Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman ) is a cop, a bloody good cop at that, but
unfortunately he gets exploded and what’s left of him encased in metal. Lo, he
becomes Robocop: a cybernetic force of good who kicks ass and eats bad guys for
breakfast.
Therein
lies the basic premise of both the original and new Robocop, and in the case of
Paul Verhoevens schlocky 80’s classic, a razor sharp rumination on themes as
varied as political corruption, authoritarianism and human nature; chock full
of satire, wonderfully gory action and, most importantly, oodles of fun.
Although
this new reimagining does touch base with all the above, it never quite comes
close to matching it in any meaningful way, let alone surpassing it. But,
after a spree of awful and pointless remakes recently (Total Recall, anyone?),
Robocop is actually, when all is said and done, not bad at all.
Much like
the central character himself, Robocop (2014) is a well put together, glossy
bit of kit; but ultimately you have to question how much free will director
José Padilha actually had in its genesis, and how much of its DNA was imposed
by the suited bods in the office upstairs.
Narratively
it’s smart and snappy and you can’t deny that much thought has clearly gone
into the story, which deviates from the original in some new and interesting
ways. Likewise, it looks great, with top level effects and shiny cinematography
making it consistently great to watch. However tonally it veers wildly and
that’s where the main problems lay.
Specifically,
it often seems like the film-makers couldn't decide what they wanted the film to
be, so they just crammed all the ideas in there for good measure: one minute
it’s soft and mournful, next it's all whizz bang spectacle, then a bit of ham
handed political satire for luck. Although it’s hard to fault the intent, the
sometimes sharp philosophical musings just don’t sit well with the loud, forgettable action and are often undermined by it. Likewise, the strange
decision to use the original theme music is very distracting and feels like an attempt to remind us of the original, rather than give the new film
something of its own.
That being
said, Padilha has assembled a great cast here and they all make a decent effort
with the material they're given. A particular tip of the hat must go to Michael
Keaton as a dodgy CEO with the lions share of the best lines, and his partner
as most valuable player, Gary Oldman who shares most of the screen time with
Keaton as a good-egg Doctor. Both light up the screen, and it's hard to imagine
the film would be half as watchable without their efforts. Likewise, Samuel L
Jackson is a pleasure in his small role hamming it up as rush
Limbaugh-like political commentator.
Elsewhere, though the remaining cast don't really fair quite as well, especially poor
Joel Kinnaman as the titular tin man who just isn't given anything meaningful
to do aside from mumble and shoot.
So it's a
fairly entertaining movie then, mostly elevated by some good performances and
slick gloss, but it's hard to escape the feeling that it could have been so
much more if only they'd just let it be a little more... human.
3/5
~This review was originally written for York Vision~
~This review was originally written for York Vision~
