Robocop (1987) - 7/10

I’m giving Robocop a rewatch after learning that its iconic poster is in fact an illustration and not a photo. Not groundbreaking news, but it’s as good a reason as any. This is a film from my childhood. I was too young to see it on release, but thanks to the VHS boom it wasn’t long before my impressionable eyes bore witness. It was after all, right from the get go… iconic. It’s a little less hard hitting and much more arch than I recall, with a news anchor introducing us to a mildly dystopian world of future tech and escalating crime. The focus of which is a cop killer called Clarence (Kurtwood Smith) operating in Detroit. In order to clean things up, the police department has been privatised and is now funded by OCP, a tech firm run by a bunch of suits who’re as much criminals as Clarence, but we’re getting ahead. The only true good guys here are cops, Murphy (Peter Weller), who’s been transferred in and partnered up with Lewis (Nancy Allen). They’re good, hard working, tough but honest. We don’t dig too far into the character profiles, but this much is clear. Murphy though finds himself at the wrong end of a barrage of bullets and in order to save his life, or rather give him a second one and further their tech vision of a future police force, OCP give him some experimental death bed upgrades and get him back on the streets as, Robocop. There’s lots of drama, lots of blood and gore, lots of well placed one-liners, it’s classic 80s action horror and perhaps most importantly, Robocop looks cool. Monotone dialogue in a shiny cyberpunk suit, he’s essentially The Terminator. He’s supposed to be a clean slate, a machine, but deep within the circuitry, Murphy remains and before long his torturous demise haunts his metallic mainframe and he heads out for revenge. It’s all pretty simple from there, but this has more nuance than it’s given credit for and it uses its action sequences thoughtfully. Yes there’s plenty of cinematic eye candy, including some nice stop-frame work on the Ed-209 prototype that sets up a fantastic finale, but there’s really heart to it too. Murphy is likeable and engaging, even with his aloof demeanour and the feuding bad guys are wonderfully loathsome. It looks fantastic too. Of its age, but still immersive. It’s grungy, darkly comedic, with really great bad guys and an even better good one… and the poster is really cool.

7/10