Suvudu Universe

Tonight I attended the first ever screening of RoboCop (2014). I figure if you like Star Wars, you probably have at least a little interest in RoboCop (maybe). Both have cyborgs and robots, so that’s how I’ll justify reviewing this on a Star Wars blog. I apologize for any typos. I’m just trying to get this out before I go to bed tonight.

RoboCop (2014) is a surprisingly good and fun film. However, it lacks the punk rock edge and biting satire of the 1987 film from which it is based upon. But to its credit, it attempts to grapple with the ideas and concepts futurists like Ray Kurzweil have told us to get ready for. In some ways, RoboCop (2014) makes our future seem further away than it really is, but at least it tries to deal with the struggles we face with machines, surveillance, and the information age.

The movie is not a lazy half hearted attempt at making a RoboCop film. Director José Padilha and the team of writers tried and it paid off. The movie is not going to replace that nostalgic feeling you have for the first film. So don’t even ask it to do that. This iteration is similar but does its own thing and does it well. The movie is a satisfying take on RoboCop. Even if it lacks the utter insanity of the original and instead appeals to the human heart.

The film ultimately wins for not trying to be the original. The biting satire of the original just seems like it would fall flat without the right writers. This movie instead decides to delve into the meaning of humanity, family, and privacy in the information age. Using RoboCop to have this conversation was appropriate and to be honest, I’m glad they did it this way because we have something new instead of something just retold. The movie never really makes us relive any classic moments, instead doing what it must do to serve the story it tries to tell.

This movie is not going to hurt your childhood. RoboCop 3 already did that. This movie is better than RoboCop 2 by leaps and bounds (unless you want 80′s cheese in which nothing made today is going to really beat that anyways). A part of me wants to say this is what Batman Begins is to Batman (1989). But I’m afraid that might be too extreme, but that’s the best I can do at midnight on a Tuesday night.

The spoilers have been removed as the request of Nancy, who is very nice.

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