be literally turned off at any time. He does have some of the Peter Weller's bird-like movement, more specifically his walking turns. But overall he more fluid and faster.

There are some nods like Robocop taking down a cocaine/drug processing plant like the original. Directive 4where he can't harm OCP employees is revisited though in the end, he overrides it. The original music is there though they tweaked it and in my ears it sounds even more 80's than the original.

Lastly, the media, specifically the news host Samuel Jackson plays, is a direct hit towards biased media. It was obvious from the start he is all for robots in the streets of the US. Robocop was basically there as a nudge to get the politicians and public in support of more like him.

There is some things they should have clarified. Apparently after a failure to keep up with the EM-208 (the completely robotic version of Robocop) they did some reworking of his brain and AI interface so in combat the AI is in control but Murphy still thinks he is in control but in reality he is just there for a ride. I think they should have made that clear that either still exists or doesn't at the end of the movie. In the movie, Murphy starts to override programming and I think that should have been explained. Otherwise Robocop is a robot unless he is not in combat.

He has the whole database and access to live cameras all over the city and can practically do whatever he wants. He took down dozens of EM-208s in practice and raided a heavily armed warehouse to kill the guy who tried to kill him. .50 cal bullets can damage him, though it seems like he can shrug many off. Hell he was being shot repeatedly by an ED-209. So the bullets do have a hard time reaching his organs, His own gun can severe his arm though.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

A cleaner, somewhat sanitized spin on the original. The original was a bit cartoonish in some respects, here the violence is a bit more restrained and there's a lot less gore and profanity. Similar themes are brought up to date politically (and technologically, as befits a 2014 feature film). There were a few nods to the original. Generally I enjoyed it well enough. The plot is similar but not at all a clone and offers a couple of twists on the original. The cast is pretty good with Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman and Samuel L Jackson lending star power, though the role of Alex Murphy/RoboCop once again goes to a relative newcomer in his first major feature film.

McAvoy's observations are generally right. Personally I prefer the aspect of ending in this one where he overcame his restriction against harming OCP agents through his own will and didn't need the CEO to fire a corrupt exec exec before he shot him. In fact the CEO himself was the twisted exec in this version, so he couldn't have been fired. A similar man vs machine debate rages though in a different way. Here Murphy retains most of his human elements from the start of his reconstruction, but is dehumanized partly by intent and partly by the need to stabilize his emotions after he relives his own near death. Once again he regains his full humanity by the end. Here the villain (not a drug lord this time) who directly kills him is a smaller role and is brushed aside more easily. The remake does lack the dramatic punch at the close of the original in which RoboCop finally identifies himself as "Murphy." Samuel L Jackson's character is a bit hard to take seriously since his hawkish bias is so evident.

The relatively slow, robotic movements of the original incarnation lent that film a visual counter to the theme of man vs machine the faster, more agile RoboCop lacks though that's probably inevitable in a 2014 film. The technological bar has been raised and since the remake is set a couple of decades later than the original was the technology has to be a lot better for the film to make sense. If the film were set in the past, the current political elements couldn't be commented on.

[McAvoy]

I don't think the original was cartoonish in the violence. Remember real violence is in fact more violent than what is normally shown. For example when the ED-209 shot up that guy who pulled a gun on it in that board meeting. It was cut short but in the director's cut he was shot up even more because they couldn't get the Ed-209 to stop.

Maybe when Murphy was shot up it would have been cartoonish. His hand then arm wree blown off and then shot up (though it looked like the bullets never went through the bullet proof vest.

[Jim]

The thing that I loved about that scene was the fact that one bullet from those guns would kill ANYBODY the ED209 UNLOADED on that dude... total overkill. +1