TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

jamesgandrew In the not too distant future, a Detroit police officer is gunned down by a gang of killers and is resurrected as a cyborg police officer. He later regains his humanity and craves vengeance for the gang that killed him. Robocop is sci-fi satire at its finest. It uses the action genre as a guise for deep social commentary on institutional power, media manipulation and consumerism. One of the most memorable lines from the film is 'I'll buy that for a dollar!' said by a character from a sitcom which satirises consumerist excess. We aren't given much context about the show except that everyone finds it utterly hilarious. Even the yuppy like executives, that the show openly makes fun of, embrace this cultural phenomena by referencing the line. This pretty much sums up Robocop's message in a nutshell. The film is directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier. Verhoeven is known for putting over exaggerated violence, sex, swearing and drugs throughout his films and Robocop is no exception. Most of the violence, except Alex Murphy's execution, is overly comical and this was done for a purpose. We laugh at the corporate climate, especially when an executive is blown to bits by a droid and is only labelled as 'a glitch'. The action in the movie is overly stylised to showcase the silly media driven and consumerist world. Even though Robocop is humorous this is not to say the film hasn't got heavy moments of drama and tragedy. Alex Murphy is like a cog in the machine, which is similarly explored in another Verhoeven film, 'Starship Troopers'. We see him trying to imitate a popular tv show 'TJ Laser' which encourages him to join the police force. Although this results in his death and you end up feeling sorry for the character despite his naivety. However, Alex Murphy ends up regaining his humanity which brings some hope in an otherwise pessimistic view of the future.Robocop is fantastic and is one of the smartest eighties sci-fi action films.

XweAponX What was remarkable about this film, is that it was one of the very last times we had ever seen Ray Harryhausen style stop motion animation used in a feature film. The odd look was because they had to use Rear Projection. This film reflects all of the glory of 70's and 80's practical special effects. Everything we see here is on camera. The Computer displays were all done on Amiga.The ED-209 appears to utilize the top half of a Sennheiser Microphone as a "Radiator Grill", I'd recognize the shape anywhere. Phil Tippet's animation is ingenious, giving unwarranted life to the 209's.What makes this film are the small details, "I'll buy that for a Dollar" (Originally from "The Marching Morons" by CM Kornbluth, which was later the basis for "Idiocracy"), the little News clips, the phoney ads what are not too far fetched. These little bits were used well in the 22-episode TV RoboCop TV show from 1994.And Rob Bottin's brilliant design of the RoboCop "suit". As far as the actors, I didn't know who Peter Weller was. But he was perfect for the role. There is a "good" buisinessman, Miguel Ferrer, contrasted with the Bad Guy Ronny Cox, who Verhoeven also used in Total Recall. Kurtwood Smith and Ray Wise, who always show up in Star Trek things, were over the top crooks. The Kid who drives the van, played by Paul McCrane, was the guy in the X-Files that could walk away after a head-ectomy. In this film, the Old Man of Omni Consumer Products, played by Dan O'Herlihy is a lot more like the kindly old man who owns a company, this changes in the under rated Robocop 2, in which Irvin Kirschner does a good job of imitating Verhoeven's directorial style.Overall, this one film served as a Template that was used in 2 sequels, 2 TV Shows, and one TV Mini Series of various quality. It's great to revisit these, it shows a wholly different way of doing things than what is used today. Also, anachronisms. Many of the things we see in these films, even though they are depicting the future, don't really exist anymore. Cameras that use Film. Computers that use Disks, and even today, Optical disks are not used much, it's all flash drives and SDcards. Telephones. Even Pay Phones, when was the last time you saw a Pay Phone on a street corner? And cars: The huge 6000 SUX, an over the top parody of so many huge Ford cars in the 80's. And we don't even see many of those cars anymore, everything is an SUV now. In some ways, the world was a much simpler place, even in the movies from that time.

mike48128 Be forewarned! A lot of blood, gore, bullets and swear words are in this film. That being said, a great concept film later turned into 2 uneven sequels, a 2014 remake, and a somewhat-successful TV series. So many errors and goofs which, for the most part, are mostly "signage" problems and techno-issues. I didn't have time to "catch" the rest of them as I was too busy watching the film. It is so obvious that this film wasn't filmed anywhere remotely near Detroit. There is even an out-of-state steel mill. Like all Verhoeven films, more big guns than imaginable. The depicted use of "coke" is totally inappropriate and the annoying "I'd pay a dollar for that" dirty-minded TV video gets old very fast. I love the fake news and tacky commercials. Peter Weller in that tin can suit looks very hot and sweaty! The "rogue" cyborg looks stop motion animated but that is before CGI. I am still surprised that there were no laser weapons. Some on the mattes are unconvincing. Somewhat better to watch on cable as the fowl language is greatly cleaned or cut. The acid-dissolving "henchman" would give any little kid nightmares. It's convenient that the dirty water dilutes it so that no one else dies that way! I also like (although not as much) Robocop 2.

stevenrotherforth Robocop 1987Robocop is a film I hold very close to my heart. As a school boy when this film was released my father wouldn't allow me to watch it. The graphic violence and foul language was deemed unfit for an eleven year old boy and rightly so. I begged and pleaded but dad wouldn't budge. His mind was set. My school friends however had all seen it. I don't think there was a VHS copy in my neighbourhood that hadn't been played within an inch of its life. Of course every school break time was filled with discussion of this sci-fi masterpiece. So I learned the film from start to finish without even laying my eyes on the screen. Every line, every scene all in my imagination as I listened in awe to my friends as they retold the tale of Alex Murphy a Detroit police officer who is violently gunned down by a gang of vicious criminals and then reconstructed as a crime fighting cyborg. I say violently but even that is an understatement. If you opt to watch the directors cut the gore of Murphy's deconstruction is almost too much to bare. Limbs are detached from body with murderous gunfire. The violence feels real, you can almost taste the brain matter. But this is necessary in order to convey the brutal world these characters live in. Paul Verhoevens film pokes fun at modern day America and the massive corporations that control our lives. All of this is done with a good dose of satire and a wink at the camera. The TV commercials that play throughout the movie are a work of genius. A particular one involving a gas guzzling American made car named the 6000 SUX, an American tradition which proudly returns 8.2mpg. There are so many delights in this film that are wasted on an eleven year old school boy. However when my father finally came around some few years later and allowed me to watch this movie I was blown away like Murphy himself. My imagination was being presented before me right there on the screen. I knew every line but to see it actually happening was mesmerising. The performances are exceptional, particularly by Peter Weller as Robocop. His movement, his on screen presence. A story of a man becoming a machine and then a man again perfectly portrayed. Supporting cast are also superb. Kurtwood Smith created one of the most evil and memorable villains since Darth Vader. Granted the special effects by today's standards look weak but compared to the recent remake, the original film has depth and texture. No CGI can replicate this. Take ED209 for example he is as menacing as he is comical. A killer robot tank that is flummoxed by a staircase. The clumsy stop motion effects only elevate this. I recently revisited this film and after thirty years I am still bowled over by its genius.Robocop is more than just an action flick it's a clever and comical finger poke at the world we live in.