I think this is the first time someone has done an hour+ deep dive into the script issues of the Robocop remake. If that's the case...then, I'm honored? I guess? I WAS BORN TO DO THIS! This video is 100% written, recorded, and edited by me. If you wanna support these projects, consider checking out my patreon. Thanks a bunch. This video honestly was an awesome experience. Except for watching the movie 3 times. That part wasn't awesome. Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/underthemayo Mayo merch here! teespring.com/stores/underthemayo TH-cam Memberships to my channel now available, click the "Join" button. Follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv/underthemayo
i just finished your video dude. I know you mentioned how the filmmakers werent intentional with the black armor. However When the shitty black sidekick jokes in the movie after seeing Robocop he says "its all good your the right color now." Now not only is this a shitty racial joke its a deliberate dig at people who were critical and goes to show they fullied embraced this awful film. Im glad Peter Weller hated the fact any remake would have been made.
I kept thinking: "Put the damn helmet on!" I remember when the og Robocop removes the helmet for the first time. It was iconic... removing the screws, Lewis's face, the mirror... Things like these truly make the difference.
The detail they put into his prosthetics in that scene to make it look authentic when he removes his helmet and still holds up until this day. He goes from being Robocop to Alex Murphy the Robocop in that scene, and the remake just wastes that from the start by making him humanized instead of robotic and him regaining his humanity towards the end.
The reboot was written by people that watched the original and only looked at it from the surface as an action movie and said "we can do better than that" without understanding WHY the movie was made the way it was. Robocop is literally pinpointing the exact problem that Verhoven was attempting to satirize, how corporations are just so out of control as they take everything we know and make it marketable. There was absolutely no need for a reboot of Robocop (or Total Recall, or Conan, or Clash of the Titans, or Ghostbusters... you see a trend here?). Everything was just a shameful cash-grab and only made money for the parties involved. I remember a quote by the Nostalgia Critic on his review of 'Batman and Robin': "Safe and marketable". The main problem I had with this version of Robocop was that Murphy is fully aware of what happened to him. In the OG movie, there is no Murphy, just Robocop with Murphy's memories and he has to put pieces together of who he was... but never truly manages to put it all back together (no pun intended). This version of Robocop leaves Murphy distraught about what has happened to him, but he will eventually be able to cope with it and move on. Also, I'm so sick of every "suit" looking like Iron Man.
@@mlk22 I mean, except for missing the entire "man gets memories of going to Mars and discovers he's a secret agent from Mars", yeah, it followed it really well.
@@cujoedaman That wasn't in the original short story "We will remember it for you ... Wholesale" - The entire story took place on Earth... I have the short story! I am a fan of Philip K. Dicks writing.
I agree with you, but also there is more you missed... Samuel L. Jackson, a legend... He really is! But the role they had him play, So many Tropes... Such as "No one trusts a Bald Man with the News" - That is a Genuine point of view held by many Media Establishments! Also, as when I watched teh Movie - I did not pay but Pirated and saw the Unrated Cut... The Studio thought that Samuel L. Jackson swearing a lot was Meme Worthy and would get them attention so the end of the movie is not a Single Bleeped Curse word, but a Litany of Bleeped Curse Words... As if that is all Samuel L. Jackson is known for! Swearing a lot! Murphey wanting his Life back... Joel Kinnerman sadly has no real chemistry with his onscreen wife... I did not believe they loved one another at all... Let alone that Murphy was written as the "Stereotypical" Police Officer with and obsession hero... The OG Murphy was Likeable, He felt like a real human who just wanted to do what was right... Not this Murphy! Boring Stereotype! And wanting his life back... Wanting to be with his wife just comes across as a Subliminal Advert for the "New Anne Summers Strap-A-Dick-to-Me 3000... A Division of Omni Consumer Products" - HE HAS NO BODY!!! HE HAS NO PENIS!!! HE IS A WALKING CORPSE FOR LORDS SAKE! It ends up feeling shallow... I woudl have believed it more had he come to terms with his "Death" and told his wife and son to find a new family... That woudl have been heartfelt! But NO!, They went with the "Happy Ending" where a Walking Dead Man will attempt to have a "Love Life"??? It was SO RIDICULOUS! Let alone one complaint that I did not share with the OG movie - Some did not like the Emotional Angle... Murphy regaining his memories and missing who he used to be, Missing his wife and son hence why in Robocop 2 they had that scene where Murphy has to confront the issue head on! Again, That was all heartfelt ... It made sense... And while you knew that Murphy hated himself for having to do that, he knew he had to... This remake has NONE OF THAT! And it HURTS!!! Oh, And that Big Bad Guy... The one Murphy is after... From teh OG film we all remember Clarence Boedecker ... Kurt Smith made him STUNNING! Unforgettable... ... I had to watch the movie 5 SODDING TIMES to remember the name of the man the remakes Murphy was after as he is DULL, UNMEMORBALE, and frankly barely features!!! How the hell was he even a Crime Lord??? He wasn't scary, Wasn't intimidating, He was a generic man in a suit...
This movie is everything the original is making fun of, a soulless corporate product. Whereas the original was a real passion project. In the 2014 movie, even the actors look bored, they are just there for the paycheck. There´s not a single performance that stands out, even Gary Oldman is wasted
In a twisted sort of way, the remake managed to reach back in time, and *crystalized* its own inspiration(s). This nu RoboCop, deserves respect. Not as something 'good' on its own, but a "confirmation" of everything the original got 'right'.
I agree, and might even go so far as to say the entire supporting cast is wasted. I straight-up forgot just how much talent was in this movie man, holy shit it's a stacked cast for a movie so forgettable it's like simulating brain damage.
"There´s not a single performance that stands out" That is some mad shit you are talking. I cannot look at the scene of Murphy looking at his body reduced to some organs and a head and believe for a second that actor was phoning it in.
@@goukeban6197 Unfortunately a lot of people believe when something is bad (and this movie is bad!) that it must actually have literally zero redeeming qualities whatsoever
In the original, as you described it, Murphy really does look like his face skin is just stretched over a robot skull. It's amazing. The new one is just a guy in a suit.
I hate his design in remake because it softens the blow. OG murphy was so brutally mangled and was DEAD, and his face is basically pitiful - naked and grotesque, the gaudy armor juxtaposed against human face. It was painful and sad. Its body horror. I do not get that feeling from remake at all - it really is a guy in a suit, while the OG was neither human nor robot.
@@sonnieslim5973 But he doesn't look like it. That's what we're talking about. You had as much time as you needed to read the statements provided and ponder the issue and that's what you come up with?
He reminds me a little too much of ninja Zero from *'Anarchy Reigns'* (who BTW, happens to be a guy in a suit). Just give him a katana and cloaking tech and he's 'Roboninja' instead.🤖🥷
What's hilarious to me is that this movie starts by establishing that OCP already has the military contracts for their robots, which is what Dick Jones was trying to accomplish with ED-209, which is where the REAL money is. That was his entire aim in fact, the police stuff was just a stepping stone ("who cares if it works or not?"). This movie reverses that. OCP already has the military contract on lockdown as evidenced by the opening scene, and their big play now is to get city level law enforcement contracts for their robotics division by reversing the Dreyfus Act? Like, are you joking me? You have an apparently worldwide contract with the military industrial complex, with an army of drone robots in Iran of all places, and your concerned about some chump change pumping out police robots for Detroit? Like, yeah, maybe this will lead to contracts all around the country. But that's still piddly squat in comparison to being what appears to be the sole manufacturer of robot death squads for the American military. The original Robocop gets the economics of this situation. This movie does not.
@@avengercannon I was actually thinking of mentioning that Ghostbusters game considering it is basically Ghostbusters 3. I'm glad some people still appreciate that game.
I think this is the same studio behind Terminator Resistance. As a child of the 80s, i feel like SOMEONE at that studio with some clout really respected the source material for both of these games
Also great detail about the old ED-209's sound design is how the roaring feline turns in to a squealing pig after the little accident in the stairwell.
Don't forget the stop-motion acting by Phil Tippett. His death rattle is present in many of his works over the years, from the rankor's last gasp to the death of both ED-209s.
so this is basically the film version of "Can i do this to make the movie cool?" No "Can I do this other thing to make the movie cool?" No "Can I do this thing to make the movie cool?" No -repeat until ending
In the original Robocop, ED-209 is not just a faulty, mindless killing machine. It's competing directly for Robocop's job and Dick Jones needs ED-209 to succeed so that he can be top dog at OCP. That's why he has Morton killed and wants Robocop destroyed.
That is only half the story because Morton had to go over Dick Jones's head to get the Robocop initiative approved, to rub salt in the wound Morton did this immediately after the failed ED-209 demonstration and Dick Jones took that personally. I'd also like to point out that there'd be no Robocop if ED-209 hadn't turned a OCP board member into paste during it's first demonstration because that failure gave Morton the opportunity to take his idea straight to the Old Man.
@@RKingis Directive 4 was mainly there to overrule directive 3: uphold the law, which wouldn't have allowed Robocop to look away from Dick Jones's crimes.
roboflop , my fav scene is the "what´s left" that single hand is so stupid, and when he was metal like classic looks fine then they go full black turning into "guy in costume"
I kinda liked the silver version. It's not as good as the original, but it works. The full black looks terrible. Between that and how often he takes his helmet off just makes it feel like B movie Robocop rip off.
There was actually a deleted scene that detailed the significance of his hand human hand. Basically it went more into the idea of marketing him as more human to gain the public’s favor and whatnot. A really cool idea in my opinion! It’s just a shame the scene was cut and what was left was so poorly executed. Pretty much summarizes the whole movie XD.
@@alandeckervi8442 Because it was illegal for robots to carry weapons, only humans were allowed, so the hand was kept as a loophole... but robots like ED-209 are perfectly fine with military weapons strapped to them. Shows just how inept the writers are these days. It's why AI will replace them.
and the actual reason is the director wanted to show that it was still a human pulling the trigger. which shows a huge misunderstanding of what the original was. @@alandeckervi8442
My favourite scene of teh movie was Murphy meeting Lewis in his Black Costume and Lewis saying "at least now you are the right colour" - That did get me laughing! Yes it is Racist (No not reverse Racism There is no such thing, Judge anyone by their colour... Even a Black Person judging a white... That is Racist!) but it was funny and good to see the table turned!
Binged your robocop vids over the weekend and the prime directives interview had me curious when this would be covered Didn't expect it but what a nice surprise
@@gothamite27 womp womp, you do know there are 10 friday the 13th movies in 1980s? Bad movies and bad studios have always existed. There are many amazing modern movies, youre just nitpicking the bad ones
@@PLaStiiCMoNtAGE They're still making low budget horror, that's not a comparable example. If an untested European director came along and wanted to make an original scifi film with no pre existing IP for $30-40 million (budget adjusted for inflation and thirty years) there's no way he'd be given as much time or free reign as Verhoeven was. And it would be buried on a streaming service.
Are you sure? The impression that I got was that just like Robocop-2, 3 and Robocop-Remake had interesting ideas, but something made it fumble the bag harder than even those sequels.
The robocop reboot could have been one of the few justified reboots by taking a gritty look at what being turned into a machine could have been and the political implications of robot police. Further expanding on your suggestion of how the armour should have been, it makes for an easy metaphor to have him shed his armour that makes him 'invincible' and a puppet to realise his humanity.
I really feel.sorry Paul Verhoeven as two of his best movies didn't really need remakes Total Recall and Robocop. Hopefully they won't remake Star ship Troopers any time soon.
I'd like a Starship Troopers remake, from a director who actually knows what the book is about and don't try to force his unhinged leftist ideas on us...
I feel happy for him. Both remakes were made without his involvement and failed with both moviegoers and critics. Plus, it brought attention to the originals and cemented them as classics. I'd feel invincible if the big corporations I'd been making fun of for decades tried to make soulless remakes of my work and failed. Twice!
@@underthemayothank you for covering RoboCop to any extent, it’s one of my favorite movies all time - along with Idiocracy which you mentioned here too lol - and underrated these days. I’m so glad it’s getting appreciated and acknowledged that it gets better and better as time passes too, those are rare works of art. What would you even call that sort of collection of films? Satire sci-fi?
Yeah, right?! First it was the new Doom games (been a fan since the 1990s originals and still play them; and now the channel has been focusing on one of my favorite movies of all time. Terminator films and Terminator Resistance next? 🥲
This video is gold, Mayo! Your deep love for Robocop can’t be appreciated much in that way. Also I loved that I’ve heard my fav video game melodies on the background: Streets Of Rage, Batman from NES… Way to go.
To me, one concept of Robocop revolves around a “ghost in the machine” type of idea- where Murphy is essentially DEAD. There are only small whispers of memories, which Robocop uses to solve the murder of Alex Murphy. To me they totally missed the mark on that.
We know Keaton's capable of doing a "crazy" performance, Beetlejuice being a prime example of that. His CEO character in this movie could've easily had that same manic energy that partially calls to mind Dick Jones from the original. Not exactly a 1:1 with how Ronny Cox played Dick in that movie, but a performance that would've made Keaton much more memorable than he is.
This inspired the unqualified screenwriter in me. Here's how you start a modern Hard-R Robocop reboot: It begins with police surrounding a school where there's an unknown number of shooters. An AI Cop walks right through them, kicks down the door, weapon drawn and enters. Cut to its first-person camera as it immediately identifying a man with a rifle. "Target identified, weapon in hand." It takes him out from all the way down the hall. You hear cheering, this is classified footage of a pre-OCP company's executives cheering as they watch, but you can see in the background at the head of the table, the CEO is silent and almost terrified to watch. Cut back to the footage, where the AI identifies a classroom which has been broken into. It enters, and sees children cowering in a corner with a teacher standing between them and a gunman. "Target identified, weapon in hand." The gunman turns, but is immediately blown away by the AI Cop. The C-Suite watching is practically popping champagne, not realizing that the footage is still going. The rifle has slid towards the teacher, who is still upright and protecting the students. The C-Suite hears, "Target identified, proximity to weapon and elevated adrenaline levels." They all turn and watch in horror as the AI Cop basically ED209's the teacher, just unloading on them. You cut back to the C-Suite where everyone's in shock. One asks, "How are we going to spin this?" and another says, "Spin this shit? EMS is probably scraping the teacher's grey matter out of his student's ears as we speak!" Then you hear, "Target identified, proximity to weapon and elevated adrenaline levels." Everyone is now in horror as they watch. You hear two different shots, one from the gun (even with a Hard-R you can't show this) and one from another weapon in the room. The spooked C-Suite looks and sees that the CEO has blown his brains out, as they hear, "Target identified-" Newsreel flash of people torching buildings, rioting in the streets, a hasty executive order restraining AI in most circumstances and banning it in others (such as law enforcement). The company's stock price nosedives from $510.40 to $0.02 in hours. Crime is still rampant across Detroit which is teetering on the brink of a gang war. The C-Suite that didn't follow the CEO's example are arrested, and the news announces that a moderate-sized non-player robotics company OCP has swooped in to acquire the entire company's assets. "In other news, is ethically sourced chocolate really as good for you as the real thing? We host [Nestle Stand-in] to give his opinion." Meanwhile, the OCP CEO is looking for a new product when one of his engineers enters excitedly with blueprints. "I found what was missing! Neural Network Artificial Intelligence is only artificial. It's dumb, and can't hope to replicate the human brain. And so..." He lays out the blueprints, the audience gets a glimpse of the original Robocop suit, but the camera focuses on neural implants. "We get one, and we put one in the suit. Wipe their memories, implant controls, but it'll be a robotic cop with a human brain and won't ever make [prior company's] mistake again! It'll restore trust, a hero cop dedicating himself to law enforcement that he 'willingly' put himself into this steel shell! So, what about that? All we need is a trained cop's brain, and those are being cracked open by the day!" The CEO, realizing a golden opportunity gives him a smile and a nod. "Do it." The camera pans back from the neural implants, the theme music quietly begins and gradually ramps up, to the suit (which can be that hybrid normal & classic "tank" suit that switches between them), and finally up to the project name. Everything goes black except the name, in bold letters: ROBOCOP as the theme music swells and hangs on this shot before smash cutting to a close-up of Murphy entering the police station.
As big fan of José Padilha's Elite Squad 1 and 2, i've a special hate for this movie and it's producers, because this crap severily damaged Padilha's reputation and career for years after.
Absolutely fantastic !! If only one could like a video twice. As a person who grew up with this movie, and has studied it like people study fine art, I have to tell you that you hit every talking point. In my day-to-day life, I often find myself recommending this movie to people, but I'm saddened by the fact that they are likely going to miss the point. I see a masterpiece, they will see a stupid action movie. Your comparison of the two movies was just unbelievable. You said everything I was thinking, but wouldn't have had the organizational skills to articulate. Thank you so much for a great video, and for keeping the original film alive for another generation. "GO ROBO!!"
I binge watched Robocop 1-3 and the reboot in a week. I was actually surprised at how good Robocop 2014 was compared to the general internet consensus. Robocop 1 is definitely the GOAT in the series, but 2014 was definitely better than Robocop 3.
I agree 100%. 2014 did have some good ideas and good moments. It wasn't all-around lousy. Incidentally, I actually kinda like Robocop 3 because it's so goofy. You know what I mean? Sometimes you just feel like reaching for a movie that's "so bad it's good", like Robocop 3, Street Fighter, Dragonball Evolution, The Room, Batman & Robin........
I guess people think that's cool to bash the remake just for the sake of glorify the original one. I love both versions,and find some elements that lacks on the original,like the relation with Murphy's family.
Better than Robocop 3 is not saying much. The reboot was downright terrible compared to the original, and really doesn't hold a candle to Robocop 2 either even though that was a thoroughly flawed movie. That's like saying the reboot was better than the Robocop TV show, or the cartoon. In fact I'd say Robocop 3 is worse than the TV show.
If anyone hasn't watched the Dredd reboot with Karl Urban, it a spiritual l successor to the original Robocop. It's ultra violent and Dredd even walks like a robot at times
The only good scene in this movie is where they started revealing his remaining true part by pulling off the machine part one by one to show that it's just a head attached to a lung and a heart.
Re why they didn't just have him wake up with the combat programming, it feels like at some point they must have intended this, right? They have the whole scene where he sees his augmented brain and says 'It's not even my brain', and the doctor reassures him that 'We had to repair the damaged areas ... but it's all still you'. This was just crying out to be a *lie*, and the very visible chips and wiring on the brain to be stuff that takes over when he gets into combat. That gets us a.) Faster into the action b.) Means RoboCop, the protagonist, is portrayed as effective and competent from the first scene c.) Some compelling conflict as Murphy is told 'you're in control' but it becomes quickly apparent that when it counts, 'something else' is in there with him, making him do things he doesn't want to do d.) Makes OCP feel much more villainous, because they lied to him about how much autonomy he has. You can then have the doctor admit, later on, that they did it at the CEO's personal request, because while they wanted a human face to sell the product they didn't want any human weaknesses like hesitation or mercy.
That could have been really interesting with the accountability thing. I can just imagine like a hostage situation and Murphy lets one of the hostages die, because his programming told him to, since in this scenario the other hostage is a major shareholder of OCP. Real Murphy would have tried to save both, but robo-Murph just saves one. Imagine him having to deal with the guilt of letting one die even if he couldn't control it. Could have even been what helps turn him back from being a machine
I think one thing that makes the original interesting was the fact he was relocated because of OCP restructuring the police department for candidates. And in the original how crime was so high was in part because Dick Jones was using the chaos to basically become a crime lord. And it makes sense Jones wanted the ED-209's instead of yhe RoboCop project, because he could use them as he saw fit, whereas Murphy had a moral code to follow, hence Directive 4. Honestly, the original was actually more of a complex story, whereas the new one was just so bland. 😊
It’s funny you put this out yesterday. This past weekend I watched every robocop movie and I agree with you. We may have been watching it at the same time in different parts of the world. Life is funny
It's not as good as the original. BUT it IS better than everything else in the entire franchise. The remake is actually good. Nobody "admitted it was bad". They just got tired of arguing with nostalgia-goggles-wearing biased jackasses.
Another mortal flaw of the remake is the gender-bending of Lewis. In the original, Lewis' fascination with Murphy evolves into a surrogate mother/wife figure for him to help Alex regain his humanity. And Alex becomes especially protective of Lewis, even when in "RoboCop mode". This whole paradigm becomes crystalized once Lewis discovers that Murphy is her murdered partner, killed in an almost comically violent way right in front of her. As such, 1) the initial bond of being police partners, 2) the killing during the hunt for Boddicker, and 3) the resurrection solidifies the aforementioned mother/wife persona in Lewis and provides a natural narrative chemistry that just doesn't exist in the remake. I imagine this was ejected from the remake due to Abbie Cornish being so heavily featured in the movie, as it would've caused a weird dynamic that only the deftest of writer could've navigated. I wonder if there was any talk about this being a soft sequel reboot from Robo 1 & 2, like Superman Returns was to Superman 1 & 2. Back then, Weller MIGHT have been able to reprise the role, with any aging explained like Arnold did in Genisys. And if 3 was ignored, Allen could've also participated. Personally, I think 2 is much better than people think and deserves recognition if a continuance is ever considered. I also liked aspects of 3, but as a whole, it's harder to salvage.
One major question left uncovered - why tf he has a human hand?? I think I know why. Because the original film had that moment during Robo's POV reanimation scene, when one manager says "we've been able to save left arm", and Morton responds like "what? why? Lose the arm". It's a way for creators of remake to say "Look, we've seen the original film! We remember those little details! We are fans, we know what we're doing, trust us". Who cares that it doesn't make any damn sense for an armoured cyborg to have a vulnerable meat hand, it's so stupid - but see, "we remember the details". Just yet another pinch of shallowness on top of everything else.
In a deleted scene, sellars asked norton if it was possible to save murphy's hand? for propaganda purposes to make even more clear that no machine has his finger on the trigger.
He was. I'm pretty sure he was more dead than in the original. OCP took his body from the hospital in the og while in the reboot, he only had his head, lungs, and right hand left.
@airtiger4577 no mate lol. Gary Oldman says he's blind in one eye and paralysed but not dead. He's pronounced dead in the original he's shot in head ffs. You need rewatch them before commenting my man.
The best thing this movie had to say was that my personal thought on combat drones is that we can never let them have the ability to reload themselves.
One of those endings where the protagonist needs to do something that we are told cannot be done, but then they succeed through the power of shouting "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" when they do it.
Something i always wanted to see from this movie is the disabled perspective. Murphy is one of the most famous physically disabled characters in film and its hardly touched on. The body horror of having a destroyed body is real. Relying on technology that can be broken or taken away at any time is anxiety inducing. The loneliness and grief that you go through when you realize that YOUR BODY will never be the same. When i started using a wheelchair, i went through a whole grieving process. It was like my old healthy self was dead. People dont look at you the same. You are always terrified of agency being taken away. Having his mobility device being owned and controlled by a huge weapons company could have been interesting to explore. Talking about the isolation from society and the people around you, how intimacy and respect is taken from you... how police statisically commit more police brutality to disabled people could have been interesting to explore with a cop main character. Or what about simple things like phantom pains or forgetting what youve lost for a passing moment? If they wanted to change the theme of the original so drastically, i wish they would have explored at least SOMETHING. This movie had no soul.
Honestly, there's a couple of design traits of the first suit in this film that I prefer to the original one. Firstly, I love the fact that the hand is intact, although it would be better if it was a little less clean. Maybe give Murphy a bit of visible torn arm when he's shown what's left of his body? The second is the look of the helmet. If it was down over his eyes all the time, then it'd be great!
how did that "reveal of insides" scene passed for the PG13 rating? it's so fucking horrifying and violent and dark. you could even say it's scarring. even the second terrifier movie was less terrifying than that scene.
Funny to think this is what Avatar last air bender in netflix is going to look like. A complete sanitation and contradiction of what its themes are or could be.
There was no way in hell a new robocop helmed by current hollywood was going to be good. I didn't watch it when it came out, I haven't watched yet it and don't plan to ever. Just a waste of time because we all know what made robocop good and it's the creative mind behind it and the stuff nobody puts in movies anymore.
Oh man thanks for covering this one. When it first came out I went to the theaters to see it, I was 14 years old. First few minutes of the movie were okay and then as the movie progressed, I just kept thinking to myself “its gonna pick up and get better any minute now.” Then before I knew it the credits rolled 😂. My favorite part of the movie, when they discussed giving RoboCop heavy armor that looked like the original suit.
The only good thing about this movie is that it's obviously filmed in Toronto, Canada, and with it, comes the fun game of spotting where they filmed various scenes.
@@villageronps5317it’s kinda wild, really. Between this movie, the Prime Directives miniseries (which were four separate TV movies), and the 1994 live action show, Toronto, Canada has played Robocop’s Detroit more than any other place they’ve shot a Robocop movie.
I watched this remake today for the first time. I saw its poster, and got curious - it looked like they turned Robocop into copaganda. I was correct. But despite its many glaring flaws in this regard, it was as entertaining as to watch a trainwreck.
A small detail that I noticed is when we get introduced to the doctor he is helping a man play a guitar But the man misses up a key and he gets frustrated showing that these prosthetics are not that advanced. Then not that much more into the movie they basically make an entire human prosthetic that has zero problems
It's also the closest thing the movie ever has to set up and payoff. Controlling his emotions allows him to overcome and control the prosthetic. And at the end , Murphy fights his programming to shoot the CEO. It's.. something. It's just not very good.
An Aronofsky RoboCop? So it would have been one of those films that leaves you feeling empty, gutted and too traumatized to ever watch it again? At least it would have been better than 2014. It took me around 4 times to watch it because I kept falling to sleep.
Something else I don't understand from the Robocop 2014 production, so, you hire the guy who directed the two Elite Squad movies because of his realistic take on violence and politics and then you actually stop him from doing anything that made those two movies good? Why? That Robocop movie was basically a PG13 Marvel production, so safe and bland. Why even hire the guy if you are not actually allowing him to do what made him famous in the first place? LOL That's like hiring ILM and not allowing them to do any special effects shot.
Further proof that the biggest hindrance to Hollywood productions is Hollywood. I guarantee the choice of black armor was an executive decision- not a choice by the director or producers. How ironic...
I like your critique. The original movie was well edited and punched well above its weight. It's memorable for a number of scenes and great performances by the cast. The remake does tell a different story. I liked the relationship Murphy has with the Doctor. The exploration of the human element of the story is memorable. The idea that Murphy is self aware from the beginning and how his character is changed and manipulated is interesting. The news segments worked for me, as did the elements of actual crime fighting. Where it falls down is the pacing at the beginning. The way how OCP is portrayed is a mess. Lewis is forgettable in this version and the black armour doesn't work as well. It needed to focus on less characters as you said.
If you think about it they really did swap Alex Murphys story in the remake, like made him do a complete 180 degree turn. In the original movie Alex was turned into a machine and the whole movie was the machine learning to be Alex again. In the remake Alex is still Alex and the Machine is taking over. In the original he can feel his family but can’t remember them, in the remake Alex can remember them but when the machine takes over he can’t really feel them anymore. I do give the remake some props for trying to tell a somewhat new story that was inspired by the original instead of just retelling the originals story in a shot for shot beat for beat remake.
5:41 as an Iranian I'm gonna break down a few things : Iran would never Let a country like america to sends their droids over here and have patrols over civilians... "As-salaam alaikum" means "greetings " and it's not necessarily a religion's catchphrase , over decades it's became a part of our conversations ; 6:55 And they actually gonna stop every civilians to scan them and make sure are they dangerous or not while they're keeping their hands on the air ? (Screw this movie) 6:56 and what does " operation freedom Tehran " means ? What does america gonna free Tehran from ? Iran ? Tehran is in the middle of it ... 7:19 we also watched Robocop too 😊 ; our reaction wouldn't be so different from yours ... 8:00 "attaching bombs to their body" it's just an other insulting stereotypes to Iran , Afghanistan , Iraq and etc (yes we Can't afford to make a good RoboCop reboot , but keep making Propaganda against Iran ? of course we can !) And Tehran doesn't look like one of those cities that hollywood's movies shows as Mexican or Spanish cities with that stupid yellow filters ... Thank you for your video and reading this ...
"Operation Tehran Freedom" is definitely not meant to be heard as a good thing. It's propaganda. It's a satire of "operation iraqi freedom" during the iraq war. And while I agree the portrayal of events there is a quick stereotype, even in that stereotype we could have had a much more interesting story if the people involved in that conflict were connected to the story of a new Robocop in that part of the world. And you're right. Iran would never allow a US company to patrol their streets with robots. It's absurd. Which is why we need context for how this came to pass, and that would be an interesting story to tell in this sci-fi future. But they just don't say anything! What a frustrating movie.
Excellent analysis! I didn't hate the remake, but it wasn't RoboCop. I had a depressing thought about it though: the original is about a cyborg rediscovering his humanity, whereas the remake is about a cyborg learning to accept he's a machine. That seems like a pretty damning indictment of a society where we're all glued to our technology and losing the humanity that was so essential to the heart of the original story. xx
Alex Muprhy's had so much impact on the first Robocop movie that it made me enjoy watching one of the bad dudes died gruesome death in toxic waste scene
I had an idea that would yave kept the violence pg13 and would have been a really cool way to get the violence up. Rubber bullets. But because he is using rubber bullets he can use them more freely and as a way to manipulate the opponents bodies, shooting in the knees to hobble them, shooting the hands to remove weapons hyper accurate shots to the forehead to knock people out. And as a bonus he can bounce the bullets around to hit people behind cover or in far rooms.
I still thoroughly believe that it should have started from Robocop's perspective immediately after the accident, in something equivalent to the original rebuild sequence, playing over the opening credits and intercut with flashes of memory. Plus, you'll be along for the ride when he rediscovers his humanity, and you've maybe opened the door to him not being such a good guy and whether his more flawed history impacts his drive to know who he was.
If this movie had removed all references to RoboCop and was presented as an original movie, it's so vastly different in tone and plot that it'd get away with it, and it would have probably been seen as a flawed but great movie that would have had the internet filled with theories about it being a more grounded, modernised retelling of RoboCop, the similarities of which making it a fun theory for the internet to debate about endlessly. This video COULD have been titled "Is Drone Enforcer actually a modern retelling of RoboCop?" But no. Studios gotta grab that cash.
This is a trend, a shitty one at that and I couldn't agree more. It takes bravery to risk the failure of a new IP, but if you're gonna stand on the shoulders of giants to leverage the original (safer for the investors) then you had better not slip. This movie failed on so many levels
The fact that there are some genuinely compelling elements sprinkled throughout the remake makes it even more frustrating that the final product is so bland and unfocused. OCP legally absolving themselves of wrongdoing by framing Murphy for any negative consequences of his AI-driven combat mode is a neat idea that really could have been fleshed out more. It really sells the theme of scummy corporations abusing any loophole they can to escape prosecution, no matter who they have to throw under the bus to do it, and might have provided a better conflict for Murphy's character to have him wrestle with the dilemma of who's really in control of his actions.
Lewis is the thing that will forever confused me with this sequel. You took an ACTUAL strong female character that was, you know, well loved and great then genderswapped and offed them in the first thirty minutes. Like... what? Why? So incredibly stupid.
As a brazillian my opinion is that José Padilha tried to make "Elite Squad" with American Flavour. Samuel Jackson role is exactly the same as in "Elite Squad 2", sassy news anchor who's also corrupt. No wonder since the director only found greater aclaim with the action flick and tried to follow the same formula.
Pretty much. I think Jose Padilha tried to inject a little bit of Elite Squad, but his vision was altered by studio meddling, so whatever we see is a mix of his ideas and whatever the studio wanted to make the movie more marketable. It ended up very inconsistent.
I have a rule where I don't watch any unnecessary remakes. I have not watched Robocop 2014, figured it was trash, and your analysis proved me right. Thanks for saving hours of my life.
I honestly think there is untapped potential in a leaner recut with more blood. I could see a re-edit of Thomas King at Robocop's public presentation being scanned as being possibly armed, leading to him being lethally blasted in the back. It's such a shame what a missed opportunity a more modernised Robocop could be
I think this is the first time someone has done an hour+ deep dive into the script issues of the Robocop remake. If that's the case...then, I'm honored? I guess? I WAS BORN TO DO THIS!
This video is 100% written, recorded, and edited by me. If you wanna support these projects, consider checking out my patreon. Thanks a bunch. This video honestly was an awesome experience. Except for watching the movie 3 times. That part wasn't awesome.
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I'm second comment before the thing starts. mayo, I shall grant you three wishes. State them now.
Pure excellence my friend. Enjoyed every minute of it. Greetings from Sweden
i just finished your video dude. I know you mentioned how the filmmakers werent intentional with the black armor. However When the shitty black sidekick jokes in the movie after seeing Robocop he says "its all good your the right color now." Now not only is this a shitty racial joke its a deliberate dig at people who were critical and goes to show they fullied embraced this awful film. Im glad Peter Weller hated the fact any remake would have been made.
Thank you, finally!
You need to talk to Mauler.
I kept thinking: "Put the damn helmet on!"
I remember when the og Robocop removes the helmet for the first time. It was iconic... removing the screws, Lewis's face, the mirror... Things like these truly make the difference.
I literally screamed at the screen "Look at his face!". I was so angry.
The detail they put into his prosthetics in that scene to make it look authentic when he removes his helmet and still holds up until this day. He goes from being Robocop to Alex Murphy the Robocop in that scene, and the remake just wastes that from the start by making him humanized instead of robotic and him regaining his humanity towards the end.
Fr, what's with studios making iconic helmet figures go helmetless the whole movie or show? Same thing happened with Master Chief
The reboot was written by people that watched the original and only looked at it from the surface as an action movie and said "we can do better than that" without understanding WHY the movie was made the way it was.
Robocop is literally pinpointing the exact problem that Verhoven was attempting to satirize, how corporations are just so out of control as they take everything we know and make it marketable. There was absolutely no need for a reboot of Robocop (or Total Recall, or Conan, or Clash of the Titans, or Ghostbusters... you see a trend here?). Everything was just a shameful cash-grab and only made money for the parties involved. I remember a quote by the Nostalgia Critic on his review of 'Batman and Robin': "Safe and marketable".
The main problem I had with this version of Robocop was that Murphy is fully aware of what happened to him. In the OG movie, there is no Murphy, just Robocop with Murphy's memories and he has to put pieces together of who he was... but never truly manages to put it all back together (no pun intended). This version of Robocop leaves Murphy distraught about what has happened to him, but he will eventually be able to cope with it and move on.
Also, I'm so sick of every "suit" looking like Iron Man.
MGM didnt want to make a Robocop movie, they wanted to make an Iron Man movie, and this was the closest IP they owned.
Total Recall was warranted since they did a better book-follow
@@mlk22 I mean, except for missing the entire "man gets memories of going to Mars and discovers he's a secret agent from Mars", yeah, it followed it really well.
@@cujoedaman That wasn't in the original short story "We will remember it for you ... Wholesale" - The entire story took place on Earth... I have the short story! I am a fan of Philip K. Dicks writing.
I agree with you, but also there is more you missed...
Samuel L. Jackson, a legend... He really is! But the role they had him play, So many Tropes... Such as "No one trusts a Bald Man with the News" - That is a Genuine point of view held by many Media Establishments!
Also, as when I watched teh Movie - I did not pay but Pirated and saw the Unrated Cut... The Studio thought that Samuel L. Jackson swearing a lot was Meme Worthy and would get them attention so the end of the movie is not a Single Bleeped Curse word, but a Litany of Bleeped Curse Words... As if that is all Samuel L. Jackson is known for! Swearing a lot!
Murphey wanting his Life back... Joel Kinnerman sadly has no real chemistry with his onscreen wife... I did not believe they loved one another at all... Let alone that Murphy was written as the "Stereotypical" Police Officer with and obsession hero... The OG Murphy was Likeable, He felt like a real human who just wanted to do what was right...
Not this Murphy! Boring Stereotype! And wanting his life back... Wanting to be with his wife just comes across as a Subliminal Advert for the "New Anne Summers Strap-A-Dick-to-Me 3000... A Division of Omni Consumer Products" - HE HAS NO BODY!!! HE HAS NO PENIS!!! HE IS A WALKING CORPSE FOR LORDS SAKE!
It ends up feeling shallow... I woudl have believed it more had he come to terms with his "Death" and told his wife and son to find a new family... That woudl have been heartfelt! But NO!, They went with the "Happy Ending" where a Walking Dead Man will attempt to have a "Love Life"??? It was SO RIDICULOUS!
Let alone one complaint that I did not share with the OG movie - Some did not like the Emotional Angle... Murphy regaining his memories and missing who he used to be, Missing his wife and son hence why in Robocop 2 they had that scene where Murphy has to confront the issue head on! Again, That was all heartfelt ... It made sense... And while you knew that Murphy hated himself for having to do that, he knew he had to...
This remake has NONE OF THAT! And it HURTS!!!
Oh, And that Big Bad Guy... The one Murphy is after... From teh OG film we all remember Clarence Boedecker ... Kurt Smith made him STUNNING! Unforgettable...
... I had to watch the movie 5 SODDING TIMES to remember the name of the man the remakes Murphy was after as he is DULL, UNMEMORBALE, and frankly barely features!!! How the hell was he even a Crime Lord??? He wasn't scary, Wasn't intimidating, He was a generic man in a suit...
This movie is everything the original is making fun of, a soulless corporate product. Whereas the original was a real passion project. In the 2014 movie, even the actors look bored, they are just there for the paycheck. There´s not a single performance that stands out, even Gary Oldman is wasted
The little bits of soul that are still inside are particularly painful.
In a twisted sort of way, the remake managed to reach back in time, and *crystalized* its own inspiration(s).
This nu RoboCop, deserves respect. Not as something 'good' on its own, but a "confirmation" of everything the original got 'right'.
I agree, and might even go so far as to say the entire supporting cast is wasted. I straight-up forgot just how much talent was in this movie man, holy shit it's a stacked cast for a movie so forgettable it's like simulating brain damage.
"There´s not a single performance that stands out"
That is some mad shit you are talking. I cannot look at the scene of Murphy looking at his body reduced to some organs and a head and believe for a second that actor was phoning it in.
@@goukeban6197 Unfortunately a lot of people believe when something is bad (and this movie is bad!) that it must actually have literally zero redeeming qualities whatsoever
In the original, as you described it, Murphy really does look like his face skin is just stretched over a robot skull. It's amazing.
The new one is just a guy in a suit.
I hate his design in remake because it softens the blow. OG murphy was so brutally mangled and was DEAD, and his face is basically pitiful - naked and grotesque, the gaudy armor juxtaposed against human face. It was painful and sad. Its body horror. I do not get that feeling from remake at all - it really is a guy in a suit, while the OG was neither human nor robot.
Idk id you know this but the original robocop is just a guy in a suit
@@sonnieslim5973 But he doesn't look like it. That's what we're talking about. You had as much time as you needed to read the statements provided and ponder the issue and that's what you come up with?
He reminds me a little too much of ninja Zero from *'Anarchy Reigns'* (who BTW, happens to be a guy in a suit). Just give him a katana and cloaking tech and he's 'Roboninja' instead.🤖🥷
@sonnieslim5973 no shit, we're talking about the effects
What's hilarious to me is that this movie starts by establishing that OCP already has the military contracts for their robots, which is what Dick Jones was trying to accomplish with ED-209, which is where the REAL money is. That was his entire aim in fact, the police stuff was just a stepping stone ("who cares if it works or not?").
This movie reverses that. OCP already has the military contract on lockdown as evidenced by the opening scene, and their big play now is to get city level law enforcement contracts for their robotics division by reversing the Dreyfus Act? Like, are you joking me? You have an apparently worldwide contract with the military industrial complex, with an army of drone robots in Iran of all places, and your concerned about some chump change pumping out police robots for Detroit?
Like, yeah, maybe this will lead to contracts all around the country. But that's still piddly squat in comparison to being what appears to be the sole manufacturer of robot death squads for the American military.
The original Robocop gets the economics of this situation. This movie does not.
Damn I really didn't think anyone would think about it that much
One of the things all reboots suffer from is an assumption that you know the stakes and they can cliff notes their way through that part.
@@Pink.andahalf all reboots?
Maybe they secretly wanted to take over the country with their machines, just as soon as they get permission to host them in cities.
Yeeeeeeees😮
I'm glad we got a new RoboCop adventure in the form of a fantastic game. Very few franchises have been this lucky, especially nowadays.
Ghostbusters and Robocop
@@avengercannon I was actually thinking of mentioning that Ghostbusters game considering it is basically Ghostbusters 3. I'm glad some people still appreciate that game.
I think this is the same studio behind Terminator Resistance. As a child of the 80s, i feel like SOMEONE at that studio with some clout really respected the source material for both of these games
Also great detail about the old ED-209's sound design is how the roaring feline turns in to a squealing pig after the little accident in the stairwell.
Don't forget the stop-motion acting by Phil Tippett. His death rattle is present in many of his works over the years, from the rankor's last gasp to the death of both ED-209s.
"From every 10 cool ideas I had, 9 was cut from the studio. It's Hell here." - Yep, that sounds like Hollywood alright.
Great video, Mayo man! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
so this is basically the film version of
"Can i do this to make the movie cool?"
No
"Can I do this other thing to make the movie cool?"
No
"Can I do this thing to make the movie cool?"
No
-repeat until ending
The life story of everything that came after Robocop-1
I am shoked that the same guy made robocop-ish and Tropa de Elite which was one of the best movies I've ever seen.
In the original Robocop, ED-209 is not just a faulty, mindless killing machine. It's competing directly for Robocop's job and Dick Jones needs ED-209 to succeed so that he can be top dog at OCP. That's why he has Morton killed and wants Robocop destroyed.
That is only half the story because Morton had to go over Dick Jones's head to get the Robocop initiative approved, to rub salt in the wound Morton did this immediately after the failed ED-209 demonstration and Dick Jones took that personally.
I'd also like to point out that there'd be no Robocop if ED-209 hadn't turned a OCP board member into paste during it's first demonstration because that failure gave Morton the opportunity to take his idea straight to the Old Man.
*YOU NOW HAVE 5 SECONDS TO COMPLY*
Plus, since Dick was corrupt the ED-209's could be programmed any way he wants, whereas RoboCob would have a moral code to follow, hence Directive 4.
@@RKingis Directive 4 was mainly there to overrule directive 3: uphold the law, which wouldn't have allowed Robocop to look away from Dick Jones's crimes.
@@unbearifiedbear1885I love the social commentary of the other board members pushing Mr. kinny away to his death.
Excellent critique, my man. The entire film was an unintended satire of corporatised entertainment.
roboflop , my fav scene is the "what´s left" that single hand is so stupid, and when he was metal like classic looks fine then they go full black turning into "guy in costume"
I kinda liked the silver version. It's not as good as the original, but it works. The full black looks terrible. Between that and how often he takes his helmet off just makes it feel like B movie Robocop rip off.
There was actually a deleted scene that detailed the significance of his hand human hand.
Basically it went more into the idea of marketing him as more human to gain the public’s favor and whatnot. A really cool idea in my opinion! It’s just a shame the scene was cut and what was left was so poorly executed.
Pretty much summarizes the whole movie XD.
@@alandeckervi8442 Because it was illegal for robots to carry weapons, only humans were allowed, so the hand was kept as a loophole... but robots like ED-209 are perfectly fine with military weapons strapped to them.
Shows just how inept the writers are these days. It's why AI will replace them.
and the actual reason is the director wanted to show that it was still a human pulling the trigger. which shows a huge misunderstanding of what the original was. @@alandeckervi8442
My favourite scene of teh movie was Murphy meeting Lewis in his Black Costume and Lewis saying "at least now you are the right colour" - That did get me laughing! Yes it is Racist (No not reverse Racism There is no such thing, Judge anyone by their colour... Even a Black Person judging a white... That is Racist!) but it was funny and good to see the table turned!
Binged your robocop vids over the weekend and the prime directives interview had me curious when this would be covered
Didn't expect it but what a nice surprise
So frustrating how they cast Michael K Williams for Lewis and we know he’s a phenomenal actor, and they do absolutely nothing with him in this
This analysis really makes me appreciate old-school directors like Verhoeven even more. They were masters of their craft.
I didn't dislike this reimagination but it reeks of producers castrating the project.
Verhoeven would never have been allowed to make a film like RoboCop within the modern studio blockbuster system.
@@gothamite27 womp womp, you do know there are 10 friday the 13th movies in 1980s? Bad movies and bad studios have always existed. There are many amazing modern movies, youre just nitpicking the bad ones
@@PLaStiiCMoNtAGE They're still making low budget horror, that's not a comparable example.
If an untested European director came along and wanted to make an original scifi film with no pre existing IP for $30-40 million (budget adjusted for inflation and thirty years) there's no way he'd be given as much time or free reign as Verhoeven was. And it would be buried on a streaming service.
Are you sure? The impression that I got was that just like Robocop-2, 3 and Robocop-Remake had interesting ideas, but something made it fumble the bag harder than even those sequels.
The robocop reboot could have been one of the few justified reboots by taking a gritty look at what being turned into a machine could have been and the political implications of robot police.
Further expanding on your suggestion of how the armour should have been, it makes for an easy metaphor to have him shed his armour that makes him 'invincible' and a puppet to realise his humanity.
I really feel.sorry Paul Verhoeven as two of his best movies didn't really need remakes Total Recall and Robocop. Hopefully they won't remake Star ship Troopers any time soon.
I think they are working on it, but it's in limbo.
I'd like a Starship Troopers remake, from a director who actually knows what the book is about and don't try to force his unhinged leftist ideas on us...
I feel happy for him. Both remakes were made without his involvement and failed with both moviegoers and critics. Plus, it brought attention to the originals and cemented them as classics.
I'd feel invincible if the big corporations I'd been making fun of for decades tried to make soulless remakes of my work and failed. Twice!
I frankly LOVE that this is a RoboCop channel now!!
Probably the last one for a while. This was the last of the big ones. But I could talk about smaller pieces some day.
@@underthemayothank you for covering RoboCop to any extent, it’s one of my favorite movies all time - along with Idiocracy which you mentioned here too lol - and underrated these days. I’m so glad it’s getting appreciated and acknowledged that it gets better and better as time passes too, those are rare works of art.
What would you even call that sort of collection of films? Satire sci-fi?
Yeah, right?! First it was the new Doom games (been a fan since the 1990s originals and still play them; and now the channel has been focusing on one of my favorite movies of all time.
Terminator films and Terminator Resistance next? 🥲
This video is gold, Mayo! Your deep love for Robocop can’t be appreciated much in that way. Also I loved that I’ve heard my fav video game melodies on the background: Streets Of Rage, Batman from NES… Way to go.
The one part of the remake I thought was really good was the scene where they show just how little of Murphys body is left.
To me, one concept of Robocop revolves around a “ghost in the machine” type of idea- where Murphy is essentially DEAD. There are only small whispers of memories, which Robocop uses to solve the murder of Alex Murphy. To me they totally missed the mark on that.
This movie wasted so many good actors. Keaton could have been a top tier villain.
Can't. He is Batman.
We know Keaton's capable of doing a "crazy" performance, Beetlejuice being a prime example of that. His CEO character in this movie could've easily had that same manic energy that partially calls to mind Dick Jones from the original. Not exactly a 1:1 with how Ronny Cox played Dick in that movie, but a performance that would've made Keaton much more memorable than he is.
This inspired the unqualified screenwriter in me. Here's how you start a modern Hard-R Robocop reboot:
It begins with police surrounding a school where there's an unknown number of shooters. An AI Cop walks right through them, kicks down the door, weapon drawn and enters. Cut to its first-person camera as it immediately identifying a man with a rifle. "Target identified, weapon in hand." It takes him out from all the way down the hall. You hear cheering, this is classified footage of a pre-OCP company's executives cheering as they watch, but you can see in the background at the head of the table, the CEO is silent and almost terrified to watch. Cut back to the footage, where the AI identifies a classroom which has been broken into. It enters, and sees children cowering in a corner with a teacher standing between them and a gunman. "Target identified, weapon in hand." The gunman turns, but is immediately blown away by the AI Cop. The C-Suite watching is practically popping champagne, not realizing that the footage is still going.
The rifle has slid towards the teacher, who is still upright and protecting the students. The C-Suite hears, "Target identified, proximity to weapon and elevated adrenaline levels." They all turn and watch in horror as the AI Cop basically ED209's the teacher, just unloading on them. You cut back to the C-Suite where everyone's in shock. One asks, "How are we going to spin this?" and another says, "Spin this shit? EMS is probably scraping the teacher's grey matter out of his student's ears as we speak!"
Then you hear, "Target identified, proximity to weapon and elevated adrenaline levels." Everyone is now in horror as they watch. You hear two different shots, one from the gun (even with a Hard-R you can't show this) and one from another weapon in the room. The spooked C-Suite looks and sees that the CEO has blown his brains out, as they hear, "Target identified-"
Newsreel flash of people torching buildings, rioting in the streets, a hasty executive order restraining AI in most circumstances and banning it in others (such as law enforcement). The company's stock price nosedives from $510.40 to $0.02 in hours. Crime is still rampant across Detroit which is teetering on the brink of a gang war. The C-Suite that didn't follow the CEO's example are arrested, and the news announces that a moderate-sized non-player robotics company OCP has swooped in to acquire the entire company's assets. "In other news, is ethically sourced chocolate really as good for you as the real thing? We host [Nestle Stand-in] to give his opinion."
Meanwhile, the OCP CEO is looking for a new product when one of his engineers enters excitedly with blueprints. "I found what was missing! Neural Network Artificial Intelligence is only artificial. It's dumb, and can't hope to replicate the human brain. And so..." He lays out the blueprints, the audience gets a glimpse of the original Robocop suit, but the camera focuses on neural implants. "We get one, and we put one in the suit. Wipe their memories, implant controls, but it'll be a robotic cop with a human brain and won't ever make [prior company's] mistake again! It'll restore trust, a hero cop dedicating himself to law enforcement that he 'willingly' put himself into this steel shell! So, what about that? All we need is a trained cop's brain, and those are being cracked open by the day!"
The CEO, realizing a golden opportunity gives him a smile and a nod. "Do it."
The camera pans back from the neural implants, the theme music quietly begins and gradually ramps up, to the suit (which can be that hybrid normal & classic "tank" suit that switches between them), and finally up to the project name. Everything goes black except the name, in bold letters: ROBOCOP as the theme music swells and hangs on this shot before smash cutting to a close-up of Murphy entering the police station.
As big fan of José Padilha's Elite Squad 1 and 2, i've a special hate for this movie and it's producers, because this crap severily damaged Padilha's reputation and career for years after.
Absolutely fantastic !! If only one could like a video twice. As a person who grew up with this movie, and has studied it like people study fine art, I have to tell you that you hit every talking point. In my day-to-day life, I often find myself recommending this movie to people, but I'm saddened by the fact that they are likely going to miss the point. I see a masterpiece, they will see a stupid action movie.
Your comparison of the two movies was just unbelievable. You said everything I was thinking, but wouldn't have had the organizational skills to articulate. Thank you so much for a great video, and for keeping the original film alive for another generation. "GO ROBO!!"
The ed-209s patrolling the streets of Tehran remind me so much of the GEKKOS from metal gear solid 4.
I binge watched Robocop 1-3 and the reboot in a week. I was actually surprised at how good Robocop 2014 was compared to the general internet consensus. Robocop 1 is definitely the GOAT in the series, but 2014 was definitely better than Robocop 3.
I agree 100%. 2014 did have some good ideas and good moments. It wasn't all-around lousy. Incidentally, I actually kinda like Robocop 3 because it's so goofy. You know what I mean? Sometimes you just feel like reaching for a movie that's "so bad it's good", like Robocop 3, Street Fighter, Dragonball Evolution, The Room, Batman & Robin........
I guess people think that's cool to bash the remake just for the sake of glorify the original one. I love both versions,and find some elements that lacks on the original,like the relation with Murphy's family.
Better than Robocop 3 is not saying much. The reboot was downright terrible compared to the original, and really doesn't hold a candle to Robocop 2 either even though that was a thoroughly flawed movie. That's like saying the reboot was better than the Robocop TV show, or the cartoon. In fact I'd say Robocop 3 is worse than the TV show.
@@Ziegfried82people keep damning this movie with faint praise. Moldy bread is better than stale moldy bread 😮💨
I honestly hated how slow murphy moved in the og trilogy
If anyone hasn't watched the Dredd reboot with Karl Urban, it a spiritual l successor to the original Robocop.
It's ultra violent and Dredd even walks like a robot at times
The only good scene in this movie is where they started revealing his remaining true part by pulling off the machine part one by one to show that it's just a head attached to a lung and a heart.
Proof that world-class actors can't save a movie plagued with bad writing and a nonsensical plot.
Re why they didn't just have him wake up with the combat programming, it feels like at some point they must have intended this, right? They have the whole scene where he sees his augmented brain and says 'It's not even my brain', and the doctor reassures him that 'We had to repair the damaged areas ... but it's all still you'. This was just crying out to be a *lie*, and the very visible chips and wiring on the brain to be stuff that takes over when he gets into combat. That gets us a.) Faster into the action b.) Means RoboCop, the protagonist, is portrayed as effective and competent from the first scene c.) Some compelling conflict as Murphy is told 'you're in control' but it becomes quickly apparent that when it counts, 'something else' is in there with him, making him do things he doesn't want to do d.) Makes OCP feel much more villainous, because they lied to him about how much autonomy he has. You can then have the doctor admit, later on, that they did it at the CEO's personal request, because while they wanted a human face to sell the product they didn't want any human weaknesses like hesitation or mercy.
That could have been really interesting with the accountability thing.
I can just imagine like a hostage situation and Murphy lets one of the hostages die, because his programming told him to, since in this scenario the other hostage is a major shareholder of OCP. Real Murphy would have tried to save both, but robo-Murph just saves one.
Imagine him having to deal with the guilt of letting one die even if he couldn't control it.
Could have even been what helps turn him back from being a machine
I think one thing that makes the original interesting was the fact he was relocated because of OCP restructuring the police department for candidates.
And in the original how crime was so high was in part because Dick Jones was using the chaos to basically become a crime lord.
And it makes sense Jones wanted the ED-209's instead of yhe RoboCop project, because he could use them as he saw fit, whereas Murphy had a moral code to follow, hence Directive 4.
Honestly, the original was actually more of a complex story, whereas the new one was just so bland.
😊
It’s funny you put this out yesterday. This past weekend I watched every robocop movie and I agree with you. We may have been watching it at the same time in different parts of the world. Life is funny
I honestly felt like the only 80s film successfully made in the 2010s was Dredd.
Despite the original being a cheesy 80s flick too
Judge Dredd is a 1995 movie. The first comics appeared in the 70s.
@@pedroamaralcouto^
your hour long film analyses are great. i love how you present issues with your narration aided with simple yet comprehensive editing.
Robocop's biggest failure was wasting José Padilha's talent and flare for storytelling and action.
Hour long Mayo video + me having dinner = good time
provecho
I remember when people were trying to defend this for a bit some years back but then they just all gave up and admitted it was bad
I still enjoy it 🤷
It's not as good as the original.
BUT it IS better than everything else in the entire franchise.
The remake is actually good.
Nobody "admitted it was bad". They just got tired of arguing with nostalgia-goggles-wearing biased jackasses.
It was so close to good, the modernised designs are pretty good ngl, but there is some *big* things that bring it down
@@orinanimeCope harder.
@@tomigun5180 nobody has anything to cope about in this instance cupcake. Try harder.
Another mortal flaw of the remake is the gender-bending of Lewis. In the original, Lewis' fascination with Murphy evolves into a surrogate mother/wife figure for him to help Alex regain his humanity. And Alex becomes especially protective of Lewis, even when in "RoboCop mode". This whole paradigm becomes crystalized once Lewis discovers that Murphy is her murdered partner, killed in an almost comically violent way right in front of her. As such, 1) the initial bond of being police partners, 2) the killing during the hunt for Boddicker, and 3) the resurrection solidifies the aforementioned mother/wife persona in Lewis and provides a natural narrative chemistry that just doesn't exist in the remake.
I imagine this was ejected from the remake due to Abbie Cornish being so heavily featured in the movie, as it would've caused a weird dynamic that only the deftest of writer could've navigated.
I wonder if there was any talk about this being a soft sequel reboot from Robo 1 & 2, like Superman Returns was to Superman 1 & 2. Back then, Weller MIGHT have been able to reprise the role, with any aging explained like Arnold did in Genisys. And if 3 was ignored, Allen could've also participated. Personally, I think 2 is much better than people think and deserves recognition if a continuance is ever considered. I also liked aspects of 3, but as a whole, it's harder to salvage.
Maybe Sweet Baby Inc's superiors were involved.
Since Murphy already knows that he's no longer human this isn't Robocop anymore
He's Inspector Gadget
I feel like "What was the point of all this?" coffee mugs would be a hit.
The final suit test where they play electric laser tag to the song “Hocus Pocus” by Focus is amazing, a really fun part.
Anne Lewis and ED 209 were major in the original. There should have been great effort to take that into consideration.
Metal Gear Rising was a pretty good Robocop reimagining. I havent given that thought much examination but it feels right.
Nah robocop is straight
Nah, it feels too much like it's own thing. At best, it feels like a spinoff.
One major question left uncovered - why tf he has a human hand??
I think I know why. Because the original film had that moment during Robo's POV reanimation scene, when one manager says "we've been able to save left arm", and Morton responds like "what? why? Lose the arm".
It's a way for creators of remake to say "Look, we've seen the original film! We remember those little details! We are fans, we know what we're doing, trust us". Who cares that it doesn't make any damn sense for an armoured cyborg to have a vulnerable meat hand, it's so stupid - but see, "we remember the details". Just yet another pinch of shallowness on top of everything else.
I thought might have been a old western one glove kinda gun slinger kind of idea.
In a deleted scene, sellars asked norton if it was possible to save murphy's hand? for propaganda purposes to make even more clear that no machine has his finger on the trigger.
This was a movie that I watched and can barely remember anything about it. It wasn't just disappointing, it was forgettable.
Could it now be definitively said that a forgettable yet average quality movie is worse than a bad one?
in many ways Blomkamp's Chappie is a much superior Robocop reimagining
Fr
Damn, every single aspect you bring is on spot.
My favourite bit is where they say he's solving his own murder ignoring the fact he wasn't murdered in this version.
It's hyperbolic. He's solving the attempt on his life. He's solving the attempted murder. It's simply a more dramatic and shorter punchier phrasing
@orinanime He still wasn't murdered so it's still a bad piece of writing. I'm talking about the movie not the TH-cam vid btw.
@@edbeasant9494 Great point.
He was. I'm pretty sure he was more dead than in the original. OCP took his body from the hospital in the og while in the reboot, he only had his head, lungs, and right hand left.
@airtiger4577 no mate lol. Gary Oldman says he's blind in one eye and paralysed but not dead. He's pronounced dead in the original he's shot in head ffs. You need rewatch them before commenting my man.
The best thing this movie had to say was that my personal thought on combat drones is that we can never let them have the ability to reload themselves.
SkyNet
One of those endings where the protagonist needs to do something that we are told cannot be done, but then they succeed through the power of shouting "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" when they do it.
Murphy doesnt die.
The moment you see that on a Robocop remake script, is the moment you know whatever you are doing is fundamentally wrong.
It definitely takes away from the impact of the story
No it's not.
@@villageronps5317 no it doesn't
@@orinanimeyes it does
@@Neognostic-pk5wu LOL yeah... F-bombs are truly fundamental to impact of the story.
They took all the allegory and cocaine away in 2014.
Something i always wanted to see from this movie is the disabled perspective. Murphy is one of the most famous physically disabled characters in film and its hardly touched on. The body horror of having a destroyed body is real. Relying on technology that can be broken or taken away at any time is anxiety inducing. The loneliness and grief that you go through when you realize that YOUR BODY will never be the same. When i started using a wheelchair, i went through a whole grieving process. It was like my old healthy self was dead. People dont look at you the same. You are always terrified of agency being taken away. Having his mobility device being owned and controlled by a huge weapons company could have been interesting to explore. Talking about the isolation from society and the people around you, how intimacy and respect is taken from you... how police statisically commit more police brutality to disabled people could have been interesting to explore with a cop main character. Or what about simple things like phantom pains or forgetting what youve lost for a passing moment?
If they wanted to change the theme of the original so drastically, i wish they would have explored at least SOMETHING. This movie had no soul.
Honestly, there's a couple of design traits of the first suit in this film that I prefer to the original one. Firstly, I love the fact that the hand is intact, although it would be better if it was a little less clean. Maybe give Murphy a bit of visible torn arm when he's shown what's left of his body?
The second is the look of the helmet. If it was down over his eyes all the time, then it'd be great!
Dunno why but I immediately recognized Senator Dreyfus as the "I FIND THE IDEA OF AN INTELLIGENT BUG APALLING" guy from the original Starship Troopers
Offensive*
@@encyclopath Perhaps, sure , but it IS that guy, right ?
@@TheKaos90 oh, I’d have to see it again, but it does ring familiar
how did that "reveal of insides" scene passed for the PG13 rating? it's so fucking horrifying and violent and dark. you could even say it's scarring. even the second terrifier movie was less terrifying than that scene.
i love him in Altered carbon! every scene he looks he is holding his laughter back😂😂
Funny to think this is what Avatar last air bender in netflix is going to look like. A complete sanitation and contradiction of what its themes are or could be.
what evidence suggests that?
@@magsec5 Maybe read some of the articles online that serve as evidence?
Maybe the fact that the original makers of last airbender leaving the Netflix project
@@magsec5 "Source???" meme, LMAO
@@magsec5well have you seen the other netflix live action adaptations? Jeez cowboy bebop was so terrible, and one piece was only descent.
There was no way in hell a new robocop helmed by current hollywood was going to be good. I didn't watch it when it came out, I haven't watched yet it and don't plan to ever. Just a waste of time because we all know what made robocop good and it's the creative mind behind it and the stuff nobody puts in movies anymore.
Oh man thanks for covering this one. When it first came out I went to the theaters to see it, I was 14 years old. First few minutes of the movie were okay and then as the movie progressed, I just kept thinking to myself “its gonna pick up and get better any minute now.” Then before I knew it the credits rolled 😂. My favorite part of the movie, when they discussed giving RoboCop heavy armor that looked like the original suit.
my dude i could and have listened to you talk about robocop for hours
The only good thing about this movie is that it's obviously filmed in Toronto, Canada, and with it, comes the fun game of spotting where they filmed various scenes.
What is it with Robocop and Canada lmao
It was ? Idk how I didn’t recognize it
@@villageronps5317it’s kinda wild, really. Between this movie, the Prime Directives miniseries (which were four separate TV movies), and the 1994 live action show, Toronto, Canada has played Robocop’s Detroit more than any other place they’ve shot a Robocop movie.
I watched this remake today for the first time.
I saw its poster, and got curious - it looked like they turned Robocop into copaganda.
I was correct. But despite its many glaring flaws in this regard, it was as entertaining as to watch a trainwreck.
A small detail that I noticed is when we get introduced to the doctor he is helping a man play a guitar But the man misses up a key and he gets frustrated showing that these prosthetics are not that advanced. Then not that much more into the movie they basically make an entire human prosthetic that has zero problems
It's also the closest thing the movie ever has to set up and payoff. Controlling his emotions allows him to overcome and control the prosthetic. And at the end , Murphy fights his programming to shoot the CEO. It's.. something. It's just not very good.
@@underthemayo "it's just not very good" haha yeah That's basically the entire movie
The remake is a solid enough movie that loses momentum the longer it goes on. It’s an enjoyable watch, but it’s in no way timeless.
An Aronofsky RoboCop? So it would have been one of those films that leaves you feeling empty, gutted and too traumatized to ever watch it again? At least it would have been better than 2014. It took me around 4 times to watch it because I kept falling to sleep.
Something else I don't understand from the Robocop 2014 production, so, you hire the guy who directed the two Elite Squad movies because of his realistic take on violence and politics and then you actually stop him from doing anything that made those two movies good? Why? That Robocop movie was basically a PG13 Marvel production, so safe and bland. Why even hire the guy if you are not actually allowing him to do what made him famous in the first place? LOL
That's like hiring ILM and not allowing them to do any special effects shot.
You just want every movie to be Robocop
He looks like a armoured ninja 😢
Further proof that the biggest hindrance to Hollywood productions is Hollywood.
I guarantee the choice of black armor was an executive decision- not a choice by the director or producers. How ironic...
Great video. I'm a huge Robocop fan, and have been since the age of 6. I didn't know you were branching out into movie reviews. It's good stuff.
Not so much movie reviews. But I decided to talk about all the robocop movies.
hey, what's the music at 1:10:25? I swear I've heard it before...
Dark City from Cry Of Fear.
I like your critique. The original movie was well edited and punched well above its weight. It's memorable for a number of scenes and great performances by the cast.
The remake does tell a different story. I liked the relationship Murphy has with the Doctor. The exploration of the human element of the story is memorable. The idea that Murphy is self aware from the beginning and how his character is changed and manipulated is interesting. The news segments worked for me, as did the elements of actual crime fighting.
Where it falls down is the pacing at the beginning. The way how OCP is portrayed is a mess. Lewis is forgettable in this version and the black armour doesn't work as well. It needed to focus on less characters as you said.
yesss loved this video been looking forward to it ever since you first started talking about robocop
Ayo, a legitimately good take from under the mayo? Good job dude!
If you think about it they really did swap Alex Murphys story in the remake, like made him do a complete 180 degree turn. In the original movie Alex was turned into a machine and the whole movie was the machine learning to be Alex again. In the remake Alex is still Alex and the Machine is taking over. In the original he can feel his family but can’t remember them, in the remake Alex can remember them but when the machine takes over he can’t really feel them anymore. I do give the remake some props for trying to tell a somewhat new story that was inspired by the original instead of just retelling the originals story in a shot for shot beat for beat remake.
You could have just called Michael Keaton something easier to remember, like, for example, Michael Keaton.
5:41 as an Iranian I'm gonna break down a few things :
Iran would never Let a country like america to sends their droids over here and have patrols over civilians...
"As-salaam alaikum" means "greetings " and it's not necessarily a religion's catchphrase , over decades it's became a part of our conversations ;
6:55 And they actually gonna stop every civilians to scan them and make sure are they dangerous or not while they're keeping their hands on the air ? (Screw this movie)
6:56 and what does " operation freedom Tehran " means ?
What does america gonna free Tehran from ? Iran ? Tehran is in the middle of it ...
7:19 we also watched Robocop too 😊 ; our reaction wouldn't be so different from yours ...
8:00 "attaching bombs to their body" it's just an other insulting stereotypes to Iran , Afghanistan , Iraq and etc (yes we Can't afford to make a good RoboCop reboot , but keep making Propaganda against Iran ? of course we can !)
And Tehran doesn't look like one of those cities that hollywood's movies shows as Mexican or Spanish cities with that stupid yellow filters ...
Thank you for your video and reading this ...
"Operation Tehran Freedom" is definitely not meant to be heard as a good thing. It's propaganda. It's a satire of "operation iraqi freedom" during the iraq war. And while I agree the portrayal of events there is a quick stereotype, even in that stereotype we could have had a much more interesting story if the people involved in that conflict were connected to the story of a new Robocop in that part of the world.
And you're right. Iran would never allow a US company to patrol their streets with robots. It's absurd. Which is why we need context for how this came to pass, and that would be an interesting story to tell in this sci-fi future. But they just don't say anything! What a frustrating movie.
Excellent analysis!
I didn't hate the remake, but it wasn't RoboCop. I had a depressing thought about it though: the original is about a cyborg rediscovering his humanity, whereas the remake is about a cyborg learning to accept he's a machine. That seems like a pretty damning indictment of a society where we're all glued to our technology and losing the humanity that was so essential to the heart of the original story.
xx
I would have enjoyed your version of the remake. Good deconstruction of the movie as is and nice ideas to make it better. Kudos 👍🏽
Nice video. Your new script for this movie sound really great.
Thank you for this wonderful Video.
Im going to watch the og robocop now.
I don't think Iran "allowed" soldiers to patrol the streets, they were invaded
OCP isn't an invader. They make money from every country they're stationed in. It's a business. That's the whole plot of the movie.
Alex Muprhy's had so much impact on the first Robocop movie that it made me enjoy watching one of the bad dudes died gruesome death in toxic waste scene
I had an idea that would yave kept the violence pg13 and would have been a really cool way to get the violence up. Rubber bullets. But because he is using rubber bullets he can use them more freely and as a way to manipulate the opponents bodies, shooting in the knees to hobble them, shooting the hands to remove weapons hyper accurate shots to the forehead to knock people out. And as a bonus he can bounce the bullets around to hit people behind cover or in far rooms.
I still thoroughly believe that it should have started from Robocop's perspective immediately after the accident, in something equivalent to the original rebuild sequence, playing over the opening credits and intercut with flashes of memory. Plus, you'll be along for the ride when he rediscovers his humanity, and you've maybe opened the door to him not being such a good guy and whether his more flawed history impacts his drive to know who he was.
I will give the film one credit, the scene with Murphy being taken apart was very harrowing.
If this movie had removed all references to RoboCop and was presented as an original movie, it's so vastly different in tone and plot that it'd get away with it, and it would have probably been seen as a flawed but great movie that would have had the internet filled with theories about it being a more grounded, modernised retelling of RoboCop, the similarities of which making it a fun theory for the internet to debate about endlessly.
This video COULD have been titled "Is Drone Enforcer actually a modern retelling of RoboCop?"
But no. Studios gotta grab that cash.
This is a trend, a shitty one at that and I couldn't agree more. It takes bravery to risk the failure of a new IP, but if you're gonna stand on the shoulders of giants to leverage the original (safer for the investors) then you had better not slip. This movie failed on so many levels
The fact that there are some genuinely compelling elements sprinkled throughout the remake makes it even more frustrating that the final product is so bland and unfocused. OCP legally absolving themselves of wrongdoing by framing Murphy for any negative consequences of his AI-driven combat mode is a neat idea that really could have been fleshed out more. It really sells the theme of scummy corporations abusing any loophole they can to escape prosecution, no matter who they have to throw under the bus to do it, and might have provided a better conflict for Murphy's character to have him wrestle with the dilemma of who's really in control of his actions.
I grew up on the original robocop. I didn’t think this was that bad of a movie.
I keep asking myself why they turned Lewis into a male black guy that doesn't add much. I still didn't come up with an answer.
An honest and in depth review by a fan (just like me) , thanks for making the video!
"...spare parts for 25 years! Who cared if it worked or not?!"
Lewis is the thing that will forever confused me with this sequel. You took an ACTUAL strong female character that was, you know, well loved and great then genderswapped and offed them in the first thirty minutes. Like... what? Why? So incredibly stupid.
As a brazillian my opinion is that José Padilha tried to make "Elite Squad" with American Flavour. Samuel Jackson role is exactly the same as in "Elite Squad 2", sassy news anchor who's also corrupt. No wonder since the director only found greater aclaim with the action flick and tried to follow the same formula.
Pretty much. I think Jose Padilha tried to inject a little bit of Elite Squad, but his vision was altered by studio meddling, so whatever we see is a mix of his ideas and whatever the studio wanted to make the movie more marketable. It ended up very inconsistent.
I have a rule where I don't watch any unnecessary remakes. I have not watched Robocop 2014, figured it was trash, and your analysis proved me right. Thanks for saving hours of my life.
Id like to believe this video is far more entertaining lol
I honestly think there is untapped potential in a leaner recut with more blood. I could see a re-edit of Thomas King at Robocop's public presentation being scanned as being possibly armed, leading to him being lethally blasted in the back. It's such a shame what a missed opportunity a more modernised Robocop could be
I count't watch after the end of the first news sequence. Thank you for showing stuff here as an analysis