ROBOCOP (1987) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: PAUL VERHOEVEN / SCREENPLAY: EDWARD NEUMEIER, MICHAEL MINER / STARRING: PETER WELLER, NANCY ALLEN, RONNY COX, KURTWOOD SMITH, MIGUEL FERRER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Let’s be honest – you’ve seen RoboCop loads of times and don’t need a recap. So briefly: Detroit cop Alex Murphy (Peter Weller), brutally murdered and resurrected as RoboCop – part man, part machine – sets out to serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law – all as violently as possible. That description of course doesn’t begin to do if justice. Paul Verhoeven’s blistering, prescient 1987 classic is one of the greatest sci-fi – strike that – one of the greatest movies of the ‘80s, and the 32 (!) years since its release have done nothing to lessen its impact. Hell, it’s more relevant now than when it was made.
From the opening news bulletin, where news is trivialised and raced through at breakneck speed (“You give us three minutes and we’ll give you the world”); to the privately-run police – ran for profit by OCP, a corporation more concerned with using their police contract to develop profitable military tech than safeguarding the lives of citizens and the police; the targets of Robocop’s razor-sharp satire have only become more relevant with time. This may be an 80s action movie, but it’s one with things to say about America.
Key to this is Verhoeven. This was his first Hollywood movie, and his outsider’s perspective gives the film an edge it might not have had if it had been made by a native director. Besides being a great action movie, it’s a hilariously funny, none-more-black satire of American values, skewering everything from its love of guns and violence (Robocop causes far more damage than he prevents) to religion (Murphy dies, is resurrected and – at the film’s climax, walks on water) that later filmmakers including Irvin Kershner and Frank Miller weren’t able to recapture with countless inferior sequels, spin-offs and remakes.
The controversy-courting director – who would later make Basic Instinct, Showgirls and the equally satirical Starship Troopers – adds his own unique take on violence. He grew up in Europe in World War II and claims the horrors he witnessed have shaped how he sees screen violence. Robocop remains a supremely violent movie. Occasionally cartoonish (death by toxic waste is gross but hilarious), it’s also sometimes hard to watch. Murphy’s murder in particular – especially in the director’s cut (which restored some of the violence trimmed to avoid an X rating) – still shocks. Those of a squeamish disposition may opt to watch the (still very violent) theatrical cut, or the also-included edited for TV version (which, after cutting out all the nasty bits runs nearly ten minutes shorter).
Besides the three cuts, those lovely people at Arrow have stuffed this collector’s edition with extras. Freshly filmed interviews with the likes of Nancy Allen, writers Neumeier and Miner, new commentaries and a wealth of other well-thought out features sit alongside archive featurettes and a beautifully restored version of the film which only occasionally shows its age (particularly in the restored director’s cut footage).
You’ve seen RoboCop before, you probably already own it, but you’ve never seen it like this. It’s a glorious release. Buy it for a dollar. Buy it for 100 dollars if you have to, but buy it. Essential.
