Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘RoboCop’ (2014)

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​If it is an inevitability that eventually our favorite franchises will fall into a funk and produce an awful or film or two, then it is equally inevitable that eventually the franchise will rise from those ashes as either a remake, or a reboot. Because let's be honest... those two ideas are about as popular as they come and you can currently find them everywhere in cinema.

But while the reboot/remake is the hottest thing in Hollywood right now, they have at times, been quite the mixed bag. Sometimes they're downright incredible and worth seeing in theaters, over and over and over again and sometimes... they're nothing special and easily forgotten. Once in a while however, a remake or reboot manages to do everything right, but they simply don't resonate with the audience, as was the case with 2014's relaunch of our favorite cyborg police officer in RoboCop.

Now this iteration of RoboCop followed some of the same plot lines found in the original, with the most obvious one being the transformation of Alex Murphy into RoboCop, but past that point, this is a fresh new take on the story, and it's a film that also explores so much more than any of its predecessors from a thematic concept standpoint since it digs into our reliance and attachment to technology, morality and ethics in both the business and political worlds, all with a dash of social satire/commentary revolving around the current need in the media to continually provide the audience with over the top rhetoric thrown in for good measure as well.

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​But while that is a lot to assemble in a story, I'm fairly certain the big question of all of your minds is whether or not this reboot is any good and worth your time and the answer to that question is a resounding yes. The acting is top notch, with wonderful performances from Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Jackie Earle Haley and the always incredible Samuel L. Jackson and they are bookended by a fast-paced script that keeps the story moving along, which in turn begs the question; if the cast is so kickass and the story so solid, why didn't this film do bigger business at the box office and find itself beloved and embraced by the fans?

The answer to that is simple… it tries to do too much. The filmmakers clearly saw an opportunity to create the most intelligent film in the franchise and quite frankly, they succeeded in their goal, but look once more at the list of things they packed into this particular feature and it's really just too much to tackle in a single film. There's nothing with writing a whip smart script that features all kinds of goodies, but what made the original film so successful is that it catered to the fanbase on every level. If you weren't in the mood to think deeply on a film, there was plenty of action to entertain. If wanted you dissect the movie, there was plenty to mentally digest. But this particular entry in the series at times almost demands that the audience appreciate the smarts of the script and well... that removes the fun of the experience, because let's not forget, this is about a dude who is transformed into a freaking badass cyborg.

Which brings us to the film's other fatal flaw...the fact that it plays everything a little too straight. The tongue in cheek moments and silliness found in the other films are completely and utterly gone from this version of RoboCop and that's a turn off as well. But make no mistake about it, while those flaws do detract from the film, it's definitely watchable and it definitely gives the audience a lot to think about after the credits have faded to black and much like the original, it is in line with the times and likely ahead of the curve when it comes to the future of technology as well, so when approaching this remake if you haven't seen it yet, my advice is simple...go in with zero expectations. Don't worry about the past films and enjoy this one for the brooding and intelligent feature that it is, and the key is to enjoy it, because sadly... since it wasn't a giant box office smash, it's hard to say if we will see another film featuring Officer Alex Murphy ever again.

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