“RoboCop” is a story about an officer facing life-threatening injuries who is turned into a cyborg policeman by mechanics company OmniCorp. The company performs the experiment to see if it can keep officer Alex Murphy, portrayed by Joel Kinnaman, alive while simultaneously weaponizing him to perform as a machine.
The film explores the human soul verses technology concept. Human morality and strength are thematic undertones to the storyline.
The new 2014 “RoboCop” made reference to many details from the 1987 film. The premise of a cop, harmed in the line of duty, who has been used in an experiment to become a robotic police officer, is consistent in the new release. The main characters and corporations hold the same names and titles. The fact that the robotic officer has a wife and young boy is the same. Some memorable dialogue and the mechanics of RoboCop’s suit are virtually the same. These similarities will be pleasing to lovers of the 1987 film starring Peter Weller.
What “RoboCop” fans might be turned away by are the smaller details that have been changed. The way that Murphy, or RoboCop, is almost killed has changed. Some bodily aspects and his memory loss process are different in the new movie, as well. Murphy is left with a little more of himself in the new film than in the original.
If this film is a viewer’s first exposure to the RoboCop story line, the experience will be very different.
With no preconceptions of how plot and characters have been it is much easier to enjoy this picture as its own artistic portrayal of mechanics meets man.
The visual effects throughout the film are aesthetically pleasing. Murphy’s robotic suit moves and functions in an idealized way that is interesting to see.
The film shows what Murphy looks like without his mechanical attachments on. For the squeamish this may be a disturbing scene to view but for those intrigued by biological structure it is fascinating.
Joel Kinnaman, who plays RoboCop in the new film, fits the role well. He has a similar calmness to Weller. Kinnaman’s stardom is not large enough to distract viewers by fame. He has only a few popular roles in other films just as Weller had at the time of the 1987 release.
As opposed to the original “RoboCop,” the recent film is rated PG-13 instead of R. The picture still contains a lot of action and gun violence and brief strong language as well as drug material. The 2014 version is directed by José Padiha and stars other actors such as Michael Keaton as the president of OmniCorp, Abbie Cornish as Murphy’s wife and Samuel L. Jackson as television host Pat Novak.
The 108-minute film was released on Feb. 12 and is playing at the Cinemark Towne Centre in Conway.
