RoboCop

RoboCop, the latest film from director Jose Padilha is in my opinion a complete waste of time, especially if you liked the original. This incarnation of RoboCop is a loud movie with a dated idea. In fact the person who green lit this 100 Million dollar fiasco should be looking for a new job. Because of that I give one bucket of Killer Korn.

The genius that put this production in the hands of the relative new comer Padilha, whose previous body of work consisted of four documentaries and two feature films is hopefully unemployed. Now I don't condone anyone losing their job ever, but to give one hundred million dollars to a man who had only previously done four documentaries and two films (Elite Squad and Elite Squad: Enemy Within) obviously has no idea what they were doing.  And while Jose Padilha may one day become an amazing director, RoboCop clearly shows that he was severely in over his head.

There really isn't much to say about RoboCop's story line that you don't already know. Cop is almost killed, get's put into machine by evil corporation, seeks to take down evil corporation, yadda, yadda, yadda. This time however, the so called "updated" idea is the evil corporation headed by genial Raymond Sellars, played by Micheal Keaton (who seems to be on the comeback trail), wants to put robotic personnel in American cities and have them then police American citizens. Backing him is THE right wing talk show host of the day Pat Novak, played by Laurence Fish err Samuel L. Jackson. Senator Hubert Dryfuss, played by Zach Grenier passed a law which won't allow Omni Corp. to police America with robots. 

Undeterred, Raymond thinks what the people want is a machine with a soul. So he sets about putting a man in a machine, enter detective Alex Murphy, played by Joel Kinnaman. He gets blown to bits and his wife Clara Murphy, played by Abbie Cornish signs off on the whole "put my husband in the machine" thing. That allows Dr. Dennett Norton, played by Gary Oldman to do just that. Robo/Alex is then put through his paces by the seedy Rick Mattox who's played by the seedy looking Jackie Earle Haley. In the original film, Alex decides to take down the evil corporation after taking out their henchmen. This go round, Alex is after the dirty cops who were ordered to kill him. 

This RoboCop is tired, dated, and riddled with more plot holes than can be believed. Written by (if you can say that with a straight face) Joshua Zetumer, a man whose previous body of work included...NOTHING! THIS is his first screenplay. Once again, one hundred MILLION dollars handed to a director with no real experience, working off a screenplay by someone with NO experience. Add those two things together and is it any wonder that as of yesterday, this movie has only grossed thirty one million dollars domestically? Do not see this movie unless you need something to inspire you to see the original all over again. I'll see you at the theater.