So I grew up in the 70s and 80s. By 1990s I was into my 20s. Before 1990 everything was black & white. We were the good guys. USSR the bad. In movies it was very clear who was good & evil. I was a Superman fan geek from day one. Because of this I resisted the quickly growing darker side of comics that focused on the grey areas...
Graffic Novels like THE WATCHMEN were way ahead of its time in the 1980s. I Suppose it makes sense Frank Miller was involved in later versions of ROBOCOP that have abviously influenced the most recent adaptation - even thought Mr Miller's name is found noweher on this movie officially.
This movie is great!!! Not just as a SciFi geek. The writing, direction and performance is perfect. If for nothing else to see Samuel L. Jackson basically play Glenn Beck. The obviously far right wing voal arm of NRA and Big Business (The Far Right Religeous aspect left out LOL)... And - SPOILER ALERT - break out of character at the end when the character gets mad and SLJ crys out his famous line from so many movies (MINUS SNAKES & PLANE) I was on the floor...
So when I first saw this preview, I thought, OH CRAP, here they go ruining another childhood fave... Mostly because ROBOCOP 1987 was not a great film. It was a good fun flick. Perfect for POPCORN. And the sequels were terrible attempts to make money on the name.
BUT THEN last week I saw a preview showing Joel Kinnaman. OK YOU GOT ME!!! On TV promos I did not recognize him at all. Have you seen THE KILLING on AMC? Joel Kinnaman costars with Mireille Enos. Or if you are like me you bulk watched on NETFLIX. Love this guy. Enos is the star but the edgy Kinnaman is as funny and hard core real as the drug addict cop. The perfect undercover guy.
Probably the funniest part of the movie is Samuel L Jackson. In my mind this was a hilarous parody on Glenn Beck. SLJ's character is clearly bought by big business and NRA type interests. He is the modern TV version of Beck or Limbaugh - Yell enough and enough ignorant folks will follow and listen. Sorry just got too political, but that is the point.
This movie is a modern Superhero Movie, where good & bad are not black & white - And I just don't mean SLJ impersonating Glenn Beck LOL. The bad guys are big business, but they truly have safety for all as a goal. While they may cut corners, they want to deliver for the money the rake in by the ocean full. Amerca has become the ulitmate police state with the rest of the world living in fear of robotic police. But the big argument, shown at the congressional level, why not use this as home?
So ROBOCOP is the way to get robots on US streets.
Every character, no matter how noble or innocent, has a selfishly motivated moment. Even when ROBOCOP goes after his own killers, there is more personal revenge plot driving the machine and less noble justice goals.
ROBOCOPS failures in many ways happen because the "GOOD" doctor from OCP - played by Gary Oldman - makes descisions to save his and OCP ass to make ROBOCOP seem perfect for a short time - which leads to bad results.
At the end of this story, however, the old school BLACK AND WHITE ending redeems those that rose above and chose to be GOOD to redeem their failures.
As always I love Michael Keaton as the bad guy. I met MK as a romantic comedy goof ball type. But he was great as the sadistic neighbor in Pacific Heights. This character is a likeable exec. More of a Bill Gates than a Lex Luthor. Really not until the end do you see this guy will cross the line for selfish gain. The rest of the movie you can identify with his descisions as long as you are not OWS type...
BUT My favorite part of the movie? Jackie Earle Haley!!!
What is it about this guy? Again this guy was the brooding hitter form 1970's Bad News Bears. But now everytime he shows up he is the biggest smallest bad ass of all time... He cracks me up. .And the more straight he plays the tough guy the funnier it is. And to his credit, not trying to make fun of the guy. I really wish HUMAN TARGET on FOX was better because JEH rocked. (The show sucked)
GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!
EXTRA LARGE POPCORN
WATCH ORIGINAL MOVIE with Peter Weller
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