Back in the late 1980's we finally saw a change in the way robot movies were made. Up until this time Robots were mostly just men dressed in silver painted cardboard boxes, and they were nearly always the enemies. Well that was about to change with Paul Verhoeven's vision of near future Detroit
These films were a dream for toy manufacturers everywhere, as soon as you'd seen Robocop or ED-209, you knew that a toy was already in the pipeline, although the children that would play with these wouldn't be old enough to see the movie that they were based on!
This box set was released in 2002, and contains 3 dvds, all nicely placed in a smart looking metallic blue folding package, with some nice detailed pictures of Robocop and ED-209 pasted all over it.
Each movie comes on its own dvd, although only the first one offers any decent extra's.
--ROBOCOP 1--
Peter Weller plays Alex Murphy, a street cop, that has been relocated to the old Detroit area. This area is soon to be demolished and replaced by some nice shiny new buildings, the problem is that the area has become infested with crime.
Most of the crime in the area is caused by cop killer Clarence Boddicker and his gang.
On a routine call up Murphy and his partner Anne Lewis, played by Nancy Allen, are in pursuit of a van, when this is discarded at a sludge factory the two split up looking for the people in the van, this leads to a bloody run in between Murphy and the Crime lord boddicker, in which Murphy is left with no arm and more bullets than skin and bones.
Enter the people at OCP, a big company that owns pretty much everything in Detroit, Police, Hospitals, Fire, you name it they own it. The
sort of guys you wouldn't want to play monopoly with.
These are also the company that wants to change Detroit, and have decided that what they need is a 24 hour policeman, a robotic cop that doesn't need sleep or food, and has an unlimited supply of ammo. Their first test run of the ED-209 machine doesn't go according to plan, but they have another design ready for construction, all they need is a 'volunteer'
Seeing as Murphy wont mind now, they volunteer him for the place, thus we have the birth of Robocop.
When OCP where creating Robocop out of the remains of Murphy they left a lot of living tissue in, what they didn't expect was that he would start to remember past events, including being killed by the gang led by Boddicker. So he goes after the gang, trying to put right what happened to him.
This film was a great piece of action, which still seems as good today as it did in the late 80's, although when compared with todays multi million dollar movies, the special effects and graphics leave a lot to be desired.
The film has some quite brilliant action sequences, such as the battle between Robo and ED-209.
Director Verhoeven, who also did Starship Troopers, likes to split his films up with different news clips and advert breaks, these can be quite funny and really break up the film nicely.
The film has some quite funny moments inbetween all the action, which when all added together makes this a must see for all action fans.
The DVD comes with the choice between the normal version of the film or a directors cut, now if your a bit sqimish at the sight of blood then I would recommend that you stick with the normal version as the director has added tonnes of the red stuff for the directors cut. Other than that they both seem to be the same, with hardly any changed or added scenes.
The DVD also has a few behind the scenes features on the making and the special effects, these are a must for any fans of the movie.
--ROBOCOP 2--
The second dvd surprisingly contains the second movie, aptly titled Robocop 2.
This movie is often criticised by fans of the original, but I personally find it to be quite enjoyable, okay so the plot isn't as gripping and it's a lot less violent, but it does have a lot more humorous moments and some nice action set pieces.
The story centres around a new drug that has taken over the city, Nuke, and with the cops on strike crime is reaching new levels.
Kane is the main supplier of this new drug, and is quite an evil little man, who is helped along by a young lad and a few followers.
As the police are on strike, Robocop is again called to stop the crisis.
During the course of the movie Robocop gets dismantled by Kane's gang, and is repaired but OCP have added a load of politically correct directives into his memory banks, which leads to some quite funny scenes.
OCP decide that Robocop is outdated, and decide to create a new improved version to help in the battle against crime, the problem is that none of the trial subjects are working very well, so one of the technicians comes up with the idea of using a criminal instead of a policeman to go inside the suit! Clever idea, of course it all goes wrong, leading to another great robot on robot battle.
The enemy robot cleverly named Robocop mark 2, is quite powerful, but isn't nowhere near as interesting or menacing as ED-209 from the original.
Although this wasn't directed by Paul Verhoeven, it still takes a few of the ideas from the original, such as the ad breaks, these are quite funny, such as the new car security device in the beginning, which electrocutes anyone trying to steal the car.
The film has always been classed as a poor relative to the original, i have never quite understood this, it has everything that the original had, but more humour and less violence, I liked this one and it made quite an enjoyable nights viewing.
The DVD is a bit of a let down though, after all the great extras on the first one I was expecting a few here, but this only has the theatre trailers and the usual scene selection options.
--ROBOCOP 3--
The third dvd and the worst film in the set, and a waste of what could have been a great license.
This movie see's Robocop being played by a different actor, Robert Burke, who whilst quite good at the part doesn't offer as much feeling as Peter Weller did in the previous two films.
OCP are still trying to demolish the city, to create their vision of an high tech metropolis, but the residents don't want to leave their houses, so instead of asking them nicely, OCP brings in an army, who drag the people from their homes and kill anyone that stands in their ways.
Over the course of the movie Robo goes against a direct order from an OCP officer, and decides to join with the underground group, that wants to fight back against OCP.
This film gets too far fetched, with Robocop now able to attach new weapons to his hand and being able to fly a rocket pack.
Robocop starts to feel more of his human side, whilst befriending a small girl, who is part of the underground gang.
The movie takes a long time to introduce the two main characters, Robo and Lewis, which means you loose attention quite early.
The film feels rushed, and a lot like the cheap budget films that were made for TV a few years later, it looses a lot of the atmosphere and enjoyment of the original.
Whilst not a particularly bad film, it doesn't live up to the standards set earlier in the series, and really shouldn't have been a Robocop movie. If this was released under a different name it wouldn't have been rated so poorly but because it almost ruins the first two films it looses a lot of marks.
The DVD again has next to no extra features which might have made it more enjoyable.
-------- OVERALL --------
Two great movies and a poor relative, not bad for your money really, with some nice extras on the first disk, and the chance to see all three films in one set it certainly filled a nice space in my Dvd collection.
This can be found in most high street retailers with prices ranging between 20 and 40 pounds, I got my copy second hand for 13 pounds so was quite happy!
Id recommend looking around before you buy, as prices really do vary on this title, but if you see it for a reasonable price id definitely recommend it as a good purchase.
Thanks for reading.
Kyle
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Good write up. Just wait you will soon be yellow like me and then this gets kind of boring.
TrueSatan 11.10.2003 03:49
Sorry about the rating but this opinion is almost entirely out of category as it is in large part a set of film reviews rather than a review of the items specific to the DVD version of this boxed set. If you wish to have it moved then I'll re-rate accordingly.
tom1clare 10.10.2003 16:59
Excellent review! I've seen the first and the third - cool stuff, though he's a little clunky next to The Terminator lol :) tom
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