Miscellaneous Reviews Festivals Lists Etc
#
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Here


web analytics

 

The Films of José Padilha

Elite Squad

Garapa

Secrets of the Tribe

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

RoboCop (March 9/14)

A typically inferior remake, RoboCop details the transformation of Joel Kinnaman's Alex Murphy into the title character after a critical injury leaves him on the verge of death - with the film following several periphery characters, including Michael Keaton's Raymond Sellars and Gary Oldman's Dennett Norton, as they attempt to perfect RoboCop's erratic behavior. It's worth noting, at least, that RoboCop takes a very different approach to Paul Verhoeven's vastly-superior 1987 film, with the movie, for the most part, forging its own path and offering up a storyline that retains only the most basic elements of its predecessor (eg the title character's suit, the ED-209 robot, etc). This doesn't, however, alleviate the creeping realization that there's little of interest occurring here, as scripter Joshua Zetumer offers up a tedious midsection revolving mostly around Murphy's efforts at embracing his new identity (as well as the ongoing attempts to perfect the RoboCop suit by various scientists and executives) - with the less-than-engrossing nature of such scenes exacerbated by an emphasis on Murphy's strained dealings with his concerned wife (Abbie Cornish's Clara). (It's difficult, certainly, to work up any interest in or enthusiasm for a relationship that's obviously doomed.) The movie's substandard atmosphere is compounded by a lack of well-defined or menacing villains, with RoboCop's failure to even partially match the effectiveness of the original's hat-trick of superlative baddies ranking high on its list of incompetent elements. By the time the title character does begin taking care of business (in a series of incoherent fight sequences, natch), RoboCop has long-since established itself as just another slick, egregiously padded-out contemporary actioner that's best left to the clearance bin.

out of

© David Nusair