Starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith
Alex Murphy (Weller) is a cop moved to a different precinct
in the Detroit of the near-future, where crime is a major problem and much of
the city’s business is run through once corporation, OCP. On his first day,
Murphy is mercilessly shot to pieces by a gang of criminals. Declared dead,
Murphy becomes the test subject of a new future in law enforcement, the
Robocop.
After reaching critical acclaim with his features back home
in the Netherlands, Paul Verhoeven moved to the USA and delivered Robocop, his breakthrough
and perhaps best American film. On the surface, the film seems slick and
stylised but not much beyond the standard cookie-cutter popcorn fare. However,
the screenwriting elevates it with a deft display of satire which helps make
the movie palatable to those who would usually cock their noses at such stuff, even
if the satire does get a little lost and this technique would come back to
haunt Verhoeven a little with Starship Troopers (1997). With dated but
attractive production design and a charm all its own, Robocop may still not be
to everyone’s taste but works much better than you might think.
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