RoboCop
Jose Padilha
The story: Detroit cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is badly injured in a car-bomb blast when he gets on the trail of big-time criminal Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow). OmniCorp scientist Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) saves his life by encasing him within a robot. The company’s head honcho Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) hopes that RoboCop will be a hit with the public so that he can finally put his machines to work on American soil and make a killing in profits.

The original RoboCop (1987), directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Peter Weller, was both a critical and commercial hit, and spawned two sequels and spin-offs in television, video games and comic books.
This fourth instalment serves as a reboot of the lucrative franchise. It takes some of the themes tackled in the original movie, such as human nature, capitalism and the media, and pushes them further.
Interestingly, this RoboCop plays like a political thriller with sci-fi action thrown in.
The stakes are enormous for OmniCorp, a multinational conglomerate producing robots. Its drones are used to patrol volatile territories in Teheran and their use smacks of American imperialism at its worst as civil liberties are wantonly trampled upon.
But there is resistance to using robots on American soil and that is cutting into OmniCorp’s profits. And so the villainous Raymond Sellars makes use of the media with fanatical zealot and TV personality Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson in fiery mode) to argue the case for OmniCorp.
The other, critical, part of his plan is RoboCop.
Thus far, Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman is probably best known for playing a detective from 2011 to last year in the crime television series The Killing. He could well break out after his turn here.
There is a haunting scene here in which Alex faces the reality of being turned into a cyborg. All you see is his head, his lungs pumping away in a transparent case and a single disembodied hand. Kinnaman makes you feel his anguish when he says that he never wants to see himself that way again.
Because his humanity comes through so keenly, his transformation, no thanks to Dr Norton, into an emotionless and efficient machine is all the more affecting.
Brazilian director Jose Padilha (Elite Squad, 2007) makes his English-language debut here and does a credible job balancing the shoot-’em-up action scenes with Alex’s journey as well as the bigger picture in play.
But for those hoping to relive the past and the catchphrase, “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me”, this RoboCop might not hit the spot for you.
(ST)