TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion
…because
film is largely subjective
RoboCop
Release Date: 12 February 2014 Runtime: 117 Minutes
Review Date: 15 April 2014 Rating: 3 (of 6)
No nostalgia attached, not having seen the
original since it first made its way to cable TV nearly 30 years ago and no
significant memory of it persisting, the thing that made me interested in the
new version of RoboCop was the return
of Michael Keaton to the screen. Luckily,
his time there wasn't some brief cheesy cameo--he played a significant
part--but, even so, it wasn't that exciting.
That could be
said for the movie as a whole. In fact,
the movie would be more aptly named "OmniCorp" rather than RoboCop, as the film's focus was more on
the former than the later. In that
regard, Michael Keaton may have even had more face time than Joel Kinnaman's
title character, or at least it felt close to it, which is absurd.
The movie puts
corrupt profiteers on display, but little emotional depth is created to feel
against them and their actions or to feel for what Michael Murphy and his
family are going through. Gary Oldman's
Dr. Norton is supposed to be our loose moral compass but we never really connect
with him either. And Samuel Jackson's
Pat Novak, a satire of cable personalities purporting to represent the news,
falls flat just as his Nick Fury does in all the Marvel movies, particularly in
The Avengers.
The film as a whole
left us feeling nothing, which may follow along with their robotic theme but
does little to make it a worthwhile experience, the fault probably falling on
the directing and writing. To that end,
the Director has no significant prior films, 4 of his last 6 being documentaries,
which makes him an odd selection to helm a movie that could have potentially
launched a lucrative new franchise for the studio. Likewise, the Writer has no other credits
whatsoever that I can find, other than some uncredited rewrites and unproduced
scripts. Though, to be fair, the Director
supposedly said that this was the worst experience of his life and that the
studio was meddling every step of the way so, perhaps, the blame falls
there. Either way, Robocop is still worth skipping.
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