Movie Review: Robocop

  Hello all, and welcome to my first review in this series of two – Robocop! 😀

  Starring: Joel Kinnaman (Alex Murphy), Gary Oldman (Dr. Dennett Norton), Michael Keaton (Raymond Sellars), Abbie Cornish (Clara Murphy), Jon Paul Ruttan (David Murphy), Jackie Earl Haley (Rick Mattox), Michael K. Williams (Jack Lewis), Jay Baruchel (Tom Pope), Jennifer Ehle (Liz Kline), Samuel L. Jackson (Patrick “Pat” Novak)

Plot (taken from Yahoo! Movies):

“The year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years – and it’s meant billions for OmniCorp’s bottom line. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine pursuing justice.”

Trailer:

Characters: (For some reason Yahoo! Movies and Wikipedia don’t agree on character names, and the movie website only lists the actors and actresses, so I apologize for any differences you notice here.)

Joel Kinnaman (Alex Murphy) – This actor plays a great Alex Murphy, and I love him for it! I think he did the role justice, which is a huge plus in this movie’s favor. 😀 I’m not familiar with him, but I’d love to see him in more movies.

Gary Oldman (Dr. Dennett Norton) – He plays the Chief Scientist who creates Alex Murphy’s new body, transforming him into Robocop. His heart is in the right place, but when the situation gets out of control he goes with it, against his better judgment. He does manage to redeem himself though – his moral compass resurfaces, and he does the right thing in the end.

Michael Keaton (Raymond Sellars) – I love this actor, and he plays a really great sleazy, greedy type of villain that I love to hate. Zero on the moral compass. I really, really feel like this character needed some more development though. Lol, I go into all kinds of detail on that one below. 🙂

Abbie Cornish (Clara Murphy) – I really like how strong this character is. Abbie Cornish is good at playing the tough wife and mother, and I love it. 😀 I also love that she stood by Murphy, no matter what.

Jon Paul Ruttan (David Murphy) – He played Clara and Alex’s son. I feel so bad for this character. He ends up going through a lot over the course of this movie, and sees a lot of things he really shouldn’t have to.

Jackie Earl Haley (Rick Mattox) – He plays a backup villain role really, really well. I think what made him so intimidating to me was his prejudice against Murphy. Because Murphy was more machine than man, as far as his body went, Mattox treated him like he wasn’t human anymore. Like Murphy was a tool instead of a man. I may have almost been slightly more disgusted by Mattox than I was by Sellars. It was close, lol. I’m not as familiar with this actor either, but I’d love to see more of him. 🙂

Michael K. Williams (Jack Lewis) – He plays a smaller, but important role, as Alex Murphy’s partner. What happens to him fuels Murphy’s desire for justice.

Jay Baruchel (Tom Pope) – He plays a smaller role in this, as the head of OmniCorp marketing. I like this actor, and want to see more of him.

Jennifer Ehle (Liz Kline) – She also plays a smaller role, as the head of OmniCorp legal affairs.

Samuel L. Jackson (Patrick “Pat” Novak) – Lol, I love this actor and this character. Novak is opinionated, but generally manages to keep his cool. Right up until the end. Then he has an epic meltdown. XD If there are to be sequels, I really want this character back!

Review:

You know that sequels make me twitchy. I’m always worried they’re going to screw up a good thing.

Matrix 3 has become a cuss word in these parts.

I’m beginning to realize that reboots are starting to make me twitchy too. I want *SO BADLY* to love them – especially when I grew up watching the originals. But I’m becoming just as cynical about them as I am about sequels.

I admit, I did love this one. The story wasn’t bad. The characters were good. The CG and fight scenes were smoothly executed. And it had the appeal of nostalgia on its side.

It was an all-around solid, good movie.

BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN AMAZING.

There are two glaring problems I found with this reboot – and really, they build off each other to make one big problem even I couldn’t overlook aided with shiny mech and explosions.

Which is saying something.

This is just my opinion, but this movie feels really… unfinished?

The feeling I got from this movie was that it was just one big set up for more Robocop movies. That’s not a bad thing at all. I love Robocop. I would absolutely go see any sequels they come out with – regardless of how twitchy they make me.

But, it left this first installment (assuming – and hoping – they plan on doing more) feeling just a little like something was missing.

A big part of that was the main villain – Sellars.

Michael Keaton is amazing. I love him. This is not his fault. He could act out the daily life of a hamster and make it fascinating.

I’d probably buy it.

My problem is that I feel like his role, going with the general feel of the movie, was missing just a little something. He was intimidating, and his lust for power was disgusting enough to make me hate the character – especially in certain scenes concerning Murphy’s family – but he just needed… more… something.

I guess maybe he felt a little one-dimensional? Like he needed villain backup dancers or something?

Something bigger than this:

And, impressive though Mattox was as bad guy backup, Sellars still needed someone bigger than him too:

This villain needed a little of any of these:

These guys aren’t just evil for the sake of being evil because they woke up one morning and felt like adding the enslavement/mass murder all of humanity to the trusty old to-do list.

Sellars was only evil because he was such a power-hungry sleaze. I don’t know why, but I guess it felt too easy to me?

Again – not Michael Keaton’s fault. I would most likely buy his hamster movie, remember?

But I spent the entire movie – and I’m not over-exaggerating either – waiting for the main villain to show up. For you gamers out there, he was like the squishy, little mini-boss before the final battle.

It got to the last 20 minutes of the movie before it hit me that no one else was showing up.

I was worried that the invites were lost in the mail? Perhaps somebody didn’t get the memo? They forgot to make a reservation and all seats were taken?

But did I mention that I thought the CG and fight scenes were really cool? 😀

Murphy still has the occasional clunky moment – but it’s rare, and not really that noticeable unless you’re focusing on that and looking for it. I felt like his movements were much smoother, and more realistic when I think of how a high-tech machine like that would move (in my imagination, at least).

Another of this movie’s strong points is the relationship Murphy has with the people he cares about. His loyalty and desire for justice fuels everything he does, from start to finish. His moral compass is never out of order, and his family always comes first – which Sellars hates. It gets in the way of his bottom line, and so Sellars goes out of his way to try and crush that part of Murphy.

Going by Murphy’s general badassness alone – you can probably guess that this will not end well for Sellars. 🙂

Despite my complaints, I really did love this movie, and I also really hope they do more with this reboot in the future. This has a lot of potential to be a really good series of movies. Hopefully, amazing. 😀

My rating for Robocop: Cash-Worthy – This would have been Epic for me, no question, except that I feel like this was a very blatant “just the beginning” type of movie. It was like a taste of all the awesome to come. That’s not entirely a bad thing, except that it left me feeling like “That’s it? Where’s the rest?” I’m hoping they make another one – with a much more intimidating villain. This one has a place on my shelf, and I’m eagerly awaiting a sequel for once. 🙂 Definitely check this one out if you enjoy movies like I, Robot or Terminator, or like the old Robocop movies in general.

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My Rating System:

Epic: This movie is so mind-bogglingly awesome that I may go see it twice. This one will have a place of honor on my shelf.

Cash-Worthy: Good stuff. This will most likely find a place on my shelf.

Not Bad: I liked it. I’m glad I saw it, and it may or may not end up on my shelf at some point. I would say rent it first to be safe.

Meh: Rent it first. You may love it or hate it, but I’m indifferent probably because it’s not my type of movie. I’m glad I saw it, but it won’t end up on my shelf.

Emergency Cake: I have an emotional reaction to movies sometimes, especially to tragedies. If a movie makes me sad or angry, sometimes it will stick with me for a while. At these times, only chocolate cake can save me. Chocolate cake makes everything better. No shelf for you. Ever.

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Artwork Credits:

I found the artwork for my greeting on Nexus Wallpaper.

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