ROBOCOP (3 out of 10) Directed by José Padilha; written by Joshua Zetumer, based on characters created by Michael Miner and Edward Neumeier; starring Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish and Jackie Earle Haley; rated PG-13 (intense sequences of action including frenetic gun violence throughout, brief strong language, sensuality and some drug material); in general release, playing in either 35mm or the 70mm IMAX format; running time: 118 minutes.
By Jeff Michael Vice
The question at hand isn’t how the people responsible for the “RoboCop” remake come up with such a bloodless movie. After all, they did fill this PG-13 rated ”re-imagining” of the beloved, 1987 science-fiction/thriller with as much violent content as they possibly could, while still getting that more “family friendly” and supposedly more profitable rating from the MPAA.
No, the question at hand is: How did the people responsible for the “RoboCop” remake come up with such a truly bloodless movie? Not only is this version of the story nearly completely lacking in the graphic gore and other gruesome moments that made the original “RoboCop” so memorable, it’s also completely lacking in any genuine warmth and human emotion.
That might be excusable if it had even a whiff of the original film’s off-kilter goofiness and darkly cynical humor. Instead, this film is entirely too serious for its own, and, worse, it attempts to graft clumsy, ham-fisted messages about the perils of technology, artificial intelligence and gun control onto the concept – which was drawn various, uncredited sources (among other things, the “Frankenstein” mythos, Marvel’s “Deathlok” comics and author Fred Pohl’s classic science-fiction novel “Man Plus”).
The resulting film is an early frontrunner for the biggest disappointment of 2014. It’s a cold, sterile, plastic film creation that’s every bit as robotic as its title character.
Speaking of whom, Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman stars as Alex Murphy, a good, honest Detroit detective and family man who is badly burned and injured, and who is left barely alive after a car bombing. (The assassination attempt was a retaliatory action by a gun runner that Alex and his partner were investigating.)
As it turns out, the gun runner, Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow), was tipped off by a pair of Murphy’s fellow cops, and the comatose, amputee Alex is now powerless to do anything about the situation. Enter OmniCorp, a technology company and arms manufacturer that’s owned by the ruthless Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton).
Sellars and other company officials have convinced Alex’s wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), to use her husband as a test subject, for an experiment that will turn him into a half-human, half-robot police officer – the first of many if it works.
And Sellars even has his top scientist, Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), working on the project, which works a little too well – within days, Alex, now known as RoboCop, is cleaning up the crime-ridden streets of Detroit with “extreme prejudice.” Clara and Alex’s young son, David (John Paul Ruttan), are horrified to see their loved one turned into a seemingly emotionless killing machine.
All the parts were in place for an entertaining “Robo re-do.” It was directed by Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha, whose “Elite Squad” hit cop thrillers proved he had the right style and a flair for staging convincing action scenes. Though that only calls into question how much control he had over this particular movie. (Various production reports detailed Padilha’s battle with the studio over the story and content.)
It doesn’t help that the awful script, courtesy of newcomer Joshua Zetumer, that’s full of cutesy, designed-to-pluck-at-your-heartstrings moments. That doesn’t excuse Padilha from blame, however. At times the film’s action scenes look like they were taken from a first-person-shooter video games. (Only you can’t control the action, which is unfortunate.)
And Kinnaman, so magnetic on AMC’s “The Killing,” simply goes through the motions in his first major U.S. film starring role.
Meanwhile, the talented supporting cast is badly misused. Award-winning stage actress Jennifer Ehle has little to do as Sellars’ subordinate, Marianne Jean-Baptiste is an afterthought as Murphy’s boss, Jay Baruchel gets to wear a beard but offers few of his customary wisecracks as an OmniCorp marketing guru, and Michael K. Williams (HBO’s “The Wire”) barely registers as Murphy’s detective partner.
At least they fare better than youngster Ruttan, who’s a major irritant, as is Samuel L. Jackson, in a role as a right-wing propagandist/news talk show host.
Jeff Michael Vice, aka Jerk-bot, can be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast (www.thegeekshowpodcast.com), as well as be seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off (www.facebook.com/BigMovieMouthOff).