RoboCop (2014)

I have only seen the original Robocop twice, maybe three times, with that said I was never a huge fan and never saw the sequels. I enjoyed the original for what it was but never thought it elevated past another good action movie. The new remake is more of a reboot than anything. At heart it is paying homage to the original, and does not shy away from certain aspects of the original, but at the end of the day it is making a different statement. It is not trying to imitate or do a shot for shot remake, and for me this works to make one solid and fun movie.

The acting in this movie is one of the highlights. There are no Oscar winning performances, but in no way is that a criticism. This is not a movie made for the Oscars. The key and best performance is by, you guessed it, Gary Oldman. He has a great character here that changes and is dynamic throughout the movie, and feels as if he grows with Alex. He fires up when it is appropriate and has small nuance when called for, just Oldman being great at his craft. Michael Keaton here plays the capitalistic and, "will do anything to make all the money" type president of OmniCorp. He does great in this role. I loved watching him on screen and he carries himself very well. The main thing I liked is that he is the "villain" of the film but never felt like a campy or out of place evil villain. Joel Kinnaman nails it as Alex Murphy/Robocop. He has the voice, look, and presence down to a science. He gets extra points for being able to handle the direction the movie chooses to take his character. He also has the benefit of Abbie Cornish as his wife, who was good, but I wanted to see more interaction between her and her husband given the tone of the film. I only wish I had been able to see just a little more of her.

The whole direction and tone of the movie is a bit different than the original. There is a large focus on the mental and emotional toil of a man's soul and consciousness being joined into a machine. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring this part of the world. Alex is tortured fighting to maintain his humanity and the robotics are exactly that. I will stop there because this is some of the best stuff in the movie and where it shines bright as being its own entity. The last thing is the violence. The original had the reputation of being needlessly violent. I won't go so far as to say that, but I will say certain scenes seemed over the top. Here the violence exists, but due to the world that is established in the movie the main brawls are between Robocop and machines, and his encounters with humans are justifiably one sided. With modern special effects Robocop is more super human than ever so humans are not much of a challenge; hence the battle being between other robots and the robot part of himself. So it is less a violent action movie and more a political drama of sorts with lots of action.

All in all I enjoyed the hell out of Robocop and much more than the original. The only thing that I was not 100% on board with was the politics of the movie. The political aspects of the movie fit and work well in the world established and Samuel L Jackson is in his element as a political talk show host; however a part of me could not help but feel this was all a bit secondary. I could have done entirely without his character and had a greater focus on Alex and Clara. I will definitely see this movie again and recommend it to others, however if you are a hardcore fan of the original this may not be what you were hoping for. Go to see a side of Robocop you have never seen before, some amazing performances, and one specific astounding fight scene. This is a new, sharper, and more personal Robocop and, "I'd buy that for a dollar!"

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