It is definitely a notch above the standard 80s sci fi/action movie. I’d say it’s in the upper class of that era with the likes of Alien, Blade Runner and Terminator. I really don’t know what people hate about it. I thought the mix of parody and violence was quite groundbreaking.
I agree that Robocop was and is worthy of respect. I’d be perfectly happy to see it receive the Criterion treatment if they had the rights to the film today! But I didn’t really ever think of the film as worthwhile cinema at all during the years it was made, and the churning out of sequels, children’s toys, cartoon shows, etc. only confirmed the easy presumption that Robocop was just another schlocky film made for Saturday matinee popcorn munchers. My hunch is that a lot of the people who dismiss the film may have never seen the first one, and I’ll admit that if I hadn’t bought it as a Criterion DVD I might never have gotten around to giving it a chance myself.
I love Robocop i think it is a masterpiece, i may not take the movie so seriosly now, but that dosen`t make it a bad movie, it`s like saying Dawn of the Dead zombies look cheap, ¿who cares? the movie works on itself
Nothing wrong with the film. It doesn’t grab me one way or the other, though.
It’s no more worthy of the Criterion treatment than Transformers is.
How’s that for for hate?
Alright….who’s got a spare holiday hug for the Strawdawg? Adam? Tony?
(And some spiked egg nog probably wouldn’t hurt, either.)
One of the best American films of the past few decades, even better because it’s directed by an outsider in Hollywood looking in on our nation and criticizing the hell out of it. Verhoeven should have been tapped to direct THE WATCHMEN. He’s one of the few dudes whose worked consistently in Hollywood through the 80s and 90s who could have produced something cinematically thoughtful enough as well as satirically critical enough to stand a chance at translating from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s text.
Watched ROBOCOP about a month ago. It’s genius. Watched TOTAL RECALL this weekend. It’s fun, but really slight in comparison. Seriously, the lovers aren’t just naive fan-boys/girls. I believe Verhoeven and Neumeier have thought a lot about how mortification, torture, and trauma have molded the American psyche in its move towards modern corporate society and global policing. And they’ve expressed it with amazing intelligence entertaining verve. I’d buy THAT for a dollar!
I haven’t seen TRANSFORMERS, but it must be brilliant to keep in the company of ROBOCOP. Michael Bay, I never thought you had it in you…
At this point, I think the Criterion treatment of ROBOCOP might be gratuitous since I saw a 2-disc studio copy at Target this week for $7 with, I believe, the same director’s cut with minimal yet wrenching added violence as well as a good transfer according to the likes of DVDbeaver.
Also, if you’re interested in ROBOCOP: youtube “amazing robocop rap”
I can’t stand Robocop, though I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad film. I like the general satire of American society, particularly nineteen eighties America, but it’s all just too much. The movie is so damned irritating. It’s essentially a cheesy melodrama with gratuitous violence. This gratuity is supposed to be part of the point, fine, but the hell wants to see it? Not me.
I saw RoboCop when it came out, as an already established Verhoeven fan, and absolutely loved it – I didn’t bother with the sequels, because what specifically appealed to me (and the same goes for Starship Troopers, arguably even more so) was seeing American culture through the perspective of a highly intelligent and ultra-cynical European director.
I’m less impressed with Verhoeven’s sci-fi films that weren’t scripted by Ed Neumeier – but then again, Neumeier’s non-Verhoeven filmography doesn’t look that great either, so I suspect it’s one of those creative symbiosis things.
The movie is so damned irritating. It’s essentially a cheesy melodrama with gratuitous violence. This gratuity is supposed to be part of the point, fine, but the hell wants to see it? Not me.
Well, me, for one – and one of the things I love about Verhoeven’s films is the way the best ones run the gamut from high art to gleefully extreme exploitation. In fact, the first Verhoeven film I saw was The Fourth Man, his “art movie” that he made specifically to annoy Dutch critics who’d been complaining that he was too commercially-oriented – it’s crammed to the gills with self-conscious Buñuelian symbolism and bizarre dream sequences, but it also works beautifully as a gore-drenched horror film.
I dunno, I like some Verhoeven (and Robocop’s okay) but I also think he’s consistently overrated. The most egregious example is Starship Troopers, wherein the satire is so obvious and the the targets so easy I always have to wonder if the movie’s admirers are truly facile or, for some reason, just really, really WANT it to be great.
That said, I do think Starship Troopers is a well-made popcorn flick.
Wait a second, why am I talking about Starship Troopers?
The most egregious example is Starship Troopers, wherein the satire is so obvious and the the targets so easy I always have to wonder if the movie’s admirers are truly facile or, for some reason, just really, really WANT it to be great.
Well, I’ve come across plenty of people who don’t recognise that there’s any satire there at all, or who think the satire is exclusively based around totalitarian imagery (Leni Riefenstahl and the like) – as opposed to relentless mockery of 1950s-style American values dominant at the time the novel was written, which to me is the film’s main satirical purpose.
Robocop rules, and i think Criterion was well justified in releasing it at the time. From what i’ve seen, it seems to be the only release in Verhoeven’s intended aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Not only that, but the film is great on so many different levels. I think most people pass it off as a just a sci-fi popcorn film from the late 80’s, but it’s so much more. It’s social commentary is scathing, and it’s just a brilliant film altogether.
Comparing to transformers would be like comparing Full Metal Jacket to Pearl Harbor…
I think most people pass it off as a just a sci-fi popcorn film from the late 80’s, but it’s so much more.
I distinctly remember when it came out that the critical reaction was that RoboCop was an invigorating injection of fresh air into a rather tired genre – as a Verhoeven fan, I would have seen it anyway, but I don’t think the reviews would have put me off even if I hadn’t been.
Certainly no argument about its merits as a Criterion film – its credentials are far stronger than, say, Armageddon.
I find it interesting how Starship Troopers has become more lauded than Robocop, but I suppose in the current political climate it seems fitting. The satire of these soldiers as Ken and Barbie dolls ready to be reassembled after battle is brilliant, the gore combined with the casual attitude toward it provides for a film both criticizing the violent culture of the US and how action films feed off of this.
Anyway, back to Robocop! I love Peter Weller too much to ever criticize a movie he’s in, and this one I remember seeing when I was around 11 or 12 and being scarred by it, Verhoeven isn’t meant for kids. The over-the-top gore that is a Verhoeven staple and the cheesy images once again perfectly subverts the Hollywood action film, not trying to overcome cliches, but instead it dives right into them in a way completely mocking, unlike Michael Bay where the cliches are just laziness in writing, Verhoeven uses them as a mirror of Hollywood itself.
I forgot about the post-modern dissidence.
“Well, I’ve come across plenty of people who don’t recognise that there’s any satire there at all, or who think the satire is exclusively based around totalitarian imagery (Leni Riefenstahl and the like) – as opposed to relentless mockery of 1950s-style American values dominant at the time the novel was written, which to me is the film’s main satirical purpose.”
“The over-the-top gore that is a Verhoeven staple and the cheesy images once again perfectly subverts the Hollywood action film, not trying to overcome cliches, but instead it dives right into them in a way completely mocking.”
I think these lead me to one of my main problem’s with Verhoeven’s approach. What’s the point of this type of satire, anyway? Where’s the subversion? The supposed knuckleheads who take the film at face value obviously won’t have their minds changed, and those of us who “get the joke” already get the joke. It seems like a very expensive way to enable a rarefied and cynical minority to pat themselves on the back. (And before anyone gets mad at me, I include myself in the target demographic.)
“Well, I’ve come across plenty of people who don’t recognise that there’s any satire there at all, or who think the satire is exclusively based around totalitarian imagery (Leni Riefenstahl and the like) – as opposed to relentless mockery of 1950s-style American values dominant at the time the novel was written, which to me is the film’s main satirical purpose.”
“The over-the-top gore that is a Verhoeven staple and the cheesy images once again perfectly subverts the Hollywood action film, not trying to overcome cliches, but instead it dives right into them in a way completely mocking.”
I think these lead me to one of my main problems with Verhoeven’s approach. What’s the point of this type of satire, anyway? Where’s the subversion? The supposed knuckleheads who take the film at face value obviously won’t have their minds changed, and those of us who “get the joke” already get the joke. It seems like a very expensive way to enable a rarefied and cynical minority to pat themselves on the back. (And before anyone gets too mad at me, I include myself in the target demographic.)
boohoo. it’s just not the kind of film that should be discussed here. There’s IMDB for that.
“What a grouch!”
I hate it when people don’t know what kinds of films should be discussed here.
Let’s talk about something else, Pedro’s relative is getting upset.
This is the wrong place for it. If I had a Ford and I went to the Lexus forum and started asking people about Ford and getting upset when they said I don’t know or care about Fords, because I thought all cars were the same, it would be my problem. If people are going to discuss Robocop here, prepare to be disappointed. I wish this site was still in Beta or invitation only. The type of people who have flooded in have ruined this site.
Yeah! Take that!
Whoa. What a lot of snobbishness and condescension in one post!
As I’ve made clear, I don’t think that much of Verhoeven, but you can hardly argue that discussion of his films is somehow out of place here. The first glowing review I read of Starship Troopers was in Artforum, for cryin’ out loud, not Premiere.
All I’m saying is take this somewhere else. If I were to see this on IMDB I’d ignore it, bc that is the place for it. If this place is going to turn into everywhere else I don’t want to be here. This place needs to set itself apart otherwise it’s just another movie place with an incomplete database.
I think what you’re missing is that there are many thoughtful people (critics, teachers, passionate amateurs,) who take Verhoeven’s work (including Robocop) seriously. It’s not like someone coming on and going “Transformers pwns!!!”
Transformers totally pwns!!!111
How’d that guy get in here?!
Adam Lee
It seems that a lot of people on these forums dislike Robocop. My question is, have you even seen it? Robocop is one of the most overlooked masterpieces of 1980s action, social commentary and post-modern dissidence. The world of hyper-violence that Paul Verhoeven creates in this futuristic tale is truly unmatched for it’s time. I beg all of the naysayers to revisit this film, or at least visit it for the first time, and to dismiss it’s atrocious sequels and knock-offs.