Robocop (1987)

ROBOCOP (1987)

By Ralph Santini  - ****

                With its great blend of hard-core violence, moving and depressing tragedy, adrenaline thrills and even warped sense of humor “Robocop” (1987) is one of the most visually exciting and gripping sci-fi films ever made.  Its story is fascinatingly original with a fine and underrated cast and explosive direction by Paul Verhoeven. It is centered on a brutally-murdered police officer, Alex J. Murphy (Peter Weller) who is resurrected as a powerful, invincible cyborg, Robocop. The cyborg is of course a product of a megalomaniacal company known as Omni Consumer Products (OCP) a firm that ran a contract with Detroit to run its own metropolitan police department. The cybernetic supercop is programmed with the following prime directives and that is to “serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law”.

Things don’t go right, however, when he has a frightening nightmare of remembering with pessimistic murder that was actually managed by a gang of deadly criminals led by vicious crime boss, Clarence Boddiker (a sadistically terrific portrayal by Kurtwood Smith. This will eventually lead to a series of tragedies, including the murder of the cyborg’s developer, Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) and a moving sad sequence when Robocop visits his old home that was abandoned by his wife and son, thinking Murphy was already gone. What’s worse after successfully trying to arrest Boddicker he is told by the hoodlum that he works for a corrupt OCP executive, Dick Jones (another sensational villain performance by Ronny Cox) and that would lead us to a fact that Robocop’s only weakness is a secret fourth directive that prevents him to act against any OCP representative.

The story would continue with lots of conflict including a battle against a more invincible robot developed by Jones, ED-209 and a betrayal by a SWAT team led by a corrupt police lieutenant that luckily leads to a rescue, arranged by other protesting Detroit Police officers who refused to obey Jones’ orders to destroy Robocop. Enter Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen), who was once Murphy’s partner before the murder, as she comes to the rescue and leaves in the steel mill where Robo’s former human self was slaughtered. We would eventually later come to one of the most thrilling climaxes in cinema history where Robo battles the criminals that killed him before his resurrection.

“Robocop” was once slightly cut by Orion Pictures to avoid an X-rating. The complete version would eventually be available for purist collectors. The scenes that were cut not only include Murphy’s harrowing murder but also another one where ED-209 kills one of OCP’s executives plus it has some alternate shots with some other gory sequences. It concerned parents very bad fearing that their children wanted to see the Robocop character bad. Still that doesn’t make it any difference because whether it’s R-rated or X-rated because “Robocop” is still brilliantly action-packed and darkly comic after 25 years. After all, it did inspire a TV cartoon, with action figures and even a video-game, plus a couple of sequels (although they have never topped the original quality wise).