RoboCop Review

By Stewart Marsh on 29/04/2024 21:50 UTC

Back in 1987 the original Robocop wowed viewers with its hardcore violence, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting social satire. With the re-incarnation of Robocop it simply holds a mirror up to the political present, engaging with the very current debates on drone warfare and the possibility of robot soldiers fighting our battles in the near future. Never quite giving you a direct answer to those all important questions.

Robocop takes place in 2028, when drones have become fundamental to U.S. foreign policy. Bringing up the good old philosophical debate whether we should let machine have authority over man. Which is a billion dollar problem for Raymond Sellars, boss of OmniCorp, the world’s leading robot Defence Company. Knowing the only way to win the America people is to release a product they can love and a figure they can rally behind, he pledges to “put a man inside a machine”.

OmniCorp begins it search for possible candidates for its program that would soon revolutionise America’s police force. And Alex Murphy is just that guy, an honest cop and family man. Whose body is almost blown to bits, leaving very little chance of survival, his wife Clara Murphy OmniCorp to save Alex Murphy by putting him inside a machine. Becoming the human face of OmniCorp’s revolutionary police force.

Cruising the streets on his sleek motorcycle, Robocop is an immediate hit with the public, saving lives, cutting crime and delivering swift and efficient justice. Touching on the moral issues of turning a man into a machine, which was merely touched on in the previous original movie. The remake is preoccupied with it, while Murphy is trying to find his place in the world again OmniCorp in turn tries to control him. Which raising some interesting ethical debates of who should be in control should man be integrated with machine or if it should go ahead at all.

While the original movie merely touched on Murphy’s family situation, the remake digs a little deeper into that relationship, building a bigger picture of his feelings for his wife and child he left behind overriding his system priorities and corrupting what OmniCorp consider to be their product.

While the is a lack of action compared to the original film, the remake brings up a lot of philosophical, political and ethical debates about man and machine it also reflects on some current world political debates. But as one line Samuel L. Jackson says during the movie “Stop whining” reflects greatly on how we as a society whine a little too much about everything, but let us save that for another day.

7.5

“Fantastic”

While the remake does step away from majority of the action from the original movie, it builds a better sense on how integrating man with machine could come about and what might be the implementations of that. Reflecting on real world political debates on drones, and the ethnics behind machines. This film is a must watch.

Story0%
Gameplay0%
Graphics0%