Take a particular idea, say, Robot Cops in Detroit. Extrapolate. This is the reality you get. Verhoeven knocks it out of the park with this one, between the gritty reality, the politics, and the dark cybernetic future we have waiting for us if our humanity is forsaken. Some heavy shit here, all wrapped up in a fleshy kevlar package. Hand-clapping corporate sycophants. Naked greed. Global conflicts. Ruthless criminals. Anger in the streets. Questionable board games for the family. It’s all here.
Alex Murphy isn’t a rookie cop, just from the, let’s say, ‘softer’ side of town. And thrown into the Shit taking place in downtown Detroit in a not-too-distant future. There is strife. There is mayhem. There is even, perhaps, political and corporate chicanery going on. One man’s corpse is another man’s business model, next thing you know? Muthahfuckin’ ROBOCOP!
It’s a bit of an anomalie that the prick who actually started the Robocop project actually ended up with a good cop to be his subject. Against typecast, Ronny “Dick” Cox plays the corporate part spectacularly. Clarence “Red” Boddicker is not your typical villiany type looks-wise, but damn he does evil good. And Weller does a fantastic job emoting through physical means since his face is covered the majority of the time, good credit to the crew that helped pull all of this off. Pacing is brisk, highly recommended to all who have not seen the original; the remake is a joke, most context is lost from what I remember but hey, I’m fuckin drunk. Yet despite all the bad shit that goes down, love the last shot. It ends on a smile.
