I do credit the producers for taking the risks of remaking a classic AND attempting a different perspective than the original. However, in order to do this successfully, one needs to understand the elements that made the original "Robocop" a classic.
The classic film "The Terminator" had already addressed the dangers of robotic warfare, soldiers, armor and drones. However, "Robocop" (1987)focused on the dehumanization of mankind and one man's struggle to regain the humanity taken from him. While physically almost all machine, "Murphy" was more human than all of the other characters, except for his partner and a sympathetic police lieutenant. In this "Robocop," there are plenty of sympathetic humans supporting Murphy, even if some of them are seriously flawed.
Dan O'Herlihy was brilliant playing the white collar psychopath CEO of Omnicorp in "Robocop" (1987). His CEO was not even aware he was a monster. Likewise, Ronny Cox brilliantly played a corporate executive clearly aware of his white collar evil. Unfortunately, Cox's character does not appear in the remake, having been replaced by paramilitary robotics engineer, extremely well played by Jackie Earle Haley. While Haley is great, his character is a poor substitute for the character played by Ronny Cox.
Likewise, Kurtwood Smith's hilariously evil assassin in "Robocop" (1987) has been replaced by a bland assassin blandly played by Patrick Garrow.
Thankfully, Garry Oldman and Abbie Cornish, who play characters who either did not exist or were peripheral to the plot in "Robocop" (1987) perform brilliantly. Cornish, a world class actress, is, quite simply, amazing in a nothing role. I shudder to think how this "Robocop" would play without her.
Finally, one of the brilliantly prophetic elements of the original "Robocop" was the trivialization of news and entertainment, clearly suggesting a "dumbed-down" society totally unconscious of the decay and chaos surrounding them. However, in this "Robocop," we get a poor parody of Fox News and "The O'Reilly Factor" and an overused Samuel L. Jackson instead of either a Bill O'Reilly lookalike or Alec Baldwin (who would have been perfect). In addition, Detroit in this "Robocop" looks like a prosperous city, not a "war zone".
The producers would have been better served by simply re-shooting the original story with updated special effects, as the stop motion animation in the original "Robocop" was the worst thing about the movie.
I give "Robocop" (2014) a weak "6" based ENTIRELY on Abbie Cornish.
The classic film "The Terminator" had already addressed the dangers of robotic warfare, soldiers, armor and drones. However, "Robocop" (1987)focused on the dehumanization of mankind and one man's struggle to regain the humanity taken from him. While physically almost all machine, "Murphy" was more human than all of the other characters, except for his partner and a sympathetic police lieutenant. In this "Robocop," there are plenty of sympathetic humans supporting Murphy, even if some of them are seriously flawed.
Dan O'Herlihy was brilliant playing the white collar psychopath CEO of Omnicorp in "Robocop" (1987). His CEO was not even aware he was a monster. Likewise, Ronny Cox brilliantly played a corporate executive clearly aware of his white collar evil. Unfortunately, Cox's character does not appear in the remake, having been replaced by paramilitary robotics engineer, extremely well played by Jackie Earle Haley. While Haley is great, his character is a poor substitute for the character played by Ronny Cox.
Likewise, Kurtwood Smith's hilariously evil assassin in "Robocop" (1987) has been replaced by a bland assassin blandly played by Patrick Garrow.
Thankfully, Garry Oldman and Abbie Cornish, who play characters who either did not exist or were peripheral to the plot in "Robocop" (1987) perform brilliantly. Cornish, a world class actress, is, quite simply, amazing in a nothing role. I shudder to think how this "Robocop" would play without her.
Finally, one of the brilliantly prophetic elements of the original "Robocop" was the trivialization of news and entertainment, clearly suggesting a "dumbed-down" society totally unconscious of the decay and chaos surrounding them. However, in this "Robocop," we get a poor parody of Fox News and "The O'Reilly Factor" and an overused Samuel L. Jackson instead of either a Bill O'Reilly lookalike or Alec Baldwin (who would have been perfect). In addition, Detroit in this "Robocop" looks like a prosperous city, not a "war zone".
The producers would have been better served by simply re-shooting the original story with updated special effects, as the stop motion animation in the original "Robocop" was the worst thing about the movie.
I give "Robocop" (2014) a weak "6" based ENTIRELY on Abbie Cornish.