By Renee’ Collins
Rating: 3.5 (Out of 5 Reels)
I wanted to see this film because I enjoyed the original film released in 1987 plus I really wondered what they would do with current computer graphic technology. In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop – is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer (IMDB).
The most notable actors in the film; Gary Oldman as Dr. Dennett Norton, Michael Keaton as Raymond Sellars, Jackie Earle Haley as Rick Mattox and Samuel L. Jackson as Pat Novak were all extremely adequate in their respective roles that mirrored the first film in 1987 save Novak. Jackson’s role as Novak is the most over the top and very comical. What must it be like to get paid so much money pretending to be someone else for a living? I enjoyed Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy/RoboCop because he seemed to bring more depth to the character than Peter Weller in the original.
The other main reason why I want to see this latest rendition is because of modern day special effects. Let’s face it watching a film made in the eighties is not as enjoyable as today because of today’s great computer generated imaging. I think they outdid themselves with the computer imaging scenes of rebuilding Murphy after his accident because it is both beautiful and gut wrenching in a way. However, even though the fighting scenes were adequate, I found myself wanting more. I for some reason also thought RoboCop could have fought with more intelligence and finesse overall. One scene in particular during a drill scene this was the case but not anywhere else and I was a bit disappointed.
Overall this film is worth seeing for the special effects alone but I found that it drug a little and could have been even better overall.