Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Paul Verhoeven, Orion Pictures, M, 102 Minutes.
Sci-fi supremo and Dutch director Paul Verhoeven of ‘Total Recall’ fame has helmed one of the most stirring sci-fi thrillers of the late eighties, set in the dystopian, crime-ridden and near apocalyptic town of Detroit.
The movie opens with the murder of a number of police officers which results in the city government agreeing to sign a contract with Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to privatise the police force within the Detroit Police Department.
Despite the Department being displeased at the agreement ODP proceeds on testing their crime-eradicating cyborg machines at the same time as new police recruit Murphy (Peter Weller – ‘Screamers’) accompanies his partner Lewis (Nancy Allen – ‘Philadelphia Experiment’) on their first police patrol.
While attending to a police call about a robbery, both police officers are forced to confront a violent gang of criminals led by Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith – ‘Broken Arrow’) prior to his vicious attack on Murphy.
Murphy’s mutilated body is later taken to the OCP’s special facility to be transformed into a RoboCop prototype – a part human, part cyborg cop where having awaken begins to see images of his wife and son.
After emerging from his ordeal, he is then revealed by OCP’s Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer – ‘Traffic’) as RoboCop to the other executives, including the company’s Old Man (Dan O’Herlihy – ‘Last Starfighter’) and the devious Dick Jones (Ronny Cox – ‘Beverly Hills Cop’).
Once he discovers Jones’ connection with his assassin Boddicker, including his reprehensible plans for the city and Detroit’s PD, Murphy hunts down Boddicker before going after Jones at OCP headquarters and disposing of his robotic cyborgs.
As is his usual style with many of his sci-fi action thrillers Verhoeven’s ‘RoboCop’ is certainly a violent movie, at times brutal, possibly necessitated in the context of the captivating and gripping plot.
In some respects, Verhoeven appears to indicate though his movie that due to the murders of many police officers around the world it is time to have robotic cops act as the future for law enforcement.
Besides the enthralling storyline the most enjoyable performances are from Weller in a highly convincing portrayal of the cyborg RoboCop and Allen his sidekick in one of her best portrayals to date.
It is no surprise that the 1987 movie has become somewhat of a cult classic with sequels released in 1990 and 1993.
Vic’s Verdict: 4 Stars
Robocop is to be televised on Channel 9 GO at 10.10pm on Saturday 7 August.
