Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman
All around the world, the streets are being policed by armed robots produced by Megacorp. However, despite their success overseas, the American public is reluctant to allow the Detroit-based company to produce robots policing American cities. Raymond Sellars (Keaton) hits upon the idea of making such a creation more marketable to Americans (and exploit a legal loophole) by instead placing a man in a robotic suit. At the same time, cop Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) is severely injured in an explosion and without his consent becomes the new force in law enforcement: the Robocop.
Released in 1987, the original Robocop was one of the best science-fiction films of its era, combining comic book violence, an introspective subplot and a subtle, but unmistakable sheen of left-wing satire that softly derided the authoritarian and ultra-capitalist setting, whilst not alienating audiences on either side of the political spectrum. With the arrival of this reboot/remake, there have been expectations for it to crash and burn. But, whilst this new Robocop is doubtlessly inferior to the original film, it is a fairly decent effort when judged on its own merits.
A lot of the elements that made the original Robocop so special are still present, albeit to lesser degrees. The satirical edge really only sticks in with Samuel L. Jackson's turn as a jingoistic TV political pundit which makes for probably the best performance of the film. The film alsocomes with the same sleek "not-too-distant future" vibe that gives the film some seeming relevance, although it's probably not exploited to the greatest extent.
As Alex Murphy/Robocop, Kinnarman puts in a solid performance, in a role that does require more dimension than most action heroes. However, he seems to lack quite the amount of skill that Peter Weller brought to the role. Michael Keaton brings just the right amount of playfulness as the film's villain, with Keaton always being an enjoyable presence as a baddy. Meanwhile, Gary Oldman does a turn as a creator and mentor for Robocop; not an original kind of role, but one which Oldman seems to slip into like a well-tailored suit.
The music also deserves a mention, with a nicely appropriate reprise of the original Robocop theme, the film also features some gleefully apropos pieces of music to bring again the lightness of touch over what could easily have been a far grimmer story, which is also at times over-complicated.
To summarise, Robocop is no masterpiece and inevitably it doesn't stand up very strong alongside the 1987 variation with its convoluted plotting and dropping some promising themes with less satisfying ones. However, this film has picked up some strengths as well and occasionally shines with them.
Next time, Ralph Fiennes directs his own portrayal of Charles Dickens, involved in an adulterous affair with Felicity Jones in The Invisible Woman.
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