Ok, just saw Robocop 2014 (Rebootcop) and will throw in my thoughts:
- Comparisons to the original are inevitable with such an iconic character, and I couldn't help but compare right after walking out the theater. This new Robocop is missing that WOW factor from the original, but it's not a bad film, not by a long shot.
- Overall, it's a solid, well-made film, I just wish it went an extra mile in terms of the action and some of the narrative. The overall action is good, but is missing that BANG. And some of the themes never seem to come to fruition.
- However, I do feel the director and writers were very ambitious, they threw in a lot of social criticism, political messages, and relevancy into the mix...more so than expected in these type of genre films. But then I feel they were limited by budget and dictates from the studio. For example,[blackout] the scene where Robocop attacks Vallon's gang in the dark seems like they ran out of time and budget to choreograph a proper shoot-out. It feels like a re-tread of the original's drug factory shoot-out, but in the dark this time. [/blackout]
- I felt all the actors really brought their A-game to the material. Joel Kinnaman was very good and is a worthy successor to Peter Weller, imo. And Gary Oldman was probably my favorite actor in this, possibly with the best character arc out of the whole movie. The acting and character moments are really the best part of this movie.
- The bike and any scenes involving it were really bad-ass. I do really hope [blackout] the bike and a variation of the black suit returns if they make a sequel.[/blackout] The black suit looks cool in action.
- If you want to be optimisitic, one of the best things about this film is it leaves you wanting to see a sequel, as there's a lot of potential in the material for it, [blackout] especially after Murphy gets back his silver robosuit and it is revealed OCP is the parent company of Omnicorp [/blackout]. I liked that story-wise it is was not a re-tread of the original and they took the concept into an interesting and more relevant direction, it's just not the home-run that I was hoping for. That said, I'd love to see the cast return if a sequel is possible.
- This is at least worthy a rental when it comes out on home video. When this comes out on Blu-ray, I may get it if I find a good (cheap) deal for it.
- I would give this a score 7 out of 10. But I also feel it might be one of those movies where I might score it higher after I've re-watched it again.
As a remake of a classic, you want it to be a "fantastic" movie, and maybe that's too high of an expectation, but it feels a little bit of a missed opportunity. And it does feel like this was made to be the "part 1" of a franchise. I would compare to all those Marvel studio movies made prior to The Avengers. Like those films, this Robocop is a good start, it's just not a great one.