Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

:lol:

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Yep, even that one I gave 3/5 stars :sad:

So really yeah, my review really should be discounted for Keaton bias.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

This movie isn't BAD, but it isn't GOOD either. Gary Oldman is easily the best part, giving a performance that's far too good for this movie. Partitioning the satire off into the Novak Element segments make the rest of the film feel flat. I never cared enough about Murphy's family for the emotional angle to hook me. The CGI is really poor when Robocop moves fast (the scene where he runs through the rice paddies is just awful), and there are so many damn scenes in conference rooms (and apparently only six people actually work at Omnicorp in this film).

Also, as soon as Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire) showed up, I wanted him to be Robocop. Now THAT would have been an interesting film.

The only reason I saw this was because I had movie cash from buying the BD of the original, and even then I almost didn't think it was worth it.

With any remake, I think it's worth asking: Why are they choosing to retell this story? What do they want to say that the original film didn't, wouldn't, or couldn't? And in Robocop I can't think of anything that this new film did or said that wasn't done or said better in the original. Rewatching the first film on BD, despite the '80s effects, I feel the messages were more applicable than ever. Corporate interests overriding public interests, law enforcement overriding civil liberties, it was all very clear. This movie was more of a family drama that stopped every 30 minutes to dump some commentary on drones on the audience.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Very good valid question, and unfortunately with pretty much every pointless '80s remake I've seen the answer only seems to be:
$$$$$

Take something like Cronenberg's "The Fly," which truly had something new and horrifying to say that the original only hinted at; compare that to the pointless "Total Recall" which only seemed to be there to give Colin Farrel a payday.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

I'll watch Total Recall 100 times if it means I can wipe Winter's Tale from existence.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Just saw this last night. Here are my thoughts:

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Overall, I liked this for the most part. The original is a classic and can't compare to it but honestly this is the best thing to happen to the Robocop franchise since, well the original.

I liked how the movie spent more time setting up Murphy and his family life. I think this went a long way to making you care for the Murphy character more. By the same token, I think this movie spent too much time with Murphy's family. I was interested in him, not so much with her and the son however. I also thought the scenes in China went on too long. Some of those could have been cut to move onto the action quicker.

Speaking of action, this movie had some great action set pieces, the black out shootout being the stand out. I think it got away with a lot for a PG-13 movie, but I also feel that the PG-13 rating kind of held it back a little. Because of the PG-13 rating, the movie had a lot of quick cuts which sometimes made it hard to tell if Murphy was shooting someone, or tasing them.

The acting in this was really great. Not much more to say about that. My biggest problem was with the ending hwoever. It's just dull and in no way as memorable as the "Your fired" ending of the original. It almost felt like a "we ran out of money so put in something really cheap."

Overall I'd give it a 3.5/5. It has a lot of good points and it is pretty good. But somethings hold it back from being great. While it won't be a classic like the original I did enjoy it and I'd like a sequel to see where it goes.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either. It felt like the pilot for a tv series.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Yeah I agree in a movie I overall didn't mind the final confrontation between Robocop and Sellars was kind of a letdown. The parts where Robocop was fighting his way through the ED-209's and up to the roof wasn't all that bad but when he actually got there and confronted Sellars it just kind of fizzled out.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

For me it wasn't terrible way to kill an evening while on a business trip. Much cheaper than hookers even with the popcorn. It certainly felt watered down in violence but there were some good action scenes. A better rental thana trip to the theater

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

I just read that this was converted to 3D exclusively for the Chinese market.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Finally caught this for $3 at the base movie theater, and was completely surprised at how much I liked the direction they took. I especially liked the fact that he overrode his programming motivated by his family. My wife will actually watch this when it comes out on video. I told her it was a bit of Almost Human mixed with Chicago PD.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

One of the things that stuck in my mind as I was leaving the theater was what was the point of the pre-memory wipe scenes. Could have simply started there like in the original and then had the "mind vs machine" storyline take off. Makes me think that it was all pointless to the character so was pointless to the audience. I could have cared less about his family anyway and wish it was completely removed, every time his wife appeared on screen the film nosedived. Also it was her addition to the story that caused Michael Keaton to make most of the unbelievably stupid decisions he made (and I do mean denying plausibility stupid, I know he is running a soulless corporation but this stuff is simply roll of the eyes dumb) which really took me out of getting absorbed in movie. The street gang villain was a letdown as well, he was definitely no Red Foreman, didn't enjoy the dude at all.

When the action took place I could almost forget everything wrong and Gary Oldman was fantastic so managed to grade it 3/5 but sometimes wonder if its worth it or if it should dip below into rotten territory...

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Yeah, it's at the cheap theaters already, so I might go on dollar Tuesday or just wait for Red Box.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

can Gary Oldman do no wrong - well at least his acting. The plot was interesting, but the overall film just lagged at times.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

It was much better than I anticipated it to be. Still doesn't hold a candle to the original, but a decent movie.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Rented the BD yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I know this was getting alot of shit for being an unnecessary remake, but I thought it was actually really well made. Some good special effects and lots of action. This was pretty damn violent for a PG-13 movie, but didn't have any of the gore that would have necessitated an R rating. It isn't a great movie by any means, but it's definitely watchable and entertaining. I gave it 3 1/2 out of 5 here.

I didn't love Kinnaman as Murphy, but he did have the physicality for the role. I just kept thinking of Holder from The Killing wearing a Robot costume. :D They did differentiate Kinnaman's Murphy from Weller's by keeping alot of his personality and humanity.

:lol: I absolutely hated that stupid wig that Samuel L. Jackson was wearing during those cut-ins. And why the hell did they bleep him out that the end?

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Pointless remake. Watered down version of the original. Action was good though.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Finally caught up with this on BD over the weekend - and it's actually pretty good. Shame it didn't do better at the box office. Sure, it's not the original, but it's no money-grab either - they actually put together a very good story with some interesting ideas.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

I was just thinking. This is a board with tons of 20 and 30-something dudes who probably love the original. Yet, we're only on page 3 here. So disappointing.

I haven't shunned the remake. But I have very no desire to get out and see it. Will probably catch it someday on Netflix.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

I was in the same boat as you, but decided to pick up the Blu-ray when it was on sale for $12.99. One of my better recent blind-buys.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Agreed. This is a highly enjoyable remake and the reason it works is because it doesn't try to be the original but rather present its own take on the same basic premise.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

You know, even though the original film is HOLY to me, I went into the remake with a wide open mind. Sadly, I walked away disappointed. You can almost immediately tell that they knew exactly how to open the film and develop it, but THEY HAD NO ENDING WHATSOEVER. Badly plotted, badly edited, and lots of idiotic resolution ("I can't overwrite my programming... except for when I can!"). That denouement with Samuel L. Jackson's character was an awkward and horribly written/acted way to end the film.

It's a shame. It started out very well but just started to fall apart at the halfway point. You can literally feel where the filmmakers started to panic about "having no ending but rolling before cameras anyhow".

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

If only all "reboots" followed this rule.

Re: RoboCop (Padilha, 2014) — The Reviews Thread
 

Finally caught this on blu. Boring, pointless, some nice CGI, I suppose. The emotional impact that should have been there wasn't. The lead actor was uninspiring. Oldman was great, as always. The entire world was poorly established. Just a completely middle-of-the-road, totally unnecessary effort.