The premise here is that America is robo-phobic, and the public don't want to deploy the robo-police they export to the rest of the world. To get round this Omnicorp put a blown-up (exploded) cop inside a machine. They're a bit naughty though, and when the man-machine hybrid is reacting too slow they develop a combat-mode mode where the computers takes over and bypass his slow human decision making. Then when he gets a bit unstable, and misses his family, they pump him full of dopamine to keep him on message. Don't worry though, the human spirit is irrepressible and he soon overrides his programming and solves his own murder and takes on his creators.
The original Robocop was sleazy and violent, had the distinctive style of Paul Verhoeven, and was well worth an 18 Certificate. This 2014 remake is a 12 Certificate, and has been made to appeal to a much wider audience. It's very much a studio picture, and you can almost feel the scenes which have been altered or added to make it easier to understand. The low point is when Murphy's wife and daughter are waiting for his home-coming. It's been thoroughly explained what's going on, but just to make sure you're keeping up there's an absolutely enormous "Welcome Home" sign, Then, unbelievably, the wife turns to her son and unnecessarily says "That's a nice sign you've made". That's their whole conversation! It's a really poor bit of dialogue.
The ending also smacks of studio tinkering. They want Murphy to get his revenge, sacrifice himself, and also stay alive in case they want a sequel. He goes on the rampage against his creators and shoots the Omnicorp chief executive, and the Doctor who's been working on him also turns whistle-blower against the company. This ought to be the end for Murphy, how and why would Omnicorp keep repairing him now? But, sadly and predictably, you see him recovering again at the end.
It plays out a lot like a super-hero film, though his powers are very limited, and consist mostly of watching lots of CCTV feeds at the same time. He's a less fun Iron Man in grey and black instead of red. The one amazing scene is when Murphy sees just the real bits of himself, and doesn't like it. There's quite a bit of philosophising in the film about who's really in control, man or machine, and it really hits home when you're looking at what's left of Murphy - just his brain, one arm, and lungs pulsing unpleasantly.
Gary Oldman is good as the Doctor. He starts off ethically using technology for medicine, but gradually gets talked round to building a Robocop. I also enjoyed Michael Keaton as a very laid back and scarcely believable Chief Executive. Having played Batman twice himself, he knows what it's like to be known only by the shape of your chin. He's fun to watch, much more so than the hectoring Samuel L Jackson. His role as a newscaster is to tell bits of the story (often bits we already know), in a way which is supposed to be dazzling as it's got holograms in, and of course SLJ himself. I was unimpressed.
In summary, on the plus side this is a slick production with some interesting ideas about the future of robotics. But on the minus sign it's made for kids.
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