Hi,
I love movies and buy far too many DVDs every month, so most of my opinions will be about mov...
Hi,
I love movies and buy far too many DVDs every month, so most of my opinions will be about movies or DVDS.
I'll put a member profile picture up soon as I've got to find one as Ciao wont let me put my Silent Bob picture up.
Cheers
Chris
Member since:03.04.2001
Reviews:27
Members who trust:11
Looking back on the 80's you have to remember Robocop as one of the best action/sci-fi films to come from that era, it had great special effects for the time and quite a humourous script. The story starts by introducing us to Murphy (Peter Weller), an experienced police officer who has just been transfered to the dangerous and crime filled streets of Detroit. While patroling the streets of Detroit in his car with his new partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen) they receive a radio call about a bank robbery. They find the criminal gang escaping the bank in a van and give chase but the criminals open fire, but Murphy and Lewis manage to follow them to an abandoned steel mill.
They call for back up but also decide to go in and try to catch them, they both split up and soon Lewis is thrown from a high level onto bags below and them Murphy is caught by the criminals. They play an evil and cold blooded game with Murphy and kill him slowly, putting him through great pain first by blowing off his hand and arm and filling his torso full of shotgun holes. By the time the back up and ambulaces arrive Murphy is already dead. While this is happening a high-tech corporation is planning to create robots and cyborgs to sell to the police force, the corporation gets hold of Murphy's body and uses whats left to build their first crime fighting robot. With the police just about to strike because of the conditions they need to work in, Robocop hits the streets, and is instantly shot to fame by a number of sucessful
operations. After attending a robbery at a gas station though, Robocop's old memories start to resurface and with the help of Murphys old partner Lewis he goes about getting the criminals that ended his human life.
Robocop is a well filmed and told story, often flash and bold but managing to keep the viewer attention all the way though. Like a lot of Verhoevens work (Hollow Man, Starship Troopers) he trys to cover the weak areas of the script by adding a lot fo blood and gore around them. While Robocop has a far better script than Hollow Man or Starship Troopers it does suffer from this at places and has some totally unbelievable thing happen, like Murphy takes a shotgun shot to the head at very close range that sprays his brains everywhere, yet the corporation still manage to save his brain and memories.
The film works by trying to give the characters a bit more depth than usually found in action movies and most of the second half of th film is used added to the relationship between Murphy and Lewis. Paul Verhoeven is a strange director, His movies are not easily categorized. There is comedy in this movie, there is romance. There is a certain amount of philosophy, centering on the question, What is a man? and there is an amusingly look at the American style of life. Robocop also introduced me to the Verhoeven style of adding adverts into his films, such as the ones found in Starship Troopers, here he advertises futuristic car alarms and board games.
The acting is great all around. Weller is good as the cop who loves his family and then as Robocop with his monotone speech. Smith makes a wonderfully sleazy and evil villain, Nancy Allen is sweet and likeable as Murphy's partner who suspects that there might be somebody familiar underneath all that steel. Ferrer is good as always (check him out in Traffic), and Ronny Cox is enjoyably as the hign ranking evil guy who has power to corrupt the police force and escape the law.
The Criterion Collectors DVD presents Robocop in its original uncut form, replacing scenes of excessive violence that was cut for it to receive its R rating and not NC-17. Since these cuts were needed in America, they simply passed the cut version to the BBFC to view and hence we received the cut version here as well. There are four major noticable scenes that have been put back in, these are:-
- When ED209 goes beserk and shoots the man in the meeting onto the model of Detroit, it lasts much longer and after the shooting the camera hovers over the body on the model.
- When Murphy and Lewis are chasing the criminals, in the R version you see Murphy shoot one in the leg as viewed through his eyesm but in this version the camera follows the bullet and zooms in on boobys leg when the bullet hits showcasing it in graphic detail.
- The next part is when Murphy is caught by the criminals in the mill, it is a full minute longer with Murphys arem being blown fully off (not in the R version at all) and a camera shot from behind his head of it being blasted by Clarences shotgun. We also see a more graphic version of his hand being blown off his arm.
- Longer vrsion of Murphy stabbing Clarence in the neck with more blood squirting out.
The picture quality of the disk is average at best, with grain visable in many scenes and some even looking washed out. The disk features a Dolby Surround soundtrack and it is greatm the score by Basil Poledouris is very memorable and emphasizes the high tech feel of the film, yet carries a very dark note that is perfect for the crime filled streets of Detroit. Robocop actually looks good, as in the robot suit they got for Robocop. Its like a silver exoskeleton and seems convincing enough for us to believe it would work, it lets Robocop move basically and not all too fast, but then with his advanced armour he doesnt need to move that fast, he can still take out the bad guys easily with his advanced targeting system. Robocop was written by Michael Miner and Edward Neumeier, Miner went on to such heights as to write the script for Lawnmower Man 2 while Neumeier equaled these soaring heights with scripts for Robocop 2 and 3.
Criterion are known for their extra features on DVD and this one is just an identical port of their laserdisc edition. We get a commentary track from director Paul Verhoeven, co-writer Edward Neumeier, executive producer Jon Davidson and Robocop expert Paul Sammon. The commentray track is quite enjoyable and verhoeven happily discusses what went on, on the set and tells us stories and even lets out how Robocop came to be his first American movies. We also get a making of feature, storyboards, trailer and production notes on the disk. The storyboards are very good, and show us most of the film from design all the way to the end, there is also a deleted scene that was never filmed here, where robocop goes to visit Murphys grave in the city graveyard. The DVD cover is very nice, but simplistic, just a metal style colour with the title.
After Robocop Verhoeven never really made a film this good again, its hard ot say that Verhoeven is a gifted director after most of his latest offer but there no denying that he has some talent after watching this. He never allows the audience to get fully settled because the tone switches so easily from humour to drama to action to gruesome violence.
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When it arrived on the big screen in 1987, Paul Verhoeven'sRoboCopwas like a high-voltage ... more
jolt of electricity, blending satire, thrills, and abundant violence with such energized gusto that audiences couldn't help feeling stunned and amazed. The movie ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
When it arrived on the big screen in 1987, Paul Verhoeven'sRoboCopwas like a high-voltage ... more
jolt of electricity, blending satire, thrills, and abundant violence with such energized gusto that audiences couldn't help feeling stunned and amazed. The movie ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
There's a new law enforcer in town...and he's half man, half machine! From the director of ... more
Total Recall and Basic Instinct comes a Sci-Fi fantasy witha sleek, high powered drive about an indestructible high-tech policeman who dishes out justice at ever...
Advantages: A classic piece of sci-fi - still relevant after almost 15 years, with little of its impact faded by time Disadvantages: Extremely voilent (perhaps too much so for some), the distinctly 80s feel
EnglishPatient 22.01.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Robocop (DVD)
Advantages: A classic - touching, shocking, funny, - a different kind of action movie. Disadvantages: A bit too violent for some - and lots of swearing.
DanClegg 07.02.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Robocop (DVD)
![Robocop [1988] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78519459.jpg "Robocop [1988] [DVD]")
![Robocop [Special Edition]-DVD](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/103203131.jpg "Robocop [Special Edition]-DVD")
Apr 5th, 2001
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