RIP RoboCop Franchise

[Something Amyss]

RoboCop was never agile.

Robocop was intended to be agile. The movie was reworked around the suit being difficult to manage. It was only technical limitations that made it such. And it almost killed the movie.

Data East...Easter...holy crap I think Robocop really is Jesus.

Robocop is American Jesus. Paul Verhoeven even said it.

No soul to the message, it's just a cash grab. Uninterested.

We've already seen the concept of man vs machine and the illusion of control. While I don't hold much hope for the movie, you wouldn't have known the original was a satire from most of the promo material, either, so jumping the gun is ridiculous. And apparently, everything's a cash grab these days, to the point that it's lost all meaning.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'm sorry... but the Amazing Spider-Man blew the first two Raimi movies out of the water? In sales alone the Amazing Spider-Man did the worst. In story? The movie was awful, compared to everything but Spider-Man 3 and only BARELY better.
Box Office Sales:
http://boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=spiderman.htm

In terms of plot, pacing, and characterization yes. It had characters that were far closer to their comic book counterparts than any of the Raimi movies and a less campy supervillain. All the sales are indicative of is how many people decided to watch it, not it's quality.

Aside from that, there's a chance Robocop could do well. It will never be better in terms of the original, but thats for those of us who watched it and loved it because of its cheesy campy yet surprisingly well done subject matter.

All I'll say here is I didn't find anything particularly campy about the original Robocop movies.

Point 1: I'll disagree with that in the vein of Spider-Man 1. The way it was shot felt like I was watching live action sequences from comic book panels. The Uncle Ben scene also was spot on and the transition from Parker using his powers for his own benefit to using them for the city's benefit was also great. Also I felt the Amazing Spider-Man had a feel of being unnecessary and contrived plot. Being "true to the comics" doesn't always mean it will be good. Also the lack of inclusion of Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man is a huge loss in character development and a departure from the comic book character lore. I'll say the Lizard was done well by backstory but it doesn't hold up with the poor CGI effects. All in all when held up with the first Raimi movie it isn't nearly as good. Plus there wasn't a need to reboot the series, just pick up where the last left off and go with the fact that they already had the Lizard developing through the movies. It wasn't as good as Spider-Man, and didn't have the weight carried by Uncle Ben's death. In Amazing Spider-Man it just felt too much like a footnote rather than a defining moment.

Point 2: Dialogue in the Robocop movies was highly campy. The quips made by Murphy were classic camp. Also see Robocop 2's reveal scenes for the version 2.0 Robocop failures. It was hilarious. Also in the first movie the ED-209 stairs scene was also pretty campy. The original was good overall but denying the campy nature in it is an exercise in willful ignorance. I'll amend that there was a serious tone mixed with campy elements but I'll never say it wasn't in the realm of camp at any time. Also the little league team robbing the store in Robocop 2, the fact that Robocop was reading a dead guy Miranda also in that scene, the cheesy gun flipping, those are all camp elements.

EDIT: Also see the Rotten Tomatoes score, the first 2 movies by Raimi did better there than Amazing Spider-Man. Granted we're talking subjective matter here, but you can't really say factually that the latest Spider-Man movie blew the other 3 out of the water except in maybe your own mind. Which is fine, I'm just saying that wild claims like that are just that because you've nothing but opinion to back it up and opinion doesn't trump fact.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

No soul to the message, it's just a cash grab. Uninterested.

We've already seen the concept of man vs machine and the illusion of control. While I don't hold much hope for the movie, you wouldn't have known the original was a satire from most of the promo material, either, so jumping the gun is ridiculous. And apparently, everything's a cash grab these days, to the point that it's lost all meaning.

It's not jumping the gun when you take established characters or series and 'spice them up'. There's knowledge to these subjects. There's history. If you don't want to pay homage to that history, then simply don't use the subjects. Make something like it, but not it.

What's the difference between X-Men and the Avenegers? It seems like a really stupid question to anyone who reads comics. There are loads of differences. But at the core, they are the same. Superhero teams who banded together to fight evil. Is one a copy of the other? Well someone copied the idea of making their own superhero team, but they filled it with enough differences that one doesn't care.

To take an established character and franchise, for the specific purpose of having the name alone generate nostalgia in hopes that will generate revenue, and then completely sidestep the established mythos for something new and edgy... Well, it's like I always say; It's like someone redoing Harry Potter, but in reality it's Henrietta Potter, a spunky half asian girl with big breasts because they wanted to 'shake things up'. But really, they wanted to put butts in the seats in the most shameless way. That stuff just makes me uninterested.

 

[shogunblade]

Having just watched the preview posted, the one thought that occurred to me: Did anyone realize that in the Future, not even Robocop is immune to C.H.W. (Chest High Walls)? This is a movie future that takes place in a video game realm, and not even the DOOM/ Duke Nukem world, an atypical FPS future. If you didn't feel good about this movie before, that shouldn't make you feel any better, I would say.

I didn't see the first Robocop until about two years ago, and, damn, I wished I saw it when I was five or six because it would have been as good as Terminator 2, if not better, in some respects. That movie was awesome.

As for this... I'm not worried about the PG-13 rating so much (It's a money driven remake, Of course it will be going for the biggest money market) as I am at how indifferent I feel towards it. I think the only remake I was vehemently against in recent years was the Nightmare on Elm Street remake (On that note, Glad to see Jackie Earle Haley still working), and even then, I was more disappointed at the fact the film never went into any interesting territory, it was just an uninteresting mess with predictable scares, but it didn't change the fact the originals still exist, and I can revisit those any time I want to (And I could, I own the whole collection).

Likewise, I'm disappointed that this movie won't be interesting enough to talk or even speculate a sequel once it comes out, It'll just come out and be done.

I remember when I saw Robocop two years ago, even, I couldn't shut up about it.

That being said, they aren't destroying every copy of Paul Verhoven's original (It's my understanding it is coming out on Blu-Ray in a week or two), so as long as the original exists, I'm just sad it's a cash-in, but the original exists, so I'm still happy, I guess.

CAPTCHA: Have you looked up a movie time on a mobile device?
Yeah, hasn't everybody?

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Wow. That was an awful choice in music. You queued up the scene for a musical kick in the face, instead you give us the shitest of riffs followed by the most hackneyed sequence of powerchords ever?

But never mind that. Do we have to do the whole exchanging of 'witty' banter in the middle of a firefight thing? If all the characters are treating it as a joke, the tension kinda dissipates into nothing. Pluuuuus do we have to see the generic warehouse shootout again? And what's with the slidey face thing? Just... ergh.

 

[Private Custard]

Wow, I was actually unaware of just how many fans of the original there are!

I saw this quite a while back, thought I'd share...

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

More like RoboCop-out, amirite? Oho, truly I am the master of wit!

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I never really gave the series a chance. I've never watched the original three though I've seen bits and pieces of the first and/or second. I assume they're making him less robotic to make him more appealing to the audience though (an audience who are losing the concept of technology having limitations faster and, faster as the days pass) and, as for putting him on run mode, I'm guessing that was also to make for more visceral action scenes...and again, for the target, teen audience. It's kind of like how for the prequels, they turned Bushido-like Jedi Duels into Ballet-like, House of Flying Daggers, Kung-Fu Sword Fighting taking place at a million miles per/hour. It's done in the name of making money as opposed of character integrity and since it's also considered a reboot there's less reason to make this Robocop similar to the original.

I'll likely see this movie eventually but I still have yet to watch a lot of movies...it's more likely that I'll watch an overly detailed review over on that-guy-with-the-glasses because Brad Jones is awesome like that (among other reviewers who talk about entire films...nothing against Bob by the way)

 

[ThreeName]

I feel that this is necessary

More like RoboCop-out, amirite? Oho, truly I am the master of wit!

Well done sir!

 

[StormDragonZ]

This new RoboCop film might enter the bitter hatred and clash of fandom Man of Steel & Iron Man 3 went through in 2013.

I, for one, look forward to people saying this is a good movie because it has fantastic action-y scenes and tells a typical story one to expect without previous knowledge or even an inkling of material going into it. Then, I look forward even more to the people saying it could have passed as a movie with an unique name and different characters.

In the end, it's the people who, heaven forbid, love RoboCop like Bugs Bunny loves harassing Elmer Fudd who will probably deliver the most hilarious degree of banter.

Then again, it could flop and this was all just a waste of time... or worse, it's a set up for a future RoboCop vs. Terminator movie! Ahhh!

 

[Something Amyss]

It's not jumping the gun when you take established characters or series and 'spice them up'.

You mean "don't follow them in the most literal sense possible."

Which is why people really shouldn't make a product for the fans in the first place.

The original was only the original because of constraints. And I say again, the marketing of the fist movie played it up as a straight action flick, so saying you know because of history is absurd.

Eh, a slight misinterpretation. Verhoeven made Robocop to be American Jesus in the film and not the other way round. It is how he perceived robocop to be.

What other way around? That looks like exactly what I said.

 

[Vausch]

To be fair, I'm betting the reason he's more agile is because in the original that costume was a lot more inhibiting and he moved slowly because the actor had no choice rather than it being intended.

Still, Robocop without the over-the-top violence isn't gonna feel like Robocop.

Spoiler: Robertcop, Maybe

http://www.knockingoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/robert-cop.jpeg

All I know is if they take out the symbolic nature of having a cold corporate machine hidden behind the face of a tragic figure and instead just make him a more cybernetic 6-million dollar man, well you've missed the point more than the remake of Stepford Wives.

 

[DrBonBon]

Wow, I was actually unaware of just how many fans of the original there are!

I saw this quite a while back, thought I'd share...

Robocop is easily in my top-3 films of all time (Right there with John Carpenter's The Thing and Once Upon a Time in the West). A smart satirical movie filled with a resurrection-story and humanity winning over corporate fascism. Also you can just watch it just as a fun campy action flick with a bowl of popcorn on the side.

This one's also a cool clip. Robocop musical? Take my money now!
(link to the vimeo-clip http://vimeo.com/72862999 Youtube pussed out once again.)

 

[Gennadios]

I'm kind of out of fucks. Wasn't really interested in seeing the reboot to begin with, but this clip was generic as hell.

I'm kind of past the point of seeing random shitty movies with my dumbass friends to just see them, I'd rather spend a quiet night to myself playing video games, don't have as much time for those as I used to.

 

[Atmos Duality]

PG-13 Robocop.
That's all I needed to know that it's going to be dull as dogshit.

How can this be anything other than a quick Hollywood cash-in?

 

[SweetWarmIce]

Looked alright, a bit uninspired but alright.