Robocop is a somewhat entertaining flick that is so in love with everything about itself that it decides milking every aspect endlessly, whether good or bad is the way to go. Unfortunately, this also means that by the 45 minute mark I was already rolling my eyes in extreme boredom. I imagine this 80s reboot would have worked much better had it been toned down from the original and not sped up. Yes---I am aware the original is in theory more crazy than this 2014 reboot but it's also not as loud and doesn't feature so many redundant ideas that are deemed cool by the filmmakers behind it. This is not so much a bad film as it is a film that takes advantage of what it doesn't have. It wants to have its cake and eat it too but the cake isn't even ready to come out of the oven yet.
The film opens with Samuel L Jackson hosting a fake political show called "The Novak Element." Jackson is Pat Novak (hence the show's title)....the host who appears to be channeling Bill O'Reilly in his blatant disregard to ignore anyone who disagrees with him. Novak is talking about how it's actually making other lesser countries safer to have robotic cops running the streets. However, The United States has not yet caught on to this incredible idea. This brings in Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton)...a corrupt businessman who wants to use this idea. His luck comes when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinniman) gets blown up in a freak car explosion and making him a robot is his only hope.
The problem here is that this reboot both wants to open up social discussions about prejudices, disregard for society and the line that is drawn between human and non-existent and make an explosion a minute, bang bang shoot em up action film. While this can be done, it's not a terribly easy task (just look at last year's Elysium.) However, director Jose Padilha and writer Joshua Zetumer don't blend these two seamlessly enough. There are multiple times in which it's extremely apparent that the filmmakers are trying to do both at one time and it makes the project all the more frustrating. Also....the film opens up the kind of discussions that it obviously has no idea of actually justifying. For example...the idea about the dismissal of what's actually good for society is asked multiple times but when the film is asked to give an answer....the screen might as well have gone blank. Perhaps this refusal to answer any questions would have worked better had there been some kind of irony or subtext behind it. As it is, however, it just feels dull and pointless.
The explosions look good but they don't really go anywhere. The audience gets treated to multiple shoot em ups and things getting blown up real good but why watch them when nothing comes from it? It's the film equivalent of empty calories. The cast is very apparently trying to elevate the material with Kinniman adequately portraying a man in a robot's body, Keaton nailing yet another role, Gary Oldman being effective as the doctor who makes Murphy's suit and Jackie Earle Haley being more than a little enjoyably wacky as one of Keaton's testers. However, this material isn't right for them and the performances, good as they are, feeling as they're all coming out of different films.
Robocop isn't excruciating even when compared to the original and it doesn't do anything to harm the original's importance of status. However, the filmmakers and actors put in admirable effort to bring a film that's as ineloquent as one single film can get.
(2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action including frenetic gun violence throughout, brief strong language, sensuality and some drug material)
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