Robocop [R]

What could be better than a revenge movie starring an unbeatable cyborg cop? More than a mere ‘bad motherfucker’ movie drenched in adrenaline and violence, Robocop is one of the more interesting sci-fi/action robot movies because it raises a lot of ethical and emotional questions and, in a particularly good way, leaves it up to the viewers to answer them. On top of that, it’s got everything from a society in a state of semi-dystopia to the lone gunman or ‘bad motherfucker’ roaming the streets. 

Set in a crime-riddled Detroit akin to Gotham City where cops consider going on strike, the movie tells the tale of transferred police officer Murphy (Peter Weller) who gets blown to bits in a shootout and then remade by a team of engineers into the unbeatable ‘robocop’. But a glitch occurs when he starts having flashbacks of his human life and his purpose of serving and protecting turns into one of revenge. 

The story itself is simple, original, and cool, harbouring all the key elements for a classic sci-fi action movie. But what makes Robocop the interesting film that it is is not so much the violence and explosions or even the lone gunman (though his mean one-liner, “dead or alive, you’re coming with me”, and his gun-spin are pretty badass). There’s a recognisable question of what happens when machines become more like men and this movie looks quite closely at that conundrum. Interestingly, Robocop is a real robot just with the face of officer Murphy. 

This simple design choice thus makes the character instantly more human because we can see his skin and lips peeking out from all his robotic getup and it makes him look like a guy in a kick-arse suit. In addition to the human-like exterior, the film’s central drama comes in the form of some remnant of Murphy’s human memory infiltrating and corrupting his robot programming. 

This, mingled with the fact that Robocop wears the face and eyes of Murphy sparks the question of the nature of the human soul vs. technology and what we are presented with is a detached character that suddenly realises that he was not always what he knows himself to be. Confusion and questions then run rampant both on and off screen, as there is no answer given to the nature of the glitch in Robocop and audiences are left to come up with their own conclusions. Minus the three laws of robotics, the story works as a somewhat distorted and modernised version of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. 

The semi-dystopian setting of a crime-riddled city brings this great level of intrigue to the movie with all the bad guys looking like regular, harmless Joes (the lead villain in Murphy’s murder sports glasses and a moustache and is probably the least villainous person I’ve seen). Add to this corruption and competition within the higher companies that practically run law enforcement, and it’s a recipe for juicy and delicious intrigue. 

Starring Nancy Allen, Dan O’Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer, Robert DoQui, Ray Wise, Felton Perry, Paul McCrane, Jesse D. Goins, Del Zamora, Calvin Jung, Rick Lieberman, and Lee de Broux, Robocop is one of the more overt in active bad motherfucker-ness, but restrained in terms of expositions and answers sci-fi actions films of the ‘80s. Filled with action, violence, drama, and a little bit of comedy, it’s a very enjoyable movie.