The first one had over the top everything. Gratuitous amounts of swearing, some nudity, and cutting edge and some disgusting special effects like a guy coming apart as a car runs over him. But there was no denying RoboCop, on his shoestring budget, was a new kind of cool. Searing social commentary also made the first Robo movie a new kind of shoot 'em up pic; along with a host of timeless new lines like "Dead or alive, you're coming with me." This new RoboCop is another new kind of cool. There's toned down swearing and violence but just as much searing social commentary on how we in the West really do think we are all that and we can use automated tech to control not only our world but the world around us. The tech in Tehran at the beginning of this new film even features flying drones like the ones that blow up our enemies from the comfort of your own remote cockpit, blowing men, women and children with the flip of a switch. It was good to see how they make Alex Murphy a good man on and off the beat as a solid husband and father. I thoroughly enjoyed the fight Robo has with the updated ED 209s and his very cool Robo-Cycle.
Joel Kinnaman makes for a good Alex Murphy and RoboCop and he can act. Michael Keaton makes a bad bad guy and his acting is as full of life as ever. I was pleasantly surprised to see Gary Oldman in the flick and enjoyed his heartfelt portrayal of a sincere doc who seems to be in the repairing-damaged-people-game for the right reasons. Samuel L Jackson is the voice of conservative 'Merica in this film and is just as annoying as some of them TV folk who think 'Merica is the "hope of the Earth" as Mitt put it.. The show clearly sets itself up as a new franchise should it garner enough bucks at the box office. I liked this one enough that I'd go see RoboCop 2.
I'd give it a solid 8 out of 10.
'Nuff Said.
