Sci-Fi RoboCop (2013)

[Alien Soup]

The RoboCop reboot has its first teaser trailer! The reboot starring Gary Oldman (Batman), Samuel L. Jackson (Star Wars), and Joel Kinnman (Girl with the Dragon Tatoo) in the title role, is expected to be released in 2013. Hugh Laurie (House) will also be appearing.

The reboot carries forward the basis premise of the original franchise in having an outstanding police officer, Alex Murphy, revived as a cyborg named RC-2000 (aka: RoboCop) used to fight crime.

 

[Starbeast from Planet X]

This sounds like a great update on the classic original movie. I won't watch the trailer, I like surprises. I like the new cast choices. Just by mentioning actors Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jaskson alone would bring me to see this movie, but then add Hugh Laurie, wow! Definately a must see.

Using today's technology in special effects will hopefully generate a good or great movie.

I've got high hopes for a cool futuristic sci-fi flick.

 

[actionavenue]

Well, thank you for posting the video teaser, although, I didn't find it all that engaging. I do have very high hopes for this movie though. Robocop is a favorite sci-fi movie for both me and my wife. Yes, yet another remake, but since Hollywood insists on remaking every great legendary movie...... they better give us the best results possible. Happy to see the cast is of stellar quality, that's a good start!

 

[Alien Soup]

Below is a set pic from the RoboCop reboot showing the new cyborg. The new RoboCop is more sleek & slick, akin to the current Batman armored suits, than the silver industrial style of the original series.

 

[Kevin]

Below is a set pic from the RoboCop reboot showing the new cyborg. The new RoboCop is more sleek & slick, akin to the current Batman armored suits, than the silver industrial style of the original series.

Reminds me more of an exo-skeleton suit, sort of like what we saw in the last GI Joe movie, rather than a cyborg.

 

[actionavenue]

Below is a set pic from the RoboCop reboot showing the new cyborg. The new RoboCop is more sleek & slick, akin to the current Batman armored suits, than the silver industrial style of the original series.

I like it. I think when a production company is dealing with a remake, especially involving a cult classic icon like Robocop, it is a wise move to do some things differently. In this case a good start is with the design of the cyborg. Remakes, by and large, are never going to be as popular as the original movie, so the film makers might as well have some fun putting their own stamp on different things involving the characters and the movie. That's why I enjoyed the new Fright Night so much, because everything was not copied frame for frame, it felt very different from the 1985 original. My vote for the most useless remake? That would be 1998's Psycho with Vince Vaughn. Not necessary at all. Fortunately for Vaughn, he's found success elsewhere in comedy movies. Sorry, looks like I went on a tangent!

 

[Kevin]

I like it. I think when a production company is dealing with a remake, especially involving a cult classic icon like Robocop, it is a wise move to do some things differently. In this case a good start is with the design of the cyborg. Remakes, by and large, are never going to be as popular as the original movie, so the film makers might as well have some fun putting their own stamp on different things involving the characters and the movie.

Thinking of some of the original RoboCop movies & related works, it'll be interesting to see if the new suit accommodates some of the stuff like the jet pack, rocket launchers, gun in the hip, and similar.

 

[DRE]

I'm not feeling the black armor. I hope he wears the silver armor at the end and not just the beginning.

 

[Azhria Lilu]

From the clip I would say they're starting with silver and moving to black.. probably as a nod toward the original film.

 

[DRE]

Yeah I thought that too until I saw the other black robocops that he was fighting. Makes me wonder if he might go back to the silver near the end. Perfect homage moment.

 

[Azhria Lilu]

A good point, they could possibly be thinking that.

 

[Kevin]

I finally had a chance to watch this remake and, honestly, it was a bit of a letdown. It was a slick movie with good special effects but absolutely none of the emotion of the original.

I think I need to queue up the original movies on Netflix to make up for watching this.

I'm not feeling the black armor. I hope he wears the silver armor at the end and not just the beginning.

From the clip I would say they're starting with silver and moving to black.. probably as a nod toward the original film.

Spoiler: It turns out...

... you are both right!

 

[BudBrewster]

I had forgotten about this movie until I saw this thread, and I appreciate the way it has prepared me for what the movie is and what it isn't. I found a good site that has a download of it, so I might get to watch it (if the download works) in the next few hours.

PromptFile.com | Share files fast

If not, I'll put it on my Netflix list, and I'll add this interesting thread to The Multi-Board Alphabetical Index.

 

[BudBrewster]

From Wikipedia: Andrew Osmond from SFX says, "It’s not a classic like Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original, but it is an excellent, intelligent SF drama", believing it is "one of the boldest Hollywood reboots we’ve seen yet.

I just watched this one for the first time today and I have to say I enjoyed it much more than I ever did the original.

The scene in which Murphy is first awakened in his new robot body has the feel of the dramatic scene in The Colossus of New York — right down to the disturbing shot of the poor body-less man seeing himself in a big mirror for the first time.

The FX for this scene are eye-popping.

Abbie Cornish is excellent in the role of the gorgeous and loving wife who must deal with a husband who now has more in common with Robby than the man she married.

The sets and props are true works of art, something I look for in every science fiction movie — and feel cheated when I don't get it.

The debate about whether full-on robots are better than partially human robots is well presented. It's the core of the story, and if they'd screwed that up, the movie wouldn't have worked.

Up until the moment Gary Oldman's character is ordered by corporate boss Michael Keaton to modify Murphy's brain to make him a bit less human, the story was just a new-and-improved Six Million Dollar Man.

But when that disturbing modification is made and Oldman explains to Keaton that the computer is now making the combat decisions while it tricks Murphy’s brain into thinking he is in control, the story is elevated to a higher and more interesting level.

I was also pleased by the way the characters frequently debated the issue of whether or not the public was willing to give robots the authority over human lives.

This is exactly what Klaatu’s society did in The Day the Earth Stood Still, and I think that decision was a huge mistake. I’d love to see a remake that focuses on the troubles which the interstellar society was having because of this decision, along with its regrets about having robots like Gort take over the moral decisions the sentient beings should have to make.

* Ironic note: Years ago I pitched my ideas for a remake on the IMDB science fiction message board, and I suggested Morgan Freeman play professor Barnhardt and Samuel L. Jackson play Klaatu. Mr. Jackson plays the charismatic talk show host in Robocop who strongly supports the use of robots as policemen.

When the story allows Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) to walk into his house and see his wife and son for the first time since his conversion to Robocop, I knew the brain modifications which Oldman later performed on Murphy’s brain would affect his feelings for his family.

And when Oldman decided to strip away the last of Murphy’s humanity with high levels of chemicals (just before the press conference and Robocop’s official unveiling) this movie locked itself solidly into the concept that made the original Robocop popular in the first place.

I was a little annoyed by the over-use of the "shaky cam". Applied at the right time and in the right manner, a hand-held camera gives a scene the look of reality, as if the cameraman was in danger, right along with the characters.

The fact that the story doesn't actually include a cameraman running around videoing what we see isn't important. The shaky camera makes the audience feel like there's someone right there with the characters, risking his life to show us what's happening.

Unfortunately Robocop's director wanted us to think there was a cameraman right there in far too many shots — like when Joel Kinnaman is making love to Abbie Cornish.

Other than that, this is a terrific movie. YouTube has several nice “making off” videos for the movie, including this one.

 

[Kevin]

Well, for anybody who was hoping for more of the rebooted Robocop, you may be out of luck.

A new Robocop movie is being planned but it is envisioned as picking up the original movie story line and ignoring the reboot. Tentatively both Paul Verhoeven and Neil Blomkamp (District 9) are attached.