Movie Review: Robocop

Remakes, reboots and sequels are the name of the game these days and any child of the 80's or 90's probably saw this one coming. Upstanding cop Alex Murphy, played here by Joel Kinnaman, is targeted by a group of criminals and ends up horribly injured. The only thing that can save him is a procedure that would replace most of his body and mind with machinery and turn him into an unstoppable crime fighting force. But once we're past the eye rolling about this being a remake, is Robocop a decent film?

The Good

For its time, the 1987 original Robocop was awesome. Even today, it holds up nicely. That being said, modern visual effects work wonders for this story. The action is ramped up as well as the detail we get to see in Murphy's new body.

The family aspect of this remake was much stronger than in the original. We get to see much more how these events effect Alex's wife, played excellently by Abbie Cornish, and their son. This was hinted at in the original and then mostly from Alex's point of view, but I felt like it was given much greater service in the remake.

Of course, as always, the great Gary Oldman gave the film's best performance as the reluctant doctor doing his Frankenstein-like work on Alex Murphy.  The quality of his performance should come to no one's surprise.

The Bad

The best part about the original was Peter Weller. His performance captured the humanity of Alex Murphy as well as the coldness of Robocop. Unfortunately I can't say the same about Joel Kinnaman. His Robocop was just fine, but as Alex Murphy, he still felt cold and distant, making that transformation not nearly as significant.

I also felt the villain role, played by Michael Keaton, was boring. We've all seen Keaton at his best when he loves a character and gives it his best and watching this film, it was obvious his heart wasn't in it. Originally, House star Hugh Laurie was signed on for the role and personally, I would have loved to have seen him in it instead.

The Verdict

With heightened action, a deeper story and of course Gary Oldman, Robocop serves as a successful reboot of an aging franchise but does so in spite of a one note lead actor and a not-at-all compelling antagonist. What did you think of the new Robocop?