Robocop (1987) Vs. Robocop (2014)

Robocop (1987) - 4 Stars (out of four)

Robocop (2014) - 3 Stars (out of four)

And so the creative bankruptcy of Hollywood continues with the continuing rape of good R-rated adult fare being sanitized so children can watch inept PG-13 "rebootings" of old properties.  What's next?  Justin Bieber doing Scarface as a candy merchant on the lam set to a throbbing teen-synth-pop-autotune soundtrack?  It took me almost a year to watch this film, and now you ask, how was it?

In all fairness, not too bad.

I must admit, I went into this movie with a fair bit of trepidation and anxiety, considering how good the 1987 version was.  I had every intention of hating this PG-13 ripoff, but believe it or not, I did go in with an open mind.  And I must say, against all my instincts, I found myself enjoying the 2014 film, much to my amazement.

For those of you who don't know the story, the basic arc is the same in both movies.  Detroit police officer Alex Murphy is killed by criminals and then rebuilt by Omni Consumer Products (OCP) into a cybernetic organism: part machine, part man.  He is then put into service as a robot cop, an unstoppable law enforcement machine.  But his creators don't reckon on the human side of the machine, which overrides his programming to go on a personal quest to solve his own murder.  After running through various thugs, he finds the corruption goes straight to the top of OCP.  When they realize they've lost control, they try to kill Robocop, but in the end, he triumphs.

So far, the story is exactly the same.  Where they differ wildly is the overall tone of each movie.  Robocop 87 is an incredibly ultra-violent, very R-rated satire (once X-rated due to violence scenes cut down into the theatrical cut.  You can see this X-rated or unrated material reinserted in the Criterion Collection's very good treatment of this film as well as another recent rerelease.) on cutthroat 80's corporate culture as well as a sly commentary on high concept action movies that littered the 80's and early 90's before superheroes became the popcorn fare of summers.  I didn't think Robocop 87 could be improved upon, and I was mostly right.  But the filmmakers of the Robocop 14 pulled a sly one on us.  Gone is the over-the-top satirical violence of the Robocop 87 and is replaced by a more straightforward (read: semi-family friendly PG-13 fare) and sometimes heavy-handed commentary on current events, specifically the morality of drone warfare.  While this new version neuters the film of any real excitement, which frankly, is not for kids in either case, it does give the film some timely themes on which to reflect.

First, Robocop 87 is a wonderfully gratuitous, blood-spattered romp that was never meant for kids, as the R-rating suggests.  If you let your children under 15 watch this version, you are officially horrible parents and are partially responsible for the lack of empathy children have today.  For those who saw it as adults, it was a very cogent funhouse mirror to the over-excess of the 80's taken to their ridiculous extreme.  Robocop 87 is perfectly realized precisely because it is so anarchaic and gruesome.  Everything is delightfully bombastic from the overly pyschotic criminals, to the amoral cutthroat executives to the sexed-up Benny Hill-style TV show that everyone seems to enjoy in the movie.  It was holding up a distorted mirror to the amorality of the excess of the 80's and was saying, "This is where we are headed.  Without rules governing our morality and actions, the system will collapse."  Which is precisely what happened 20 years later when the U.S. economy hit the skids due mostly to unregulated greed and avarice that began in the 80's.  Robocop 87 works so well precisely because it is unapologetic in its satirical eye on the unchecked violence and gratuitous sex that permeates the whole film.  It is extremely well-written; tight with no loose ends.  It is basically entertaining us while simultaneously accusing us for taking pleasure in its shenanigans.

Robocop 14 is another animal entirely.  This is a movie that has something to say in a plain-spoken way; that is, drones bad.  U.S. bad for using.  That's really it.  Unlike Robocop 87, Robocop 14 was written for the dullards of a post-MTV, post-Baby Boomer empty-headed Occupy-(fill in stupid, näive, misguided, self-hating idiot cause here) generation too dumb to actually grasp complex problems.  It is extremely simplistic.  However, I was willing to go along with it because it wasn't too pushy at first.  That is, until the end with Samuel L. Jackson's rant on American jingoistic expansionism under threat of death-from-above drones as our enforcers.  The saving grace of the film, however, is that there is a beating, human heart at its core.  It attempts to bring the humanity back to the film.  Robocop 87 is essentially soulless anarchy made flesh.  Robocop 14 posits, I think correctly, that the human soul cannot be left out of any decision that may involve violence.  Where Robocop 87 was trying to warn us of the dangers of no soul, Robocop 14 was pointing out how important morality is in any decision, and ultimately is the more optimistic message.  Robocop 87 stares into the abyss and sees despair, Robocop 14 sees hope for humanity.  Outside of its heavy-handed sermonizing on what it considers the recent evil U.S. drone policy, I also took points off Robocop 14 because it left plot threads unresolved.  Not everybody gets their comeuppance.  In fact, those corrupt people at the top are largely forgotten.

So, what is better, satire or sermon?  In this instance, satire wins out because it is pulled off so well.  What could have been a pretty stupid 80's film like Gymkata or Time Rider, Robocop 87 pulls off an over-the-top morality tale without being overbearing.  It is also a complete little package, tightly told, and stays true to its own reality quite well.  Robocop 14, while more positive, seems both incomplete and violates the rules of its own universe with the rant at the end, as if to say, "Just in case we didn't hit you over the head enough, we are going to be even more obvious at the end just so there is no possible way you can confuse the fact we don't like U.S. drone policy."  This rant took me out of the story and left a bad taste in my mouth, hence the 3-star rating.  Also, as a personal peccadillo, I am also turned off by the recent cynical trend of de-balling great R-rated adult movies so they can get more butts in the seats with a PG-13 rating.  This trend MUST stop.  Both versions are good in their own ways.  Both are entertaining, but the original is tough to beat.  I hope they don't try with a sequel.