ROBOCOP
A film review by Craig Good
Copyright 1987 Craig Good
Yo! What a summer we're having! If you can't find a movie to jazz you this year then you were weaned on a pickle. And just when I though 1987 had peaked, enter ROBOCOP. Remember how STAR WARS combined a lot of things you had seen before into something you'd never seen before? This is like that in several ways. Imagine combining almost every neat science fiction premise in the galaxy with "The Six-Million-Dollar Dirty Buckaroo Terminator."
Peter Weller, also known to his fans as Buckaroo Banzai, is perfectly cast in the title role. After being brutally shotgunned by a gang of ruthless thugs he is rebuilt as Robocop, the cyborg policeman of the future. Rob Bottin's design and execution of the Robocop character is as stylish and flawless as the devil he made for LEGEND. But Weller must be credited with bringing him to life in a deft performance as the man-machine.
The action is wretched excess. The only real mistake with the movie was making the violence so graphic that it requires an R rating. It could have been made as a PG-13 so that kids could go. I hate to have anybody miss the romping, comic book feel and the witty dialogue.
This is a movie that rises above itself by not taking itself too seriously. I love the way it cuts back and forth between the story and television of the future. Some of the commercials and news stories are a riot. They also form a part of director Paul Verhoeven's convincing and complete vision of a future world dominated by large, bumbling corporations.
Plant your tongue firmly in your cheek, fasten your seatbelt, and hang on to that tub of popcorn. ROBOCOP is going to take you on the ride of the summer.
--Craig
...{ucbvax,sun}!pixar!good
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