Take a second, if you will, and think this synopsis through: Alex Murphy, a former cop who was brutally killed in the line of duty, is reborn as a cybernetic, nigh-indestructible machine called Robocop who seeks to keep the peace and hunt down his murders. If you read that and thought to yourself, “Oh, that must delve into a critique of corporate America, the culture of fear that our media has force-fed us and a man trying to regain his lost humanity”,…you’re a lying piece of crap. Of all the things I could have expected out of Robocop, being a smart, brutally honest piece of parody was certainly not on my list. Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi cop film has a lot going for it, from a beautifully conducted soundtrack to expertly handled cinematography to some ridiculously satisfying action scenes and excellent special effects, despites the short comings that sprout from its sporadic acting quality and general lack of character depth. However, many of these things are par for the course for action flicks. But rarely do you see these types of movies show off their brains alongside the explosions and sink their teeth into some more complicated scenarios, let alone blend the two sides together as well Robocop does.
Now, while the writing and subtext are wonderfully put together, as well get into later, the overall plot is nothing grand. Officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is transferred into one of the most dangerous sections of a dystopian Detroit that is overrun by crime (so, in other words, just Detroit) and is partnered for a short time with Officer Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen), but is mercilessly killed by a gang of criminals led by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith). Meanwhile, the mega-corporation OCP is currently on contract with the city of Detroit to help the dysfunctional police department get its act together. Furthermore, they are working to develop a new series of “robocops” to run the streets more efficiently. While the ED-209 project, led by Richard Jones (Ronny Cox), fails miserably, a young up-and-coming executive Robert Morton (Miguel Ferrer) is leading another such project, instead taking a live subject, this being the recently deceased Murphy, and crafting him into a fusion of man and machine. The rest of the story boils down to Murphy struggling to regain his past, dealing with Clarence’s gang and being caught in the middle of a power struggle between Morton and Jones. The plot is not necessarily bad, by any means, but it’s still pretty average, at least on paper. It’s ultimately the themes that will takes center stage in the film, but even they, ironically enough, expose the weaknesses of the story, as once you start to understand said themes, the story will become more than a bit predictable.
This doesn’t stop the film from succeeding in other departments, however. First and foremost, the special effects are fantastic, save the clearly digitally rendered ED – 209 who comes out looking more like a bad hologram than a menacing robot. The gore looks believable, whether it be a criminal getting his nuts shot off by Robocop or Murphy getting his brains blown out by Clarence, finding that perfect balance between subtle and disgusting. However, the pinnacle of the film’s special effects lie nowhere else than with its titular character. Robocop is an absolute marvel to behold, honestly convincing us that we are seeing a hybrid of man and machine and not just some guy in a cheap robot suit. Every inch of him looks both amazing and imposing, including the craftsmanship around the Murphy’s body, the side compartment on his thigh that holds his pistol, a Wolverine-esque spike that protrudes from his knuckle and so on. Even when he has to remove his helmet at one point, you can see that the machinery actually digs underneath the top of his face, almost as if his face was removed and wrapped around an exoskeleton. I just hope that whoever managed the creation of that outfit got a raise, because God only knows they deserved one.
An impressive amount of work was also put into the atmosphere of Robocop. The cinematography is top-notch, knowing just when to move in on someone’s face to capture their emotions and just when to show off entire rooms or venues to display the scale of the scenario. Then there’s the backdrops, which do a fine job of selling the “dystopian future” motif. From the grimy city streets to the factory district where Clarence’s gang operates, Detroit has never looked seedier, save for places like the OCP headquarters which look as sterile as a hospital. However, the soundtrack does the greatest job of establishing the film’s ambiance. Basil Poledouris does a fantastic job conducting Robocop’s music, throwing in some sci-fi elements, but retaining some traditional musical pieces as well, which seems appropriate because the setting is a blend between futuristic and 80’s style technology and architecture. No two songs sound alike, save the leitmotif of the film, and each song compliments its respective scene quite well.
Of course, you can’t have an action movie without intense action scenes and Robocop simply refuses to fail in that department. Coupled with the previous elements, the shootouts and car chases are stupid satisfying. They’re well choreographed, that much is certain, but what really shines through is Robocop himself. No matter what he does, whether it’s dealing with a hostage situation or shooting up a coke factory, he does it all while looking like an unstoppable badass. He can walk through hails of gunfire, grab people through walls and throw them from third story windows, shoot down waves of gunman without appearing to do so much as try and even walks right through an exploding gas station like he only just lit a fart. He has his moments of weakness, but that’s only for the sake of drama. Most of the time, Robocop is simply a killing machine that will make even the most hardened criminals have to change their pants.
But once we get past the surface and dig into the meat of the film, that’s where things start to get complicated, both in a good and bad sense. Let’s start with the negative elements first, which tends to be centered around the subpar drama. Now, I know exactly what you’re thinking: “Are you seriously complaining about an action movie not having enough emotional moments?” It may seem like I’m being unreasonable, but once you dig into the movie, you may start thinking this way yourself. I’d typically forgo this type of critique with an action flick, but the problem is that the film actively makes an attempt at nailing down dramatic scenarios, albeit not as well as they could have. On top of the intelligence that the writing shows throughout the film, as we’ll get into soon enough, many scenes seem like they should be more than capable of moving us in one way or another.
However, they ultimately suffer from two major issues. First of all, Robocop’s acting is all over the place. While some actors, such as Smith, Cox and Ferrer put together solid, believable performances, others like Weller and Allen have a tendency to fall short (Weller sounds robotic even before he becomes Robocop). Not only does the bad acting obviously not help matters, but the sheer inconsistency between performances disrupts the flow of the film in a number of ways, as acting can range from decent to stiff to just flat-out hammy, the latter finger being pointed towards Clarence’s henchmen.
But even when we get a good performance, the other problem rears its ugly head: practically every character feels 2-dimensional. That’s not to say that they lack personality, but that these personalities are incredibly simplistic. Morton and Jones come off as stereotypical corporate executives; Murphy and Lewis are the stereotypical cops; Clarence and his cohorts are stereotypical criminals and so on and so forth. So, unfortunately, even when the actors do a decent or even excellent job, their simplified characters don’t allow the emotional conveyance to be fully achieved. In particular, the relationship between Murphy and Lewis, as well as Lewis’ transformation into Robocop suffer as a result. Large chunks of the film are spent trying to convince us that Murphy and Lewis are close to one another, but since they spend all of one day on the force together, we hardly find this believable. As for Murphy’s transformation, we never get the chance to see how much of an impact the transformation had on Murphy’s psyche, other than that he somewhat remembers Clarence and his family (whom we almost never hear about, despite an entire scene devoted to them where Murphy explores his old house). If more time had been devoted to developing these characters, the sky could have been the limit for these scenarios.
Thankfully, when God closes a door, he opens a window. For the highlight of Robocop, aside from Robocop himself, is the subtext scattered throughout the film, displaying Verhoeven’s willingness and capability to take advantage of the settings and take a stab at a few deeper subjects. For starters, there’s his take on corporate America. From the moment we are introduced to OCP, we can see that they aren’t exactly painted in the best light. Throughout the film, OCP is slowly trying to integrate itself into public services because of Detroit’s spiraling debt crisis, showing more concern for profits and bottom lines than the police force that they are undermining with their efforts (the police actually go on strike out of fear that Robocop will put them out of work).
But, this negative portrayal becomes even more apparent once we enter the OCP headquarters, where corporate warfare reigns supreme. We see this to a lesser extent with moments like Morton having Murphy’s perfectly healthy arm amputated during his transformation and the rivalry that develops between Morton and Jones because Morton upstaged him. However, things get absolutely crazy when see that Jones has actually hired Clarence to kill Morton and even when ED-209 malfunctions and kills a board member, Jones straight up moves right past this and consults the Chairman of OCP over the debacle, more concerned with his job than the human being who was just butchered right in front of him. Granted, these jabs are far from subtle, but they are none the less effective and display just how many people see corporate America.
Verhoeven also takes gives his take on the various shortcomings and frustrations surrounding American culture. There are the more relatable moments that many people have experienced, that being the instances of robbery, rape and disgruntled employees raising hell that we look to heroes like, or at least similar to, Robocop to assist us with. But, we also see what’s wrong with what we tend to take for granted every day: the media. Whether it comes from the news or commercialism, we have been enveloped in a sort of culture of fear that has us worried about everything from national security to our health future. The news programs that serve as transitions between scenes are typically fixated on violence throughout the world, while commercials are seen shilling nuclear war-themed Battleship clones and medical devices, just serving to further hammer home the idea of business being more concerned with profit than the effect it has on the public.
And even Robocop serves as an analogy for arguably the biggest message of the movie. Many who have worked a low-end desk job or retail position would argue that these jobs can feel downright dehumanizing, making the worker feel more like a robot than a person. I get the sense that Murphy becoming Robocop encapsulates this idea. We already see OCP taking hold of the Detroit police, so wouldn’t this be the next inevitable step? Isn’t it easier for the OCP to have machines doing the dirty work than people that require far more for their efforts?
And yet, it is from this transformation that we see that OCP’s plan is far from fool-proof. Initially believing that they had wiped any sense of emotion and memory from Murphy, we gradually begin to see that Murphy’s human side, although seemingly locked away, has still remained largely untouched. After suffering from a sort of nightmare while in stasis at the police department, Murphy begins to go out on his own initiative and seek out Clarence and the whereabouts of his family without being ordered to by his superiors. On top of this, when it is revealed that Jones wants Robocop destroyed, Murphy removes his helmet, revealing his face, that being the one remaining organic part of his exterior body that remains. In this, we can ultimately see a man who no longer wants to be defined by his job and instead wants the freedom to accomplish his goals under his own initiative.
And all of these themes come together in the final product to show that Robocop is not only exciting, but also quite brilliant. The action and effects creates a fantastic viewing experience, but Verhoeven also shows that such a film that grabs your attention like this can also make you think and wake up to what’s occurring in your world. Granted, there is the glaring problem surrounding the lackluster acting and characterization, as not only does it take away from potential drama, but it also feels like it could have absolutely been accomplished considering the capabilities of the director. None the less, the unique blend of action, satire and analysis not only appear to make up for this, but also seem to blend quite well together, as they feel appropriately linked via the plot and never seem to obstruct one another. If you’re not afraid to think a bit while taking in your dose of mindless chaos, Robocop is certainly worth your time.
No comments:
Post a Comment