Amazon.com: When it arrived on the big screen in 1987, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop was like a high-voltage jolt of electricity, blending satire, thrills, and abundant violence with such energized gusto that audiences couldn't help feeling stunned and amazed. The movie was a huge hit, and has since earned enduring cult status as one of the seminal science fiction films of the 1980s. Followed by two sequels, a TV series, and countless novels and comic books, this original RoboCop is still the best by far, largely due to the audacity and unbridled bloodlust of director Verhoeven. However, the reasons many enjoyed the film are also the reasons some will surely wish to avoid it. Critic Pauline Kael called the movie a dubious example of "gallows pulp," and there's no denying that its view of mankind is bleak, depraved, and graphically violent. In the Detroit of the near future, a policeman (Peter Weller) is brutally gunned down by drug-dealing thugs and left for dead, but he survives (half of him, at least) and is integrated with state-of-the-art technology to become a half-robotic cop of the future, designed to revolutionize law enforcement. As RoboCop holds tight to his last remaining shred of humanity, he relentlessly pursues the criminals who "killed" him. All the while, Verhoeven (from a script by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner) injects this high-intensity tale with wickedly pointed humor and satire aimed at the men and media who cover a city out of control. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com: When it arrived on the big screen in 1987, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop was like a high-voltage jolt of electricity, blending satire, thrills, and abundant violence with such energized gusto that audiences couldn't help feeling stunned and amazed. The movie was a huge hit, and has since earned enduring cult status as one of the seminal science fiction films of the 1980s. Followed by two sequels, a TV series, and countless novels and comic books, this original RoboCop is still the best by far, largely due to the audacity and unbridled bloodlust of director Verhoeven. However, the reasons many enjoyed the film are also the reasons some will surely wish to avoid it. Critic Pauline Kael called the movie a dubious example of "gallows pulp," and there's no denying that its view of mankind is bleak, depraved, and graphically violent. In the Detroit of the near future, a policeman (Peter Weller) is brutally gunned down by drug-dealing thugs and left for dead, but he survives (half of him, at least) and is integrated with state-of-the-art technology to become a half-robotic cop of the future, designed to revolutionize law enforcement. As RoboCop holds tight to his last remaining shred of humanity, he relentlessly pursues the criminals who "killed" him. All the while, Verhoeven (from a script by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner) injects this high-intensity tale with wickedly pointed humor and satire aimed at the men and media who cover a city out of control. --Jeff Shannon
Full of Extras! I've been a fan of this film since I first saw it at a small downtown theater in South Dakota. I'm not a fan of gory or ultra violent films; but this picture, along with its tongue and cheek humor, was like watching a live action adult comic book. With this two disc, 20th Anniversary edition, you not only get a choice to watch the Theater or the Extended Cut of the film, you get plenty of what I always look for when I purchase a DVD; EXTRAS, FEATURETTES & COMENTARY. My favorite was the documentary- "Flesh and Steel": The Making Of Robo Cop. Finally, I like the packaging with its metal box. One thing I didn't much care for was the difficulty of getting the individual discs out of its casing. Plus, they are stacked so you have to take one disc out to get to the other disc. With the hard to release casing; get ready for a project!
The long arm of the law just got a whole lot longer You don't really hear a lot about Robocop anymore, but this really was one of the biggest films of the 1980s. For a teenager like me, Robocop was the baddest dude in town back in 1987 - and now, twenty plus years later, he's still pretty much the baddest dude in town. The film really hasn't aged much at all, which came as a pleasant surprise to me. Some of the special effects involving the giant Enforcement Droid (ED-209) aren't impressive as they used to be, and that one shot looking down at someone falling to his death looks absolutely awful, but everything else, especially Robocop himself, works like gangbusters. It's still quite a gritty film, with loads of realistic violence (vintage Paul Verhoeven, in other words). In fact, Verhoeven had to edit out some of the film's over-the-top comic violence just to secure an R rating. Even the political satire and emasculation of an overly exploitative mass media still ring quite true, as we intermittently watch a couple of newscasters smile and laugh their way through one tragic news story after another. And those commercials! The brand new 6000 SUX that gets an impressive 8.2 miles per gallon, all of the stupid "I'd buy that for a dollar!" ads, etc.
In this film's near-future setting, almost everything has been privatized, including hospitals and the entire police department of Detroit (now owned and run by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products). The Old Man (Dan O'Herlihy) has long dreamed of replacing Old Detroit altogether with his own marketed utopia, but he needs to get crime under control before he can make Delta City a reality. Senior President Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) claims to have the answer - a gigantic, fully automated, heavily-armed Enforcement Droid known as ED-209. Unfortunately, ED's debut presentation runs into a pretty bloody "glitch." In steps Bob "It's All About Me" Morton (Miguel Ferrer) with his own idea of a part-human, part-cyborg super-cop. When newly-transferred Detroit police officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) gets brutally gunned down by the local crime boss and his henchmen, Robocop is born. He's a darn good cop, as many a criminal lowlife in town soon learns, but there's just one problem - he begins to remember his human past, especially his death at the hands of Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his gang. Whether or not what is left of Murphy ever recovers a measure of his humanity, though, one thing is certain - the bad guys are going to go down and go down hard.
You'll find a few of the most memorable scenes of the 1980s in this film - the unveiling of ED-209, Robocop's highly skilled shooting of a purse-snatcher using his victim as cover, and the big throw down between Robocop and ED-209. It's a great story with a great script, one that combines humor alongside lots of impressive violence and deep human themes (revenge, humanity, etc.). The acting is also quite good up and down the line, with Kurtwood Smith (best known today as the dad on That 70's Show) turning in a particularly strong performance as a bad guy's bad guy. This could have been nothing more than a high-tech shoot-em-up, and that alone would have made it a big summer box office hit, but Robocop is a much more complex film than you would normally expect, and that is why it continues to stand the test of time very well. This is just a darn good movie any way you look at it.
Excellent Action Film, But A Nintendo Game For An R-Rated Film? A hit film from the director of later box-office hit "Basic Instinct," the action movie "Robocop" is a classic. While I enjoyed the movie, I've gotta say that I've a small grievance. I played the Nintendo Game based on the film when I was a kid (and the music from the game sounded a bit like the main theme from the movie; I saw the film for the first time ever yeterday). Was a video game really neccessary to market this violent movie to kids? Could've been a Disney movie without all the graphic violence and strong language (hence the reason for my giving it 4 stars instead of 5).
If a remake is neccessary, PLEASE MAKE IT A CHILDREN'S MOVIE, REMOVING THE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND STRONG LANGUAGE. Then, action figures & video games would be acceptable to market this movie to children.
Rated R for graphic violence and strong language.
Yeah, it's a ridiculous idea, but that's the whole point In the near-future Detroit becomes so plagued by crime that the police resort to Robocop (Peter Weller), a cyborg police officer, in order to clean up the streets. However, Robocop, who has the mind of a human police officer who was killed in the line of duty, is plagued by nightmares of his death and is compelled to seek out the men who "killed" him and avenge his own death.
After watching "Robocop", I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who told me that he had never really wanted to see this film because he always thought it looked kind of ridiculous. To be honest, up until a week ago, that's exactly how I felt about it too. However, after recently watching "Starship Troopers" and falling madly in love with it, I found myself seeking out other films directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Ed Neumeier, no matter how bad they might seem, which inevitably led me to their earlier collaboration "Robocop".
Yes, "Robocop" is a ridiculous film, but that's the whole point of it. "Robocop" is a far-fetched and ultra-violent satire of law-enforcement and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Between "Robocop" and "Starship Troopers", Paul Verhoeven is rapidly ascending the list of my favourite directors. He is an A-list director who takes B-grade material and turns it into grade-A final product. What is not to admire about this man? (OK, I have haven't seen "Showgirls", but I suspect that would answer my question).
"Robocop" is an incredibly violent film (even more so if you watch the director's cut), which may upset some viewers, but to me the violence just added to the fun. It's not disturbing or disgusting, it's just over-the-top and adds to the satire. If you're the sort of person who considers over-the-top violence to be an acceptable form of entertainment, then you'll love "Robocop".
Definitely Worth It Re-experience a classic with a bevy of special features before the Aranofsky remake shifts into high gear.
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