RoboCop

Let´s be honest. The 80´s had some really great action movies. Die Hard, Predator, Commando, The Terminator, and the list goes on. One of the reason why action movies in the 80´s became classics is because they mixed overtop action with political satire, in a combination that turned out to be a great combination. Even if the first Die Hard movie is one of the best action movies of all time, there is still one movie that belong on the top 10 list.

RoboCop

This 1987 movie was way ahead of it´s time. A story of police officer Alex Murphy ( Peter Weller ) who gets killed, but resurrect inside a robot, who is designed to be the perfect crime fighter. Director Paul Veerhoven managed to do a completely different approach on the action genre, with a new character that became an icon for many generations ahead. Veerhoven also managed to find a great balance on political subjects among crime statistics. RoboCop pleased both the audience and movie critics, and for a good reason. Director Paul Veerhoven should have won an Award at the time for best director, because he did something very unique and dared to try a different approach than previous cop motion pictures. Still, the legacy goes on. There were 2 sequels, the second one was at least ok, the third one was.......Twilight Alert. Yes it was so bad i prefer to forget about it. And here we are, a reboot of RoboCop with swedish actor Joel Kinnaman taking over the character Alex Murphy. And this time with director José Padilha on board ( director of brazilian action movie Elite Squad ), for a brand new adaption of RoboCop. Is this reboot a worthy restart of this classic action character, or is this another adaption that should have stayed locked up.

In the year of 2028, multinational conglomerate OmniCorp have developed robot soldiers, that help military overseas to solve dangerous operations and help innocent people. The CEO of OmniCorp, Raymond Sellars ( Michael Keaton ) have an idea. What if you put an injured man, inside a robot, and let him help victims on the streets ? Scientist Dr. Dennett Norton ( Gary Oldman ) think this might be a bad idea, but follow orders. Police officer Alex Murphy ( Joel Kinnaman ) is found badly burned from a car explosion, planned by crime boss Antoine Vallon ( Patrick Garrow ). Alex survive, but is so badly injured he may not make it, so OCP let his wife Clara Murphy ( Abbie Cornish ), decide if he should be plugged out, or survive as a robot. Alex wakes up, learning he is no longer human. He tries to escape the compound, but is shut down. He realise he now belongs to OCP, and must follow orders. Police force is not sure what to think of this new cop, as he begin to cruise the streets. As Dr.Dennett is told to adjust Alex memories, something seems to be wrong. Alex still remember when a car bomb killed him, and he remember Antoine, so he is set out to get his revenge. But OCP have other plans for Alex, and are ready to do whatever it takes to get him to adjust.

You might wonder if i am going to compare this reboot to the original motion picture. There is no need too. Because i think most of us already knew they could never make it better than the 1987 version. But hold on for a moment, i will be honest and say this is better than i expected.Joel Kinnaman does a great performance as RoboCop, and i feel proud since he is also from Sweden. He manage to find a great balance to show human emotions and act like a robot, as OCP tell him what to do. Michael Keaton is here, and i am so happy to see him act this good again. He used to do many great motion pictures, but ended up doing small low budget movies with nothing to offer. Here he gets a chance to shine again. Gary Oldman proves once again why he is one of the biggest actors of all time, absolutely splendid. The story around RoboCop is basically the same story, but director José Padilha try and update the story and also tell more about how Alex Murphy deal with the situation, of being a robot. And this makes this reboot more interesting, where we see another side behind Alex Murphy that we did not see in the original motion picture. The action sequences look great and we get plenty of guns served. I would have wanted a more powerful villain in this adaption than Patrick Garrow. He tries to be mean and a bad ass, but don´t get much screen time. Apart from this, RoboCop sets out what it is supposed to do. Deliver solid action and a human perspective story. I suggest you go buy a ticket, because who does not love RoboCop ? Come on, i know you do.

Rating: DDD