RoboCop (José Padilha, 2014)

[Zot!]

From the interview posted above speaking about the original film....

JP: And all of the corporate ads that were mocking corporations and portraying how corporations dealt with the general public.

Slash Film: Yeah, it’s almost like parody at times.

Brilliant observation, interviewer dude. I realize that when the original came out Verhoeven's ironic black humor was not yet ubiquitous, but you've had quite a few years and Showgirls to come to grips with this.

[who is bobby dylan]

Loved it. Can't understand the lukewarm and negative critical reaction this is getting. I personally would rather see it again than the original.

[Dylan]

Loved it. Can't understand the lukewarm and negative critical reaction this is getting. I personally would rather see it again than the original.

Just out of curiosity, what was it about the remake that you felt was superior to the original?

[reaky]

This was much better than I had expected, though characterisation and motivation get a little choppy as the film hurtles to its conclusion - I get the sense it was whittled down from a much longer cut. Satire and social commentary are by no means absent - plenty of digs at US foreign policy, Fox News, marketing synergy, and in my favourite barb, the revelation that Robocop

Spoiler

is designed in America but assembled in China, like an iPhone.

[Zot!]

Robocop

Spoiler

is designed in America but assembled in China, like an iPhone.

Good gag. This almost makes me want to see it....almost.

Spoiler

Though ironically weaponary is still one of the few domestic products done right.

[who is bobby dylan]

Just out of curiosity, what was it about the remake that you felt was superior to the original?

Obviously this film could not exist without the original, but for me it's better. In short, I think Padilha is a smarter filmmaker, politically than Verhooven. His last fiction film, Elite Squad 2, takes a subject, the drug trade/police and political corruption, that the Wire covered in five seasons of television and handles it just as intelligently, in two hours. I had a great deal of faith, that someone capable of that wouldn't make a film about Robocop unless he had something interesting he wanted to do with it.

I like that the remake doesn't resort to excessive violence, action or sneering, but is able to tell a compelling story by almost entirely focusing on Alex Murphy and his and others attempts to make him more human or more robotic. That's it's able to do this, while still raising the issue of drone warfare, making some commentary (as a previous poster pointed out) and does so without lazily laying the blame on half the audience (i.e. if only other people: consumers, businessmen, conservatives, etc. weren't so bad everything would be great) to me makes it much more enjoyable and interesting at this point in my life than the first movie.

[warren oates]

Is Elite Squad 2 another one of those RoboCop reboot special cases as well -- couldn't exist without the original but far superior? Because the first Elite Squad film was so generic and boring it made me forget how promising a filmmaker I thought Padilha was after Bus 174. Better than The Wire, huh?

[John Cope]

Is Elite Squad 2 another one of those RoboCop reboot special cases as well -- couldn't exist without the original but far superior? Because the first Elite Squad film was so generic and boring it made me forget how promising a filmmaker I thought Padiha was after Bus 174. Better than The Wire, huh?

Wow. I can't imagine that reaction. I thought it was incredible, quite possibly the best movie of its year. And the sequel is equal to it, though you may prefer it, who knows?

[who is bobby dylan]

Is Elite Squad 2 another one of those RoboCop reboot special cases as well -- couldn't exist without the original but far superior? Because the first Elite Squad film was so generic and boring it made me forget how promising a filmmaker I thought Padilha was after Bus 174. Better than The Wire, huh?

I haven't seen the first Elite Squad and so can't comment towards it. I think the second is a great film. I would not say it is better than The Wire, only that it accomplishes much of what The Wire did as political commentary over five seasons as a feature film (and in the context of Brazilian politics) and that on the basis of that accomplishment and reading interviews with Padilha discussing that film and his remake of Robocop, I was optimistic towards what he could do.

Obviously, like any filmmaker his films are not for everyone. I was simply surprised by how negative the reaction to this was, when so much of what Padilha chose to do with this film, focusing on the transformation of Alex into Robocop, no evil genius villain with a convoluted plan, etc., not isolating the character from his family, were interesting choices, that to me, in the skill of their execution, elevated it above most, if not all of the, "superhero" films we've been inundated with the last decade or so. It feels like a real film, with something to say about its characters and with ideas to raise about what our future may look like and not just an excuse to blow stuff up or cash in on a Robocop reboot.

[Movie-Brat]

I read that Padilha had troubles with MGM and Sony on the film where like every ten ideas he has, nine were cut. Did that sort of thing show up on screen?

[solaris72]

I read that Padilha had troubles with MGM and Sony on the film where like every ten ideas he has, nine were cut. Did that sort of thing show up on screen?

Like this?

[Movie-Brat]

You know what I mean? Like the type of complaint I heard is that it kind of played it too safe. I'm seeing it myself, just curious if anyone heard any similar complaints.

[flyonthewall2983]

One thing this has over the original, that might have me won before seeing it...

Spoiler

"Hocus Pocus" by Focus! That song rocks.

[Sonmi451]

You know what I mean? Like the type of complaint I heard is that it kind of played it too safe. I'm seeing it myself, just curious if anyone heard any similar complaints.

I'd be incredibly surprised if it plays it anything other than completely safe.

Edited for clarity

[Movie-Brat]

I'm surprised you guys are taking the remake well. I kind of expected well, the complaints being that it played it too safe as I heard apparently.

[flyonthewall2983]

RoboCop and the problem with PG-13

[Movie-Brat]

So now that I've finally seen it. I enjoyed it, it has moments of brilliance but has its problems. It's lacking an edge to it being the biggest problem. It needed to be more of a biting satire of a Post 9/11 world. The Novak Experience being a good starting point but it just ended up being another movie where the antagonist is a greedy asshole who wants more and despite the fact that a crime lord was used for the death of Alex Murphy, he's just a prop in the end. But the moments come from again, The Novak Experience, the action scenes, designs of the Robocop suit and even the drones, the acting and its choice of music. Yeah, I rather like the use of Focus's Hocus Pocus and If I Only Had a Heart.

I'd say it's decent, I enjoyed but I'm rather mixed on it.

[knives]

I suppose in a Robocop remake it is better that they sacrificed the violence and humour (though I laughed hard at the China reveal) than the political satire which retains a fair bit of wit especially with Jackson's cameo as a Fox news type and Keaton's version of Richard Branson. With Oldman and the wife the film leans a little too close to sentimentality so it lacks that grotesque edge of the original. What's funny is that I would have thought this would have made the emotion's at his loss of humanity which the film actively talks about a more vital aspect, but this heavily emoting and human Robocop has a less affecting afterlife than the original Murphy. Keaton's mogul sums up the film pretty well when he calls Robocop okay and that that just isn't a sellable position.