{"id":1558393,"date":"2022-07-17T08:01:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-17T12:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1558393"},"modified":"2022-07-17T08:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T12:51:10","slug":"35-years-later-robocop-is-as-fresh-raw-and-relevant-as-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/35-years-later-robocop-is-as-fresh-raw-and-relevant-as-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"35 Years Later \u201cRobocop\u201d Is as Fresh, Raw and Relevant as Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F35-years-later-robocop-is-as-fresh-raw-and-relevant-as-ever%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1558393&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p><strong>Paul Verhoeven\u2019s \u201cRoboCop\u201d (1987) felt like a crazed, positively cracked masterpiece when it first arrived.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once audiences got past the B-movie moniker (surely no one at Orion Pictures thought we\u2019d take the title seriously, right?), there was the film itself, a tortured hero\u2019s journey dolled up in science fiction and presented as an uncompromised, state-of-the-art popcorn flick.<\/p>\n<p>It begins in the not-too-distant future, in which the population is obsessed with television, surrounded by outbreaks of violence and at the mercy of corporations with far too much access to power. In other words, just like today. No date is given for the setting and none is needed.<\/p>\n<p>The future is now.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Weller\u2019s Officer Murphy is a \u201ctransfer from Metro South,\u201d immediately put on the streets and partnered with the aggressive Officer Lewis, played by Nancy Allen.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s coed nudity at this station, a precursor to Verhoeven\u2019s \u201cStarship Troopers\u201d (1997), as well as a commentary on the nature of the force\u2019s inner politics. Upon hearing word of a strike, the force\u2019s Sgt. Reed (played by a terrific Robert DoQui) announces, \u201cWe\u2019re policemen, not plumbers. Police officers don\u2019t strike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a small touch (\u201cRoboCop 2\u201d actually depicts the eventual police strike) but pivotal- this is a system that aims to control the humanity of those who serve it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/childs-play-2019-review\/\"><strong>RELATED: \u2018Child\u2019s Play\u2019 \u2014 A Perfectly Awful Remake<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The world of the working-class criminals and the heavily padded\/armed cops coalesces when Murphy and Lewis pursue Clarence Boddicker (a fantastic Kurtwood Smith) and his gang of loyal sickos. The hierarchy of rich men in suits, who hire monsters like Boddicker to carry out their wicked deeds, comes to ground level with Murphy\u2019s infiltration of this criminal chain that starts at the top floor of Omni Consumer Products headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that the bureaucrats calling the shots and their board room meetings are every bit as interesting as the action taking place at street-level. If there\u2019s a worthy comparison, in terms of a protagonist struggling to maintain his true identity and humanity, while sharks in suits orchestrate chaos and corruption, this actually goes well alongside the cult 1987 TV series, \u201cMax Headroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Change OCP with Channel 54 and Murphy\u2019s cop with Matt Frewer\u2019s investigative reporter and the two have similar concepts and themes. Of course, whereas \u201cMax Headroom\u201d had late \u201980s TV standards, Verhoeven\u2019s ultra-R-rated vision goes much further.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy\u2019s death, an agonizing scene, is similar to the one in Sam Raimi\u2019s \u201cDarkman\u201d (1990).<\/p>\n<p>Outside of teen slasher flicks, few adult-minded movies are as insanely violent as \u201cRoboCop,\u201d though even that quality, which initially made the film controversial and disreputable to some critics, has become a part of its legend.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at it today, the blend of the rousing rebirth of Officer Alex J. Murphy with gushes of blood and explosions, is tempered with a rich sense of humor and true filmmaking showmanship. Verhoeven\u2019s attack on mega-corporations, consumerism and how corrupt organizations can control and steer the direction of law enforcement, remains savage and worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FAST FACT: The 2014 \u201cRoboCop\u201d remake is considered a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxofficemojo.com\/title\/tt1234721\/?ref_=bo_se_r_2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">commercial failure<\/a> despite out-earning the original film by $5 million at the U.S. box office.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The POV of Murphy\u2019s rebirth is riveting, very funny and great cinematic storytelling. So is the somber set piece where Murphy revisits his old home and has flickers of memory, revealing how much he lost. Tons of exposition are presented with great humor and inventive visuals, though the film\u2019s human core never dissipates.<\/p>\n<p>Once Murphy is reborn and literally rebuilt as RoboCop, he is an immediate success, \u201ccleaning\u201d up the crime stricken streets of Old Detroit, by leaving piles of rubble, blood shattered glass and corpses behind.<\/p>\n<p>The survivors are supposed to be grateful as he marches off. It\u2019s a great response to \u201cheroes\u201d like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/rambo-last-blood-blu-ray-review\/\">John Rambo<\/a> and Paul Kersey. Murphy\u2019s new identity as RoboCop is a human tank, all brute force and no personality, with the consciousness of the man inside the metal initially kept in sedated state.<\/p>\n<p>We know something\u2019s up, however, because of an unexplained \u201c(Directive 4 CLASSIFIED)\u201d warning that ominously appears in Murphy\u2019s enhanced vision.<\/p>\n<p>Verhoeven\u2019s storytelling and gift with action sequences always comes across.<\/p>\n<p>The faux news broadcast that opens the film includes a quick shot of the Challenger shuttle disaster, as well as parodies of board games and hospital ads that reflect the era in which this was made.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the biggest \u201980s artifact here is a reference to \u201cT.J. Lazer,\u201d which looks closer to \u201cCaptain Power\u201d or \u201cLazer Tag\u201d than anything William Shatner ever did. However, rather than deem this dated, perhaps it\u2019s time to consider that \u201cRoboCop\u201d just takes place in an alternate 1987, where the hopes and limitations of futurist ideas come crashing together.<\/p>\n<p>We witness the OCP meeting, where the security concepts project has resulted in RoboCop, though it\u2019s a nice fake out; the silver hulk on the movie poster isn\u2019t introduced. Instead, we meet the bulky, insect-like and vile ED-209, who malfunctions immediately and turns an executive into chunks of flesh in front of his terrified colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>The introductory ED-209 sequence (offering our first glimpse of the incredible Phil Tippet stop motion animation effects) always generates laughter, but the scene disturbs me. Perhaps it\u2019s the roaring sound ED-209 makes (like a cougar made by Mattel), or how the victim\u2019s colleagues shove him around into harm\u2019s way before the assault, or the smoking corpse on the table afterward. Its satire, all right, but also absolute savagery.<\/p>\n<p>Weller was a character actor who gained instant cult status by playing the title role in the wonderful \u201cThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension\u201d (1984). There\u2019s an off-the-charts degree of difficulty involved with what Weller had to bring to the physicality of playing RoboCop. Weller and Allen don\u2019t overplay their roles and create great sympathy by showing how vulnerable their characters are.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, it\u2019s the villains who steal the show.<\/p>\n<p>Miguel Ferrer\u2019s hilarious and ruthless Morton (the VP of Security Concepts) is matched by Ronny Cox\u2019s scary, only-nice-on-the-outside Dick Jones and Smith\u2019s showstopping Clarence Boddicker (who we learn is wanted for the deaths of 31 police officers).<\/p>\n<p>What a perfect trio of movie bad guys. Boddicker\u2019s gang is so grotesque and vile, it makes Murphy\u2019s murder all the more unpleasant. Also, there\u2019s no music to soften or editorialize how vicious that sequence is.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FAST FACT: Verhoeven says he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2022\/may\/16\/robocop-american-jesus-paul-verhoeven-ultra-violent-cult-classic-pter-weller-chin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">considered Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/a> to play both Alex Murphy and, later, RoboCop, but the hulking actor was too big for the suit they had in mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dan O\u2019Herlihy, playing The Old Man who runs OCP, is elegant but only slightly less sinister here than he is in \u201cHalloween III: Season of the Witch\u201d (1983), where he also played an older man of questionable power.<\/p>\n<p>Verhoeven\u2019s film has a sick sense of humor, ruthless violence and a great story. It seems to take place in the same world as Verhoeven\u2019s equally thrilling but far pulpier \u201cTotal Recall\u201d (1990).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoboCop\u201d is full of unexpected touches, like the quirky battle between RoboCop and ED-209 that is settled by a pesky flight of stairs. Or the out-of-nowhere moment where toxic waste decides the fate of one of the film\u2019s most despicable figures.<\/p>\n<p>The gore is startling, even today. I still wince when RoboCop kills a man by slashing his throat and a glob of blood lands on him. Basil Poledouris\u2019 score provides an exciting march but is also wisely somber. RoboCop\u2019s \u201cthermograph\u201d visions are akin to the POV of \u201cPredator,\u201d released within weeks of one another.<\/p>\n<p>As tremendous as the action is here, Verhoeven\u2019s film is the story of a machine who discovers that he was a man. It\u2019s also surrounded by spoofs of tacky corporations and commercialization. Note the 6000 SUX ad within the film \u2013 it\u2019s funny but not really that farfetched.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, the oft-quoted \u201cI\u2019d buy that for a dollar\u201d from the popular sitcom within the film; it looks moronic but likely to air right after \u201cKeeping Up With the Kardashians.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">July 17th, 1987 \u2013 RoboCop<br \/>Director: Paul Verhoeven<br \/>Starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O\u2019Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith and Miguel Ferrer<br \/>Budget: $13 Million \/ Box Office: $53.4 Million<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/freR1HXmSs\">https:\/\/t.co\/freR1HXmSs<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qbdgi2wuQY\">pic.twitter.com\/qbdgi2wuQY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Retro80sRadio (@retro80s_radio) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/retro80s_radio\/status\/1548215747117080576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 16, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Despite a welcome sense of humor and oodles of exciting action, the film is full of powerful, painful sequences. Note the awful spectacle of Murphy\u2019s fellow police officers opening fire on him, as OCP stomps him down as quickly as they can assemble him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoboCop\u201d is among the best comic book movies not based on a comic book and the best sci-fi\/action combos ever. Yet, the weight of emotion within the film is why it\u2019s so much more than a popcorn flick.<\/p>\n<p>When Murphy remarks on the wife and son he lost, he says, \u201cI can feel them, but I can\u2019t remember them.\u201d As much as a sharp-edged nudge at corporations and fat cat bureaucrats, \u201cRoboCop\u201d is rich with existential agony.<\/p>\n<p>The last time I saw it was with an audience at a midnight revival screening in Denver. Most of the packed audience had never seen it before. Their reaction to the final moment sums up what I love about the film.<\/p>\n<p>After dispatching the last of the remaining villains, someone says, \u201cNice shooting, son. What\u2019s your name?\u201d RoboCop turns, considers for a second, then smiles as he says, \u201cMurphy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Someone sitting close to me suddenly shouted out, \u201cYou\u2019re damn right it is!\u201d The auditorium erupted into cheering.<\/p>\n<p>RoboCop is aware of his rotten existence and for better or worse, has now found a greater balance of the machine and the man inside the suit. A fitting end and also a return for Alex J. Muprhy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Verhoeven\u2019s \u201cRoboCop\u201d (1987) felt like a crazed, positively cracked masterpiece when it first arrived. Once audiences got past the B-movie moniker (surely no one at Orion Pictures thought we\u2019d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1574135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1558393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1558393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1574135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1558393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1558393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}