RoboCop

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Writers: Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner

Starring: Paul Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox

Released: 1987

After literally being shot to pieces by a criminal gang in Detroit while out on patrol, policeman "Murphy" is resurrected/reconstructed by corporation OCP (who run the police, and much of the city) as a cyborg, named RoboCop.

Things start well for RoboCop; he starts to clean up the streets; however, he starts to have dreams about his previous life (his memory was supposedly wiped when he became RoboCop). Things are compounded further when he comes across one of the gang who killed "Murphy". Investigating the gang, he finds that they work for the second-in-command of OCP, who opposed the construction of RoboCop in favour of his own ED-209 idea, scrapped because of glitches.

Set in a near future where crime is rampant and much of the world seems to be in a state of (readiness for) war, RoboCop is a film that can be enjoyed on many levels. It can be watched as a straight-up action film; you can see it as a satire of "Reaganomics" and 1980s capitalist greed; a religious allegory; an existentialist story of the nature of being human or alive; and even more.

In terms of action, RoboCop is brutal, especially in the director's cut. When people get shot, it is very graphic; blood and limbs splatter everywhere. Especially gruesome is a scene where a malfunctioning ED-209 fires hundreds of rounds into a boardroom executive, continuing to fire long after he's dead (this scene is even longer in the director's cut). Very graphic too is the scene in which Murphy is killed, getting his hand, then arm, blasted off, before getting shot countless times more.

The satire in the film is mainly aimed at Ronald Reagan, and his business and foreign policies. From the obvious of having corporation OCP running hospitals, police etc, there's also news inserts in the film regarding American military intervention and a story about a "star wars" satellite going haywire and firing lasers at Earth, killing innocent civilians. The way these stories are casually reported like they're almost humorous is also, I think, taking a shot at mass media and people's desensitisation towards violence and death, which also plays well against the very violent nature of the film itself. There's also funny TV adverts (and references in the film) about a new gas-guzzling car, described as "bigger is better".

There are lots of religious themes here; on the making of feature on the DVD, Verhoeven goes so far as to call RoboCop an "American Jesus". Aside from the obvious resurrection story, there's a section where RoboCop's own people turn on him; there's also imagery like Murphy getting shot with arms outstretched and RoboCop seemingly walking on water. I don't really remember Jesus going back for revenge with guns (but then I've never read the bible), but you get the point.

The existentialist element of the film is also something that is fairly well handled. As the film goes along, RoboCop remembers slightly more about his "human" life (although mainly just flashes); he laments that he has some feelings about his wife, for example, but can no longer remember who she was. This element of the film adds some emotional depth, and a kind of sadness, to RoboCop, heightened as he tries to find out about his past and inadvertantly meets people (such as his former partner and the people who killed him) who conjure up memories within him. By the end of the film, he has enough memories and self-awareness to call himself Murphy, though the question obviously remains about how "human" he really is, even then.

Overall, I would describe RoboCop as brilliant, brutal and funny. Despite its slightly silly premise (and low budget), it's one of the best films of the 1980s. This is a multi-layered action film which is a lot better and deeper than people give it credit for. A must see.

Rating: 4.5/5