Director: Jose Padilha
Writer: Joshua Zetumer
Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman Micheal Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Samuel L. Jackson
The year is 2028 and Alex Murphy a decorated detective and undercover officer are targeted by a ruthless criminal and nearly murdered. Though is body is in operable his wife along with a multi-billion dollar corporation take a chance and use him in a groundbreaking experiment creating the first ever RoboCop, part man part machine and all cop.
How do you know when Hollywood is running out of great ideas? When they rehash the second rate of 80’s film. The original version of this movie from 1988 wasn’t all that exciting and this version continues that tradition. Though a great deal of money may have been poured into this stylized version of the film not enough of it was used in the action sequences. Many of the fight scenes are gun battles making for a very loud headache-inducing mess. The one bright spot in this farce is the role of Samuel Jackson as a right wing journalist who has been bought by Omni Corp. In addition to Sam’s crazy eyes being a weird choice for a nightly news program his naturally bald head is covered in a piece of wavy news, anchor wig adds to the absurdity and adds some much needed comic relief.
The original 1987 film was good enough to warrant a sequel, this version should never have been released. While the original offered enough humor and action to be a cult classic, this latest version only provides updated imagery. The new film is in high def and that’s really all it adds to the franchise. If you are going to see this one bring some earplugs for the shooting scenes and don’t expect to be blown away like you were in 1987, you were probably too young to see past the shiny suit. The first version of this film may not have been a major success but at the very least a new and interesting film, this 2014 version was just a waste.