ROBOCOP

Version: 2007 20th Anniversary Extended Cut

I remember when I was little that there were certain movies that were "bad" and that I shouldn't watch them. I guess it was the result of living in a house with couch potatoes- after all, you can't watch kiddie movies all day. Three stand out- Judge Dredd, Fritz the Cat, and RoboCop.

RoboCop's premise is rather simple- half man half machine takes down crime in Detroit. Once you watch the thing, though, it's a rather intelligent movie. Corruption ridden company OCP buys the police force and tries to eliminate crime in "Old Detroit", which happens to be where they plan on building their utopia. Problem is, the police do their best but the criminals are just too much. OCP execs Dick Jones and Bob Morton each have a plan to do it, with senior exec Dick's ED-209 droid proving to be an epic fail (especially when it comes to stairs). Junior exec Bob has the RoboCop plan, which takes a dead policeman and robo-fies the corpse to make one hell of an officer. The man picked is Murphy, who gets brutally destroyed in the beginning of the movie by Clarence Boddiger. Needless to say Bob's plan is a success and he rubs it in Dick's face. Dick then gets angry, and uses Clarence to get rid of RoboCop. In the middle of that is RoboCop's struggle to remember who he is, and his desire to bring his killers to justice.

The movie is full of jabs at real life problems, many delivered through the "commercials" throughout the movie's news reports. The 6000 SUX car with 8.2 miles per gallon and the Reagan "Star Wars" platform misfiring and killing an entire city are most prominent. As in every dystopian film, you have the evil bureaucrats plotting to demolish the filth ridden "old" town and build -their- ideal city in its place. This movie goes a little over the top when it comes to spelling it out, but that's part of the point. It's so silly that it can never happen, right?

When it came out, RoboCop was rated X. That's right, X. Like pornography. As always the MPAA missed the point and the film had to be chopped down a little for violence. If you watch the extended cut today, you'll wonder why they were so adamant. It's gore, yes, but it's silly. Murphy gets his hand blown off like it's Mortal Kombat and doesn't even scream. Sure, this stuff is destroying the youth of today. No nudity at least.

This movie is a little dated, after all they use stop motion for the ED-209. I don't mind it so much, but it might take you out of it. As an action film, the plot's as good as any other, and there's no shortage of action (this is a MANLY MAN's movie, after all). One good point is that there's no bodybuilding contest. As much as I love a good looking guy, action movies like Rambo turn me off.

I recommend this for anyone with a soft spot for 80s movies or for smart action flicks.