Remaking the landmark 1987 sci-fi action-satire RoboCop seems like an unwise proposition. The film is arguably the finest feature from Dutch director Paul Verhoeven’s 1985–2000 “American period.” A deliriously entertaining serving of bloodthirsty, Reagan-era excess, the original RoboCop expertly mingled its violence with a brutally ironic depiction of U.S. culture. How could it be topped, or even approached? Reimagining a film is never artistically out of bounds, of course, just a bit of a gamble. Last year, Kimberly Peirce found fresh angles in her underrated remake of Carrie, while Fede Alvarez’ version of Evil Dead was lackluster and pointless. Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha’s new take on Robocop is unfortunately closer to the latter.
Padilha and the screenwriters demolish and rebuild the original film’s plot to the extent that 2014’s RoboCop cannot be justly called a digital effects-enhanced replicate of its predecessor. Moreover, the filmmakers shift the story to create more empathy with murdered and resurrected Detroit police detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) and to probe the technological and philosophical questions posed by his cybernetic second life. An earnest, melancholy, science-heavy RoboCop could have had potential as an intriguing counterpoint to Verhoeven’s film. Regrettably, Padilha is too intent on injecting gleeful, bullet-riddled (yet safely PG-13) action and too-obvious satirical digs at a post-drone America to explore that version of RoboCop.
As a result, RoboCop 2014 feels unfocused and tedious, unable to find its stride on any particular track: as a futurist fable, shoot-’em-up fascist fantasy, or black comedy. Most of the performers do their best to provide some gravitas, particularly Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Keaton. Every fifteen minutes, however, the framing device intrudes, and Samuel L. Jackson appears as a pugnacious, O’Reilly-style cable TV host, ranting with a wink about liberal whiners and American might. In light of the 1987 film’s nimble juggling of bloodlust and absurdity, this new RoboCop’s half-hearted attempt to be all things to all viewers just comes off as ungainly and tiresome.
