The RoboCop Thread

[Bobthegoon89]

We're obviously going through a trend in cinema now where fantasy is rejected by realism and therefore function. Can't set a movie on Mars (Total Recall) let's bring it down to the tired and boring future Earth instead. Can't have a knight in silver armour Robocop, let's have a black tactical looking one because it makes sense having a police armour inspired look. But my favourite is always a Batmobile that doesn't much look like a....BATmobile.

I think that's awful. I don't think really you can have one without the other. And what's the big deal with fantastical stuff? It's why I got to loving this genre in the first place. I think Frank Miller even opposed the reality of a superhero film: "I don't wanna see sweat patches under Superman's armpits. I wanna see him fly!". I'd love to know what he though of the Nolan Batman's!

Same thing apparently happened in the seventies before the advent of Star Wars and such. You had urban, gritty movies and hardly no sci-fi. That all changed obviously come 1977 when high concept fantasy became order of the day. Cue lightsabers and (better still) alien chestbursters!

The realism fad in sci-fi and comic movies will die out eventually when people crave the imagination of fantasy again. I don't think Nolan ever desired to stamp out the glories of the genre, he just inspired too much in other people. Next year they expect to bring realism to Superman. But guys there's only so much of that you can put in for a guy in a red cape that flies.

[ElCuervoMuerto]

We're obviously going through a trend in cinema now where fantasy is rejected by realism and therefore function. Can't set a movie on Mars (Total Recall) let's bring it down to the tired and boring future Earth instead. Can't have a knight in silver armour Robocop, let's have a black tactical looking one because it makes sense having a police armour inspired look. But my favourite is always a Batmobile that doesn't much look like a....BATmobile.

See, this new Robocop design looks far less realistic to me than the original. Like I said before, the original was designed to look like a man with artificial limbs, this one just looks like it was designed with aesthetics instead of function in mind. I mean, why would a cyborg need shoulder-pads? Sculpted abs?

As for the realism vs. fantasy thing, I think it's all relative. I personally think the Nolan and Burton films are not that far apart in terms of realism (when you look at technology, gadgets, etc), they just differ quite a bit in terms of tone and atmosphere. Sure BR is quite more "fantastical" than B'89, but it's no where near the level of something like Sin City. As for current trends, I do think it's somewhat evened out, with having the Nolan Batman's on one hand, but then the release of The Hobbit on the other.

[Bobthegoon89]

We're obviously going through a trend in cinema now where fantasy is rejected by realism and therefore function. Can't set a movie on Mars (Total Recall) let's bring it down to the tired and boring future Earth instead. Can't have a knight in silver armour Robocop, let's have a black tactical looking one because it makes sense having a police armour inspired look. But my favourite is always a Batmobile that doesn't much look like a....BATmobile.

See, this new Robocop design looks far less realistic to me than the original. Like I said before, the original was designed to look like a man with artificial limbs, this one just looks like it was designed with aesthetics instead of function in mind. I mean, why would a cyborg need shoulder-pads? Sculpted abs?

As for the realism vs. fantasy thing, I think it's all relative. I personally think the Nolan and Burton films are not that far apart in terms of realism (when you look at technology, gadgets, etc), they just differ quite a bit in terms of tone and atmosphere. Sure BR is quite more "fantastical" than B'89, but it's no where near the level of something like Sin City. As for current trends, I do think it's somewhat evened out, with having the Nolan Batman's on one hand, but then the release of The Hobbit on the other.

Unfortunately I'm not much a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies lol But at least they'll help champion the fantasy realm as you say.

I cannot believe some foolish person chose to change the one thing they didn't need to do on this new Robocop. I would have merely added to the design in slight ways, not junk it totally. Although Terminator Salvation was far from the best film at least that director kept the Terminators looking like we all knew em to be. It boggles the mind. Having now seen it I guess when we can also rule out the iconic theme tune too? You just know that's out the window too. Terrible.

The good thing is I doubt this new Robocop will hurt the original movie. It's still a mind blowing movie with cooler and edgier stuff in. I've even heard the new one will be PG-13! The violence in the original always disturbed me but that was the point of the movie anyway. I don't think you can get the excellent emotion in Verhoeven's film across as succesfully without the disturbing imagery.

[thecolorsblend]

The good thing is I doubt this new Robocop will hurt the original movie. It's still a mind blowing movie with cooler and edgier stuff in. I've even heard the new one will be PG-13! The violence in the original always disturbed me but that was the point of the movie anyway. I don't think you can get the excellent emotion in Verhoeven's film across as succesfully without the disturbing imagery.

I would argue that's the whole point. The board room scene at the beginning where ED-209 malfunctions and kills the executive is the perfect example.

In the director's cut, it's over the top. ED-209 basically shoots the guy again and again and again until he's spaghetti. You could put whatever is left in a zip lock bag after it's all over... which is why it's kind of darkly funny when some dipsh*t in the background shouts "get a medic!"

In the theatrical cut, toning it down actually makes it worse. He gets blasted, yeah, but the dipsh*t seems less like a dipsh*t in shouting "get a medic" because, hey, maybe there's still a CHANCE the guy could pull through. It's more horrifying for being less over the top.

[Azrael]

I cannot believe some foolish person chose to change the one thing they didn't need to do on this new Robocop. I would have merely added to the design in slight ways, not junk it totally. Although Terminator Salvation was far from the best film at least that director kept the Terminators looking like we all knew em to be. It boggles the mind. Having now seen it I guess when we can also rule out the iconic theme tune too? You just know that's out the window too. Terrible.

Off topic, but Terminator Salvation was a fine, underrated sci-fi actioner, and a million times better than current films in the genre (e.g. Transformers etc.), I wonder why it went so bad. It wasn't even close to the first ones, but what sci-fi film with robots can touch Cameron's Terminator anyway? It was good for a 00's film.

As for the PG-13... Robocop worked because of two things, the irony/satire, and the brutal violence. This is why I think Robo 2 is pretty OK in places too - it still feels like a bleak sci-fi comedy. The moment they turned him into a family friendly superhero (Robo 3 onwards), he became TV fodder. If this new one is in any way family friendly, it will totally miss the point.

[riddler]

First post in the topic here's my overall thoughts;

Robocop 1: the detroit in that film had elements of Nolan's gotham city (and I mean that in a good way). It was gritty, dark, tragic, and run by the bad guys. Clearly a city in need of a hero. The violence was short but they made it work. The murphy death scene was violent yet captivating. Maybe the most gruesome death outside a horror movie of the 1980's. The fact that the goons are laughing while doing it too makes it especially strong. Kurtwood smith was outstanding as Clarence Bodekker. He was funny an one of the most evil villains ever portrayed without super powers. I love how this film plays into its tag line the entire time; "half man, half machine, all cop" definitely we get humanity with the robot.

Robocop 2: I'll give it full props for trying. The first was a tough act to follow. It tries to continue the humanity of the character but the simple fact is that the story of the cop becoming a robot had already been told. Also Clarence was dead and so you know any bad guys in any sequel will not have the emotional attachment to Robocop as the man who created him, clearly Kurtwood was sorely missed. Now with those deficiencies the film did its best with what it had. It took advantage of the fact that Murphy had already become Robocop and included more of him. It tried to have more character development for the robot and make him more of a role model. Nice follow up but doesnt compare.

Robocop 3: Only saw it once but aware of its rep. I don't know, there really wasn't a lot there for me, it reminded me of bad sequels such as jaws 3 and 4 with too much focus on plot and plenty of it away from the title character. The biggest progression we got from Robocop was "now he can fly". I'm aware that it had budget restraints, it seemed to be a trend in the late 80's/early 90's to see if they could make sequels with lower budgets to increase profits.



Are you guys sure about the all robot angle? Here's the last pic i saw




I also read the rumour is that Murphy will have his left arm shot off instead of the right and the remaining arm will be kept on (if you recall in the original they decided to remove the arm which was stayed off).


I guess I'm in the crowd of "lets see how it goes". According to the list on the IMDB, the only characters with similar names to the original are Alex Murphy and a male actor named Lewis. I'm definitely skeptical but sometimes remakes get it right. I actually prefer this one changing all the other names; The remakes which do work try and do their own thing, they acknowledge that their source material was a previous film and rather than compare they try and make their own film and bring in new ideas. Maybe this scenario could work because of the fact that technology plays a factor; the first one takes place in a future so this one will likely be an updated future.

What I don't want to see is another spawning of Nolanite types. They are calling it a remake not a reboot. We obviously know what happened in the batman films, we're seeing a divide in the spider-man films. The 2003 hulk films have an ongoing battle with 2008. No matter what happens, the 1987 Robocop film is a classic. Maybe the 2013 version will be better but if it is I dont want the first one all of a sudden shunned and picked apart the way the 1989 Batman film is.

[Silver Nemesis]

First images of Keats on set.




http://collider.com/robocop-set-photos-michael-keaton/200679/

And some new pics of the RoboCop suit itself.

The picture also seem to confirm that Kinnaman's Murphy will retain a human right hand: a corporate attempt to show the supercop's human side or an Achilles' heel of sorts?

Sounds like we won't be getting the "give the guy a hand" scene in this one.

[gordonblu]

Nice to see Keaton in a High(er) profile movie again. hope the film is worth his talents.

Sounds like we won't be getting the "give the guy a hand" scene in this one.

It could always be in reference to his left hand. At the same time, considering they're aiming (pun intended) for a PG-13, they probably won't dismember him in quite the same way (or at all).

[Bobthegoon89]

Oh dear it just keeps getting worse 

What's with the black headgear around Murphy's head in the mask off shot? (Is he even called Murphy in this one?). Remember in the original when he first removes the helmet? Still an excellent/moving scene. The fact he was bald with weird electronic stuff seemingly jammed into the back of his head (along with that bullet slug from Clarence's head shot) looked kinda scary and all too painful to watch when I was a kid. I don't get the sense of the character's pain at all in this new suit. It looks as though he's as snug and comfy as Tony Stark. Whether they even wanna focus on that aspect of the anguish Murphy feels in his robot body is another debate entirely.

I think when all is said and done the original Robocop is a film that still has balls in the shock and emotion department and won't be surpassed by this mess or most modern action/sci-fi ideas.

[riddler]

Nice to see Keaton in a High(er) profile movie again. hope the film is worth his talents.

Sounds like we won't be getting the "give the guy a hand" scene in this one.

It could always be in reference to his left hand. At the same time, considering they're aiming (pun intended) for a PG-13, they probably won't dismember him in quite the same way (or at all).

It's confirmed he will lose an arm but it will be the left arm instead of the right.