B/B+

MUCH better than the studio and the trailers make it seem. The satire of the original is intact and updated. Maybe even too thick here, thanks to Samuel L. Jackson's character. Could have been a tad more subtle. The visual efects are absolute top notch. The cast is aces, the action rocks.

Now the PG-13 rating is not a disaster, but it hurts the film and unfortunately makes parts of it look like a video game. Had it gone the R-rated route, with the same content and effects, I'd put it on par if not above Verhoeven's film. Right now, it is just a tad behind it.

Yes. This was surprisingly satisfying. It pretty much nailed the mix of ethics, politics, social interactions and action. Also I definitely agree that some parts look like a video game, but I don't think that has anything to do with the rating. It's more how it was directed and presented in those action scenes.

Good to hear.

robocop

In the end, after at least a year of online rage and suspicion borne of nostalgia for the 1980s, this big-budget update of RoboCop, the part-man-part-machine law-enforcement cult favorite, proves to be a damn fine film by any measure: exciting, smart, shot with energetic style, and acted to perfection by an admirable ensemble cast, even if a few of its members are a shade underutilized. Rather than abandon the satiric political and social observations which turned the original into a frequent topic of academic conversation, this film wisely ushers them into a new, more grim era in which the clout wielded by private corporations and the role of technology in warfare are even more pertinent. Never does it become a rote action picture. Instead, the chase-and-gunfire spectacle is always shaded with, inspired by, or leading to questions of identity and morality.

There are imperfections, of course: parts of the script require more development and focus (including a storyline involving compromised policemen and their dangerous connection to an arms dealer), and the squandering of the always riveting Michael K. Williams (in the role of the partner analogous to, but nowhere near as prominent as the one previously played by Nancy Allen) is criminal. Still, though, this registers as a major surprise. It is an above-average action and science-fiction film capable of standing proudly alongside its 27-year-old cinematic forebear.

B+

Good stuff. Samuel L. Jackson as Rush Limbaugh/Bill O'Reilly is kind of interesting.

Decent meditation on free will and consciousness--at least for a film of its type.

I quite liked this new Rebootocop - - sure, it's not as biting as the original, and lacks almost all of it's humour, but this production had a nicely understated dignity to it's storytelling (even though it temporarily goes off the rails towards the end of the second act).

Bring on Rebootocop 2 !!!!!


12 out of 5.


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BTW, the mirror scene in the reboot is more truly horrifying than any of Verhoeven's deliciously stylized violence.

It's about as satisfying as the Jack Ryan reboot this year. Fun while watching it, but no where near the heights of first or even the better parts of the 2nd film. Instantly forgettable. 3rd act characters becoming villains for the sake of it, is kind of just lazy. Acting from the supporting characters is fun, and thankfully the actor was more of a robot before he became Robocop, so luckily he has all of like 10 lines before it happens.

B-

This was fucking horrible. I can't believe the moderately positive reception this is getting. It's so boring, poorly paced, shot like a video game and all of the performances from every actor other than Gary Oldman are dreadful. I loathed the Samuel L. Jackson scenes in particular. The worst movie I've seen so far this year. D+

A bit disappointed, it wasnt as great as I expected, first 45 minutes are too slow and boring; though action, effects and acting are good,

I still prefer the original movie which I consider a classic.

PS: What I loved in this movie is the way they reused the original score from the old films.

C+/B-

I enjoyed it. Abbie Cornish and Gary Oldman were both very good.

BJs Grade:

B+

Better than expected.

As ill-advised as it may have initially sounded, this Robocop remake is actually a success. While I wouldn't say that I prefer it to the 1987 film (which, itself, is definitely not without its share of flaws), it's a sufficiently intriguing update and reimagining, and it deviates from the original in ways that allow it to stand on its own. At its heart, the original is a nasty satire on society's increasingly dehumanized view of violence and the media's perpetuation of it; those ideas are still present here, although not as forcefully given the PG-13 rating. However, even the PG-13 seems to serve a purpose, as it reflects the ways in which our media has tried to sanitize violence for mass consumption. The film also goes beyond its predecessor's reach by addressing more human elements (like Murphy's connection to his family, and the amount of control he can still exercise despite being robotically controlled), which raise the dramatic stakes - although they do also dull the satire. In the title role, Joel Kinnaman provides more humanity than Peter Weller, and he's an adequate casting choice for this remake. However, the real standout in the cast is Gary Oldman, whose emotional conflict lends the film a level of gravity that the original did not have. Ultimately, this remake is not a desecration of the original, but rather an ambitious new spin on it - perhaps too ambitious, as it tries to cover a great deal of ground in under two hours (enough that I can't help but wonder how much better it might have been as a TV series). It may not have seemed like a good idea, but it's a welcome and enjoyable remake that strengthens its canon rather than weakening it.

B

^
Truth

Yep. Oldman makes the movie.

B/B+

RoboCop

Surprisingly okay. Not a disaster, and somewhat enjoyable. There are some cool scenes, and the story is remade well from the original. It's lacking the violence, the acting is bad, and the ending is super shit, but on the whole it was an interesting time at the movies. It doesn't compare to the original, though. Not even close.

Oldman is great. Baruchel is mis-cast. Samuel L. Jackson is a good addition, making this more political and societal than the first one. But there aren't enough action set pieces and the violence is a big, gaping void.

B

Entertaining and passable enough acting from the cast. Could of used more Abbie Cornish hotness though.