Click here for the review of Robocop (1987)

Part of the "1980s" series.

I love that movie...even though I liked Boddicker. Now Dick Jones...that's a villain you want dead.

And I will say this about Robocop 2, Cain reminds of George Carlin. And yes, that movie did suck ass.

As for Robocop 3, it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

My comments for James' review:

1. I personally find the most distrubing sequence to be when Emil runs into the toxic waste tank, comes out disfigured, and then gets splattered all over the windshield by Clarence as he hits him. Of course this scene is considered comical by many, but it's still pretty grusome and kind of gratuitous if you think about it. I think it's a prelude to the "head expansion" stuff done in Verhoeven's next movie "Total Recall".

2. The gory details for the unrated cut are: 1. Murphy getting his arm blown off during his death along with his death lasting a little longer. 2. A close-up of the bullet hitting Bobby's leg. 3. Mr. Kenny's death lasting a few more seconds. 4. A few more seconds of Clarence stumbling around after Murphy stabs him. Other than that, the rest of the movie is exactly the same.

3. It's true that the villains in this movie are despicable and deserve their comeuppance. That's probably why they're so memorable and a lot of credit goes to the actors, writers, and Paul Verhoeven. I mean characters like Emil and Clarence definately suffered for their criminal actions.

4. There's definately a lot of memorable dialogue in this movie that I'm sure we've all quoted at one time or another. Don't tell me none of you have ever said "I'll buy that for a dollar!" or "Can you fly, Bobby?".

5. Surprised James didn't comment on the stop-motion special effects for ED-209. I mean CGI was starting to come around during the time of this movie, but Paul Verhoeven and the great Phil Tippet decided to go with older effects for ED-209. Even though the effects may seem a bit crude by today's standars, they fit in with the style and tone of the film.

6. We shouldn't forget about the great score from Basil Poledouris nor the Oscar-nominated editing from Frank J. Urioste.

Was he that guy who got killed by the glitch ED-209? Cause it lasted more than a few additional seconds.

In case any of you are curious, here is James' review of "Robocop 3".

http://www.reelviews.net/movies/r/robocop3.html

He never reviewed "Robocop 2", but he did say it's "plodding and pointlessly violent", "a senselessly-violent rehash of the first", and that "the satire was tired and the action pedestrian."

Yes. In the theatrical version Dr. Macnamara (ED-209's operator) quickly pulls out the plug on his console which causes ED-209 to shut down as it shoots Mr. Kenny. In the unrated version, Dr. Macnamara struggles a bit to pull out the plug as ED-209 continues to shoot Mr. Kenny's body.

James,

Between "Robocop" and "The Terminator", which movie do you like more? You gave both 3.5 stars after all.

You can also throw in "Terminator 2" in your comparsion if you're so inclined since you gave that movie 3.5 stars as well.

It's sad to think of the career trajectory of Irvin Kershner after The Empire Strikes Back.

I actually liked the Robocop sequels, yeah they weren't as good as the first but they still were pretty enjoyable IMO(though part 3 would've been better if it hadn't gotten trimmed down to a PG-13 rating)

Love this film.

Its extremely efficient. Not one wasted piece of celluloid.

Like James said, its got satire, violence, gore, action, brains......everything. Its got it all.

The perfect action film.

Oh, and the Basil Poledouris score rocks.

If you've been watching 24, you'll have noticed that it's had lately a LOT of RoboCop actors. Peter Weller, Paul McCrane, Kurtwood Smith, Ray Wise. Is there anybody I'm missing?

As awesome as Smith is here though, he'll always be Red Foreman to me.

There are few movies that really surprise me, but Robocop certainly did. Not having read any reviews beforehand, I walked into the movie expecting nothing more than a normal genre film. While the action was great, it was the satire that really separated this movie from its competition. The back-biting businessmen taking over the Detroit police force, the Entertainment Tonight newscasters giving mindless news reports: all blew me away. Even the line, "I'll buy that for a dollar" was superb. This was a well-known line used in low brow skits during the old days of vaudeville, and was used to show how TV entertainment in the near future of Detroit had regressed to the lowest common denominator. Sound familiar in these days of reality TV?

Speaking of the Terminators, I just love it how the trailer for Robocop uses the theme music for those films!

Actually, CGI was still not ready for prime time. It was first used to any large degree in THE ABYSS, which was 1989. Cameron then used in more aggressively for T2, and Spielberg picked it up for JURASSIC PARK. That's when it really took off. In 1987, it was still very experimental and only being used for very minor tweaks. The concept of using it for the ED-209 would not have been feasible, so there was really no choice other than to go stop-motion (or build a life-size robot).

I'd put TERMINATOR on top. ROBOCOP is the funniest of the three and T2 is the most technically proficient, but all things considered, TERMINATOR inches ahead of them. For me, though, THE '80s action film (albeit without a sci-fi flavor) was DIE HARD.

Out of curiosity, what was wrong with Robocop that lost it the final half star? I can't think of a better mix of action, jet-black comedy and genuine satire. Since I love black comedy, Robocop remains one of my absolute favourite films.

According to Frank Miller, the scripts he turned in for the Robocop sequels bear little resemblance to the final versions that came through the other side of the committees. I suspect that mindless, formulaic rehash is exactly what the money men had in mind. Ironically, Miller claims he gets more respect for his work on these movies than he ever did for his groundbreaking work on Batman and Daredevil.

I'll admit to the same, though it's not a bad thing at all. Smith's performance is easily the best part of That '70s Show, and it's probably only a few shades away from how he played Boddicker.

I just noticed something in your review Jamesy. Of course Peter Weller would lose his personality when he dons the suit, he's a ROBOT! But he gets some of his personality back at the end and his robotic performance was highly realistic.

I guess I would list either Tron or The Last Starfighter as the first movies I remember that used CGI to any extent.

But I think JB was talking about CGI interacting with people and how it wasn't fully ready...other than Young Sherlock Holmes, but who cares about that.