RoboCop

I picked up RoboCop used at Spin Street, and The Younger Son chose it for our second feature tonight. It's got gore galore, rampant drug abuse and language to offend anyone. It easily earns its R rating. If you can get past all that it's a fun movie. The problem is that it'd be appealing to a teen audience that can't see the thing. Well, they can, I guess, but sheesh, I wouldn't have wanted my kids to have seen it any younger.

The robocop character and his partner are particularly sympathetic figures. There's no gray in this movie. The good guys are good, and the bad guys are irredeemably bad. It's #14 on EW's top 25 action movie list. The Criterion edition is oop, but the one we bought has a cool cover.

It's a 1987 science fiction cop movie with Dan O'Herlihy and Ronny Cox (who has a Star Trek connection). RoboCop is played by Peter Weller, who also has a Star Trek connection).

trailer:


Moria says,

What did endear RoboCop to people was the strong sarcastic bite the film came with that gave it the appearance of an ultra-violent action movie with a socially acute, even intellectual edge.

and a special note to The Younger Son -Moria calls it "cyberpunk":

RoboCop has been cited, justly so, as one of the major cinematic Cyberpunk texts.

1000 Misspent Hours gives it 4 stars and says,

although RoboCop made its greatest impact at the time through the controversy over its wildly excessive graphic violence, it becomes clear upon close examination that Verhoeven’s aim was largely to poke fun not only at the very sort of movie he was making, but indeed at the entire culture that could produce the likes of it. The delivery may be mostly deadpan, but the material itself is often so arch that the intent is difficult to miss.

Roger Ebert closes his review with this:

Most thriller and special-effects movies come right off the assembly line. You can call out every development in advance, and usually be right. "RoboCop" is a thriller with a difference.