Part Man, Part Boring

A friendly disclaimer: I haven't seen the Paul Verhoeven version of RoboCop. I did actually, bits of it when it's on TV some years ago, and it wasn't my liking. I'm not sure if I want to see it in my holidays too. Anyway, the remake looked sleek and quite cool so I decided to give it a go. Making his Hollywood debut, director Jose Padilha and lead actor Joel Kinnaman of The Killing headlined this affair. Supported by stellar cast that includes Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton and Jackie Earle Haley, this film promised a thoughtful story and also plenty of action. Or so they said.

The story is your usual RoboCop origins with a great cop, paralyzed because of accident and saved by turning him into a law-enforcer machine. It is a part of OmniCorp, a leading company in robotics machinery to make machines as law enforcers in the US, just like in any other country (this is the future). That's why they decided to put a man inside the machine. But the flaw is, does that man inside the machine become a machine completely or still a man?

I didn't have high hopes, but I had my expectations. The RoboCop suit is somehow a step up. As Michael Keaton's Sellars said, it's way more tactical and cool than the 1987 version. Anything futuristic is better now than the 80s of course. I liked the actors, particularly Joel Kinnaman. It's a shame that they didn't give more to him. After he became part machine, he became boring as well. I know he's supposed to be a robot, but that's a waste of talent. The story is too heavy on the first half, it doesn't leave much fun and action to see. It was not until the climactic part that it started to get fun. The shame is, the fun didn't last long. The story isn't bad, I tell you, the execution wasn't good enough. Sam L Jackson is the worst part in the film for me. I hated everything about him in this film. I watched Spike Lee's Oldboy earlier, and I disliked his role too. Sam L Jackson, it might seem interesting at first to see you shout your lines, but not anymore, not after you do that in every fucking film you star in (but please do more to people who mistook you for Laurence Fishburne). I couldn't blame director Jose Padilha for all the bad things in the film, it was the studio's fault, wasn't it? A great reminder of how this remake shouldn't have been brought up in the first place. I even enjoyed the Colin Farrell version of Total Recall than this. At least for all Total Recall's flaws, it still delivered action and Kate Beckinsale's badassery. While this remake/reboot/update/whatever you call it doesn't offer much. RoboCop: rated 2/4.


This film could also be uninteresting because of my other venture which I just completed, the immensely addictive second season of House of Cards. I just couldn't stop until I finished it (double taps with ring).

Next post: either Pompeii or The Winter's Tale. Or both. And yes, I'm in Indonesia already.