RoboCop Reboot - Part 6

[KenK]

Friday was also Valentine's Day and a movie like Robocop isn't what most people consider romantic.

Especially with About Last Night, and Kevin Hart riding high off of the surprise success of Ride Along from last month.

 

[KenK]

Saturday and Sunday estimates: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=robocop2013.htm

Sat: $8,400,000

Sun: $6,150,000

Foreign: $69,900,000

That's a pretty damn good number for the foreign box office. Audiences probably ate this up in Asia.

 

[BETArayBill]

Just got back from seeing it and I must say it was better then I was excepting I was pleasantly surprised by the film. Solid 7 out of 10

 

[gohei_]

Just got back from seeing it and I must say it was better then I was excepting I was pleasantly surprised by the film. Solid 7 out of 10

I agree. I thought this was just gonna be some brainless hollywood action flick but it had a lot more character to it than I expected.

 

[jacobed]

Also not too many action scenes. It was a movie that was definitely more about character. My only complaints about the movie was it ended with Novak instead of Robocop and I thought Cornish was dreadful. They gave her good material and she was awful

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Especially with About Last Night, and Kevin Hart riding high off of the surprise success of Ride Along from last month.

Nothing surprising about Kevin Hart's success. He already proved his box office worth.

 

[Octoberist]

Seriously, he is the king of Hollywood now. Good for him.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Bandai figures from Toy Fair today:

 

[Supernova]

Seriously, he is the king of Hollywood now. Good for him.

I just don't get it honestly. He will be irrelevant in 2 years you watch.

 

[Octoberist]

Oh jeez, let him enjoy his moment in the spotlight.

I think comedic actors get the most critics online due to their 'overexposure'.

I get more mad when they don't go for the quality stuff, like Bill Murray. He's had some duds, but he's been fairly consistent throughout his career.

 

[jacobed]

Agreed.

 

[SuperJediHero]

Imax?

 

[SuperJediHero]

Kevin Hart is NOT funny, sorry. He is annoying (Eddie Murphy wannabe).

 

[Poni_Boy]

Apparently some people think he is. So let the guy have his 15 minutes without dragging him through the mud

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I like Kevin Hart. He is not the best, but I can enjoy him even in blah films.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

That's a pretty damn good number for the foreign box office. Audiences probably ate this up in Asia.

By what standards are those numbers strong? They are ok, but they aren't saving anything if they don't hold for a bit.

 

[webhead731]

Bandai figures from Toy Fair today:

 

[terry78]

I just don't get it honestly. He will be irrelevant in 2 years you watch.

They were saying that two years ago.



On the movie, I dug it. The satire was a little more subtle than the original's, but I got what they were trying to say. There were way too many little kids at the showing I went to, that damn PG-13 can sometimes be a bane, but they liked Robo.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

I can't wait to have that silver suit figure on my mantle, such beauty.

 

[Iron_Stark]

8/10 for me it was better than I thought. Two things that have been bugging me

Spoiler

1. In the last shootout when Jackie Earl Haley's character was about to shoot Robocop and Lewis shoots him in the back, the scene cuts away then back and we see that Lewis was on the floor shot. Who and when did he get shot?
2. Was Robocop going to arrest/kill Micheal Keaton because he was trying to kill Robo at the end in the lab or because he was behind the original attack on Murphy with the car bomb?

 

[terry78]

Spoiler

He found out that he was responsible for what happened and technically an attempted murderer.

 

[Elevator Man]

I saw it Saturday afternoon with my brother, who’s also RoboCop fan. We both wore our RoboCop t-shirts, mine was a red t-shirt of Robo that resembles my current avy. With the line “Dead or alive you’re coming with me.” on it. I only wish that I was sitting with an audience that was less distracting. A mother, who couldn’t stop messing with her cell phone, and her “hyper” son , who couldn’t stay quiet during a few moments of the movie, while also making snorting noises throughout, was annoying me and took me out of the movie a few times. When “I Fought The Law” played he jumped out of his seat and started dancing. So that sort of tainted my enjoyment and experience of the movie.

But anyways here’s a few things I liked about the reboot off the top of my head…

Spoiler

Robo’s technology in the movie was very impressive and utilized well. It was cool seeing Robo using all the technology at his disposal i.e. CCTV, fingerprints, voice stress analyzer, etc. and many other ways to track criminals. This was definitely a more advanced Robo than what we’ve seen before.

How Robo is fed nutrients, medication, etc. through tubes to preserve what’s left of his living organs.

The haunting image of what’s left of Murphy really stayed with me the way Weller’s reveal did in the original ‘87’ film. That moment was executed well.

The majority of cast was good, imo. It was nice to see Keaton, who was great, on the big screen again. The last time I went to see a movie with Keaton in theaters was Batman Returns. Gary Oldman, who was excellent, was the heart of this movie, imo. Jackson was hilarious as Novak and brought the right tone to his performance. I could definitely see shades of Limbaugh, Sharpton, and the like in his portrayal of a TV personality. I thought Kinnaman did the best with what he was given. I really enjoyed Kinnaman’s performance during the scenes where he finds out he’s a machine, when he first speaks to his wife through a computer monitor, visits his family's home, goes after a wanted criminal in public as he’s being introduced to Detroit, interrogates one of Vallon’s thugs, goes after the dirty cops after killing Vallon and his gang . He ain’t Weller but I thought he gave it his best shot.


Some things I thought could’ve been improved upon off the top of my head…

The movie is all over the place with interesting ideas, which felt unexplored by the end of the movie.

Jack Lewis was underused. Murphy and Lewis’ relationship could’ve used more development b/c both actors seem to have chemistry with what little we’ve seen of them together in the film. But I feel they wasted the actor playing Lewis.

The cops and chief of police easily accepted what OmniCorp did to Murphy and didn’t seem offended that they turn one of their own into a cyborg. They seem to be okay with it especially the chief, who ended up being corrupt. It would’ve been interesting to see some moments of prejudice from some of the officers to show that not everybody was open to the idea of a cop that’s part man and machine. In fact I really didn’t see much of a reaction from any of the cops. They seem to accept it like it wasn't a big deal.

Robo needed a bigger threat or could've written Vallon more threatening. The way he was killed didn’t seem like a big victory for Murphy. Even though Vallon was responsible for his murder. It felt like another dead criminal to Robo in the end. And didn’t seem Murphy got justice in the end. There was no real payoff but then again Vallon wasn’t written as anything special just another thug selling guns illegally through dirty cops.

I didn’t like how they had Keaton turn bad on a dime since he didn’t seem like an evil person through most of the movie. It doesn’t seem consistent with what we saw before of Sellars. They should’ve showed shades of him being shady. Or should’ve made Maddox the baddie. I can see him turning evil on a dime since he was against the idea of a cyborg cop and was more partial to robots. Kind of similar to Dick Jones from the original. Plus it would’ve gave Maddox (Jackie Earle Haley) more to do who I also felt was underused. This film really lacked a definitive villain and threat, imo.

The action scenes were nothing special, imo. I wasn’t as engaged as I wanted to be in ‘em. I’m talking about the shootout at Vallon’s warehouse and the climax, which felt rushed. Those two particular action scenes didn’t do much for me. Both felt like it was there to please action buffs. It felt like it belonged in some video game. I think both action scenes could’ve been handled better. Nothing spectacular was happening in the ED-209 fight either. I would think they would come up with something better in the age of “Pacific Rim”, “Real Steel, “the Iron Man Trilogy” as well as countless other superhero movies. What I’m trying to say is I was expecting better in the action dept. from a RoboCop movie this day and age. I think the PG-13 rating definitely played a factor into it being tame and just there, imo.

The “robocycle” needed an explanation in the movie. It just shows up without a proper intro. If they can explain why the Robo suit is black or the mechanics & biology of Robo they could’ve done the same with the bike.

The score was the typical droning sound design that I heard in many of the current action movies, which didn‘t surprise me. It didn’t add much to the movie the way Poledouris’ iconic score did with the original ‘87’ film. There’s a piano piece that has a Vangelis type synthesizer or stinger, which reminds me of a moment in the “Blade Runner” soundtrack, that was used for most of the dramatic moments between Murphy and his family. Yet it still lacked any of the emotional depth that Poledouris’ score had, imo. I wasn’t expecting much but it still could’ve been better. This score was interchangeable with many of the droning scores in the superhero tent pole action films these days.

I also didn’t like the use of Poledouris’ original theme. It felt out of place. It wasn’t used properly in the movie. And was only there for fan service but it didn’t add much to the already lackluster score. It almost felt like a last minute thing the way it was inserted in the score. I found it to be just as mishandled and forced as Fiedel’s Terminator theme was in T4, imo. It came off in the film as the theme for “The Novak Element” and not really serving any real purpose in the score, imo.

I wasn’t a fan of the “I Fought the Law” song being used at the end credits either. I understand why they picked it, but it still felt out of pace to me.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head without going in depth.

Overall I thought it wasn’t terrible or great but decent. In fact I had a hard time deciding what I thought about the movie when I saw it. If I had to rate it, which I don’t usually do, it would probably be 2 ½ stars out of 4 stars. I would watch it again on dvd or cable b/c it did have a lot interesting ideas though it goes unexplored. My first viewing wasn’t exactly pleasant either b/c of some distractions from certain members of the audience I saw it with.

 

[chintai80]

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.

 

[chintai80]

I saw it Saturday afternoon with my brother, who’s also RoboCop fan. We both wore our RoboCop t-shirts, mine was a red t-shirt of Robo that resembles my current avy. With the line “Dead or alive you’re coming with me.” on it. I only wish that I was sitting with an audience that was less distracting. A mother, who couldn’t stop messing with her cell phone, and her “hyper” son , who couldn’t stay quiet during a few moments of the movie, while also making snorting noises throughout, was annoying me and took me out of the movie a few times. When “I Fought The Law” played he jumped out of his seat and started dancing. So that sort of tainted my enjoyment and experience of the movie.

But anyways here’s a few things I liked about the reboot off the top of my head…

Spoiler

Robo’s technology in the movie was very impressive and utilized well. It was cool seeing Robo using all the technology at his disposal i.e. CCTV, fingerprints, voice stress analyzer, etc. and many other ways to track criminals. This was definitely a more advanced Robo than what we’ve seen before.

How Robo is fed nutrients, medication, etc. through tubes to preserve what’s left of his living organs.

The haunting image of what’s left of Murphy really stayed with me the way Weller’s reveal did in the original ‘87’ film. That moment was executed well.

The majority of cast was good, imo. It was nice to see Keaton, who was great, on the big screen again. The last time I went to see a movie with Keaton in theaters was Batman Returns. Gary Oldman, who was excellent, was the heart of this movie, imo. Jackson was hilarious as Novak and brought the right tone to his performance. I could definitely see shades of Limbaugh, Sharpton, and the like in his portrayal of a TV personality. I thought Kinnaman did the best with what he was given. I really enjoyed Kinnaman’s performance during the scenes where he finds out he’s a machine, when he first speaks to his wife through a computer monitor, visits his family's home, goes after a wanted criminal in public as he’s being introduced to Detroit, interrogates one of Vallon’s thugs, goes after the dirty cops after killing Vallon and his gang . He ain’t Weller but I thought he gave it his best shot.


Some things I thought could’ve been improved upon off the top of my head…

The movie is all over the place with interesting ideas, which felt unexplored by the end of the movie.

Jack Lewis was underused. Murphy and Lewis’ relationship could’ve used more development b/c both actors seem to have chemistry with what little we’ve seen of them together in the film. But I feel they wasted the actor playing Lewis.

The cops and chief of police easily accepted what OmniCorp did to Murphy and didn’t seem offended that they turn one of their own into a cyborg. They seem to be okay with it especially the chief, who ended up being corrupt. It would’ve been interesting to see some moments of prejudice from some of the officers to show that not everybody was open to the idea of a cop that’s part man and machine. In fact I really didn’t see much of a reaction from any of the cops. They seem to accept it like it wasn't a big deal.

Robo needed a bigger threat or could've written Vallon more threatening. The way he was killed didn’t seem like a big victory for Murphy. Even though Vallon was responsible for his murder. It felt like another dead criminal to Robo in the end. And didn’t seem Murphy got justice in the end. There was no real payoff but then again Vallon wasn’t written as anything special just another thug selling guns illegally through dirty cops.

I didn’t like how they had Keaton turn bad on a dime since he didn’t seem like an evil person through most of the movie. It doesn’t seem consistent with what we saw before of Sellars. They should’ve showed shades of him being shady. Or should’ve made Maddox the baddie. I can see him turning evil on a dime since he was against the idea of a cyborg cop and was more partial to robots. Kind of similar to Dick Jones from the original. Plus it would’ve gave Maddox (Jackie Earle Haley) more to do who I also felt was underused. This film really lacked a definitive villain and threat, imo.

The action scenes were nothing special, imo. I wasn’t as engaged as I wanted to be in ‘em. I’m talking about the shootout at Vallon’s warehouse and the climax, which felt rushed. Those two particular action scenes didn’t do much for me. Both felt like it was there to please action buffs. It felt like it belonged in some video game. I think both action scenes could’ve been handled better. Nothing spectacular was happening in the ED-209 fight either. I would think they would come up with something better in the age of “Pacific Rim”, “Real Steel, “the Iron Man Trilogy” as well as countless other superhero movies. What I’m trying to say is I was expecting better in the action dept. from a RoboCop movie this day and age. I think the PG-13 rating definitely played a factor into it being tame and just there, imo.

The “robocycle” needed an explanation in the movie. It just shows up without a proper intro. If they can explain why the Robo suit is black or the mechanics & biology of Robo they could’ve done the same with the bike.

The score was the typical droning sound design that I heard in many of the current action movies, which didn‘t surprise me. It didn’t add much to the movie the way Poledouris’ iconic score did with the original ‘87’ film. There’s a piano piece that has a Vangelis type synthesizer or stinger, which reminds me of a moment in the “Blade Runner” soundtrack, that was used for most of the dramatic moments between Murphy and his family. Yet it still lacked any of the emotional depth that Poledouris’ score had, imo. I wasn’t expecting much but it still could’ve been better. This score was interchangeable with many of the droning scores in the superhero tent pole action films these days.

I also didn’t like the use of Poledouris’ original theme. It felt out of place. It wasn’t used properly in the movie. And was only there for fan service but it didn’t add much to the already lackluster score. It almost felt like a last minute thing the way it was inserted in the score. I found it to be just as mishandled and forced as Fiedel’s Terminator theme was in T4, imo. It came off in the film as the theme for “The Novak Element” and not really serving any real purpose in the score, imo.

I wasn’t a fan of the “I Fought the Law” song being used at the end credits either. I understand why they picked it, but it still felt out of pace to me.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head without going in depth.

Overall I thought it wasn’t terrible or great but decent. In fact I had a hard time deciding what I thought about the movie when I saw it. If I had to rate it, which I don’t usually do, it would probably be 2 ½ stars out of 4 stars. I would watch it again on dvd or cable b/c it did have a lot interesting ideas though it goes unexplored. My first viewing wasn’t exactly pleasant either b/c of some distractions from certain members of the audience I saw it with.

Good review, and agree with most of your points.
Man, I also had some crappy audience members while watching today. Some dude was pretending to snore, and his friends were joking around and snickering during parts of the movie. I don't get that, people come to a theater to enjoy a movie, if someone is not liking it, then they can leave. Don't be a dumbass and try to act all smart by ruining the experience for other people.

 

[chintai80]

8/10 for me it was better than I thought. Two things that have been bugging me

Spoiler

1. In the last shootout when Jackie Earl Haley's character was about to shoot Robocop and Lewis shoots him in the back, the scene cuts away then back and we see that Lewis was on the floor shot. Who and when did he get shot?
2. Was Robocop going to arrest/kill Micheal Keaton because he was trying to kill Robo at the end in the lab or because he was behind the original attack on Murphy with the car bomb?

1.

Spoiler

Lewis was shot by the one other omnicorp/cop guy that was accompanying Maddox. He shot Lewis, and Lewis shot and killed him at the same time.

2.

Spoiler

Sellars was not responsible for the car bomb, but he is responsible for trying to pull the plug on Robocop, essentially killing him in the lab, when Robocop did not follow his directives of only going after low-level crimes.