November 24, 2014

Movie Night: RoboCop (2014).


Review #666: RoboCop (2014).

Cast
Joel Kinnaman (Alex Murphy/Robocop), Gary Oldman (Dr. Dennett Norton), Michael Keaton (Raymond Sellars), Samuel L. Jackson (Pat Novak), Abbie Cornish (Clara Murphy), Jackie Earle Haley (Rick Mattox), Michael K. Williams (Jack Lewis), Jennifer Ehle (Liz Kline), Jay Baruchel (Tom Pope), Aimee Garcia (Jae Kim), John Paul Ruttan (David Murphy), and Patrick Garrow (Antoine Vallon) Directed by José Padilha.

Review
It's not better than the original film. But I think we all knew that already. But at least it tries to be a decent movie. Whether or not it succeeds is up to the viewer. The movie's at least better than RoboCop 3 and up to the level of RoboCop 2, which I guess is a success. It's really hard to live up to the original film, especially for a remake/reboot, but at least it looks they tried to make a decent film. To be fair, I'd recommend renting the film. The acting is passable, the highlights being Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson, they make the film seem less basic, and they are pretty entertaining also. Kinnaman is not bad, while at times he feels flat; the emotional aspect of the character is at least explored a little, though it's really hard to beat Peter Weller's portrayal. The movie is probably more enjoyable when not being compared to the original, but then again that's really hard to not compare. The action is fine, though the fact that it's toned down due to the PG-13 rating does hinder its effect. I guess it helps make the film have more chance at profit, but who didn't watch the original film when they were a teen? Heck, I watched the original for the first time when I was 13, though that's a product of my dad's love of buying movies. But enough about my recollections, back to the review.  At least the tone of the film feels different, and the suit looks...pretty good. While they first show the suit with grey/silver as the main color, it actually looks better in black. It looks more robotic and less human like. While it may seem like the human drama drags it down at times and sometimes it feels odd, but I guess in the end it works...sort of. Much like the last film reviewed here (Star Trek: Into Darkness), it's a toss-up. Pick your poison.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

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