RoboCop (2014)

Too many mediocre remakes have come and gone, their disappointing results not just being a big letdown, but in some instances making me resent the original movie. This always makes me when I approach a remake, especially when its source material is a movie I hold dear.

Such was the case with the new version of RoboCop, which I'd been dreading since it was first announced in 2005. The remake languished in developmental hell for years due to a combination of creative differences and MGM's financial difficulties, at one point even having (and losing) a commitment from Darren Aronofsky to direct. But after finally getting their ducks in a row, the remake of RoboCop was released last week, and I just had to see it. And while it doesn't come anywhere close to matching the original, the 2014 version isn't that bad either.

By the year 2028, the United States military will be policing war zones with mechanical soldiers manufactured by the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp. These drones have been nothing but successful, but OmniCorp finds itself legally prohibited from putting them to use in America. Seeing that potential revenue stream going right out the window, OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) tasks his marketing team with devising something America could get behind. To accomplish this, they enlist Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), a scientist renowned for his work with crafting robotic artificial limbs for amputees, to assist in grafting cybernetic enhancements onto disabled and handicapped soldiers and police offers to create a hybrid of man and machine. All they need is the right test subject.

One soon presents himself in the form of Detroit police officer Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman). Murphy and his partner Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams) have spent months undercover trying to get to the bottom of an illegal gunrunning operation operated by notorious crime boss Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow), but a tip-off from some dirty cops on Vallon's payroll cause Murphy and Lewis's bust to turn sour. Lewis ends up in the hospital after a shootout, while Murphy is critically injured by a car bomb. With the consent of his wife Clara (Abby Cornish), a crippled Murphy is enrolled in OmniCorp's new program in a last-ditch effort to save his life.

He awakens months later, the few undamaged parts of his body having been implanted into a robotic body. Murphy is initially horrified and rejects this new body, preferring to die rather than live as a cyborg, but eventually grows to accept it if it means he can see his family again. He's put through what he believes is a rigorous training regimen to get used to his new body, but unbeknownst to him, Dr. Norton has been forced by his superiors to program Murphy's brain into behaving like a typical OmniCorp military droid during combat situations while still giving him the perception of free will.

Upon his return to Detroit, Murphy is uploaded with the entire police database and linked into every surveillance camera in the city. The influx of new information overwhelms him, with the security camera footage of his own attempted murder in particular affecting so badly that he has a seizure. The only way Dr. Norton is able to circumvent this is to completely suppress all of Murphy's emotions despite it overstepping his own ethical boundaries. He's soon introduced to the public and without emotions slowing down his reaction time, Murphy ― nicknamed "RoboCop" by the media ― is able to become a one-man police department and causes a significant drop in Detroit's crime rate.

But despite OmniCorp's best efforts to keep them separated, Clara's attempts to see her husband trigger his emotions to override his programming. Murphy starts investigating the attack that nearly killed him, and as he pursues Vallon's gang, he also draws the ire of Sellars and OmniCorp, who begin to view Murphy's growing unpredictability as a potential public relations disaster.

I was admittedly very nervous when I entered the theater to see this movie. While I wasn't opposed to the idea of Hollywood remaking RoboCop and giving the franchise a clean slate after two lousy sequels and twenty years of dormancy, the fact that a classic movie that I've held dear since adolescence was being redone made me apprehensive. Would it do the original justice? Would it stay true to what made people love RoboCop to begin with? Would it at least be a good movie? The truth is that while the new version of RoboCop isn't particularly great, it's certainly a watchable effort that, at its very least is still a lot better than either of the sequels.

Taking the reins is José Padilha, making his first American film after previously finding success in his native Brazil with his acclaimed crime drama Elite Squad. Having never seen Elite Squad (nor having even heard of it until RoboCop came out), I didn't really know what kind of expectations to have in regards to his style of filmmaking. But judging by RoboCop alone, I'd call Padilha a solid director. The movie never grows dull, with Padilha doing something to keep we the audience invested at all times. The action scenes are exciting and well done for the most part, even if the heavy use of CGI is a little distracting at times, and Padilha never loses focus on the story he wants to tell.

The only problem I had is that the movie was rated PG-13, and thus doesn't have quite the same impact as it could have had otherwise. Part of what made the 1987 movie so great is the combination of excessive violence and sardonic humor that Paul Verhoeven brought to it. While some of Verhoeven's sensibilities remain (I'll get to that later), the movie feels like it's had some "oomph" removed in order to allow teenagers into the theaters. It's not as bad as RoboCop 3, which was completely dumbed down across the board, but I feel like the movie could have pushed its boundaries a bit more. The movie comes close to replicating the horror behind Alex Murphy's initial transformation into RoboCop, replacing with the sheer brutality of Murphy's murder at the hand of Clarence Boddicker in the original movie with a discomforting sequence where we're shown just what's left of Murphy when the RoboCop armor is removed. I thought this scene was one of the most effective moments of the entire movie, a fantastic addition to the core concept of pitting Murphy's humanity against the machinery he's been thrust into.

I was also intrigued by what writer Joshua Zetumer chose to approach the material. I noted in my review of the original RoboCop that I would have enjoyed spending more time getting to know Alex Murphy before his transformation into RoboCop, going deeper into how this transition had an effect on his humanity and vice versa. Zetumer actually uses this as the basis for his story, so the movie never really feels like it's retreading or copying the original, but taking the concept and going his own way. It allows we the audience to really connect with Murphy before the tragedy that changes him, to know just what becoming RoboCop is taking away from him. While the movie does lack some of the acerbic spark found in Verhoeven's original, Zetumer's script does make up for it by giving the movie a little more heart.

And while Zetumer doesn't approach the franchise's satirical element the same way Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner did in 1987, he still has his own unique spin on the idea. Rather than go after Reaganomics and '80s-era big business, Zetumer instead aims for a number of targets. There's references to America's current military policies, particularly its usage of drowns in overseas battlefields, and a subtle jab at companies ruining perfectly good products thanks to an over-reliance on focus groups. His biggest target, though, is right-wing politics, going after them replacing the original's recurring "Media Break" segments with Pat Novak, a political pundit in the vein of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Much like these pundits, the Novak character is condescending, rude, frequently interrupts and shoos away anyone who disagrees with his particular agendas or has an opposing viewpoint on anything. He's much more of a prick than the "Media Break" anchors, and far more interesting and entertaining to watch. And I'll admit that the satirical elements aren't always as biting as they could have been, Zetumer still does a decent enough job handling it.

The acting, however, is inconsistent. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes it isn't. Among the good is Gary Oldman, who plays his character with the perfect amount of pathos. Dr. Norton's internal conflict pitting his moral convictions against his loyalty to his employers is made believable by Oldman's performance, once again proving that Oldman can always be counted on to be awesome no matter how bad or good the movie is.

To tell you the truth, that can be said for much of the cast. Samuel L. Jackson is a lot of fun as the aforementioned pundit Pat Novak, who brings a holier-than-thou smugness to the role. I also really enjoyed Jackie Earle Haley, who plays the coordinator of OmniCorp's military drones and RoboCop's "trainer." Haley is great even in terrible movies, and though his character isn't much, he still manages to make a strong contribution.

Not all of the acting is great, though. For all the praise I gave the script, Zetumer didn't give us any worthwhile villains. Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones were fantastic, charismatic bad guys, but this remake doesn't even come close. Vallon is such a non-factor and has such little screen time that he's barely worth mentioning at all, while Michael Keaton is done no favors either. I like Keaton a lot and often enjoy his work, but he doesn't really feel like the right actor for the part. He puts forth his best effort, I'll give him that, but the mediocre material holds him back.

But then there's Joel Kinnaman as our titular cyborg hero. He's given a bit more to do than the actors who've played RoboCop in the past, and has the benefit of what appears to be a more comfortable, less restrictive costume than the ones his predecessors wore. He also doesn't make the same kind of impression that Peter Weller or even Robert John Burke did with the role. Kinnaman is stiff for a lot of the movie, only really shining in a few moments. He finally loosens up and starts to really own the character during its second half. But there's an inconsistency there that doesn't help him. Kinnaman doesn't quite knock it out of the park like I'd hoped he would, instead taking some swings that never really find their mark.

That can actually sum up this whole movie. It gets awfully close to greatness, but a few things keep it from getting there. I saw a review that compared the remake of RoboCop to the Total Recall remake. Both are do-overs of classic Paul Verhoeven sci-fi/action movies, and while both remakes have their own redeeming qualities, they're ultimately inferior new takes on old gems. To its credit, though, I fully expected to hate this new RoboCop, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still a solid effort despite its flaws. And that's alright by me.

Final Rating: ***