"Do...not...want."
Remember only a short while ago when Darren Aronofsky was going to possibly put amazing vitality into the stagnant, decaying piece of history known as Robocop: The Remake?
Oh how time puts its pecker into good things.
Now we’re stuck with The Killing‘s mumbling nightmare Joel Kinnaman as the ill-fated Alex Murphy and untested Brazilian action man José Padilha at the helm.
Now they’ve added Gary Oldman. Not as Clarence Boddicker, unfortunately. Nope. As a scientist, per The Hollywood Reporter. Even though Oldman pretty much played a Boddicker-alike in The Professional. Even though that would warrant the admission price.
So far, this just doesn’t seem all that thrilling. And Kinnaman is a blight.
Insert your random gobbedlygook about remakes and sanctity and all that shit but in the wake of Robocops 2 and 3 there’s no purity in the franchise to worry about. This is a slam dunk of a fun remake if handled with even a modicum of class.
We shall see. So far Mr. Oldman is a nice complement but hardly reason to start getting jazzed about this.
18 comments
God dammit, Robocop 2 is great.
Nick Nunziata, I consider the new Robocop part of a double feature of Remakes of Verhoven Films I will…Not see, even for…Free!
Them’s rose-colored pastglasses.
I recently re-watched it. Opening shot and Tippet’s stop motion sequences aside, it is distinctly NOT great.
You know who would be perfect to play Clarence Boddicker? Kurtwood Smith. He could totally still do it.
I love Robocop 2 and like Robocop 3. Yeah, I’m saying that. This remake still smells something awful.
Why so down on this remake? And why does everyone on here assume it is going to be just like the original-there will be no Boddicker, get over it. Padila could be interested, he made a great documentary called Bus 74. He could bring an interesting amount of realism to what is a silly premise. Just the same way Verhoeven brought a similar dose of satire to such a silly premise. The reason the other two did not work is because the powers that be did not realize the premise works on its own-it needs skilled hands. Padilla is a great documentarian and the Elite Squad movies are good testaments to his realism and low key approach. I am sure if this was 86 you would call Verhoeven “Dutch skin director” or some such jab, starring “dull Canadian actor Peter Weller”. Just give this a chance.
It’s nowhere near the first, but it has a lot of enjoyable moments and the mean spirit of it is more baroque than the first, but endearing.
Nick, why no love for Kinnaman? He’s a mumbletron in The Killing but other than that, he’s pretty great on that show.
“Detroit gets an immortal, beloved new resident.”
I get it.
I’m going to agree with JazzyJustin by stating that Robocop 2 IS, in fact, great. Just slightly lesser than the first in my opinion. And that’s only because the original was there first. At least with part 2 they didn’t pussy out with a PG-13, which they saved for the shit third film.
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As far as this news goes, I love it. Oldman’s always been one of my fav actors so I know he’ll bring something unique and fun to it.
I’m convinced RoboCop 2 gets something of a “free pass” because of the Kershner connection. Some nerds can’t handle the thought that the director of their favorite movie (ESB) made such a retarded shit stain of a film. If a TV/music video director hack had made RoboCop 2, it would have been more decisively derided. Nick’s right on the money – RoboCop 2 is a bag of dicks.
Agreed
“untested Brazilian action man José Padilha”. Has no one seen Elite Squad or Elite Squad: The Enemy Within”? He is not untested but has made a couple of VERY good action thrillers.
Exactly. Just because we haven’t really gotten a chance up here to see what he HAS done, it doesn’t mean that he’s “untested”. It just means that Americans might not be too familiar with his work. I’m sure though that if someone was doing an American re-make of “Elite Squad”, that we’d be reading articles here about what bullshit that is, because the original is so great or something.
Agreed. I haven’t actually seen the first Elite Squad but the sequel is pretty effin’ fantastic.
As for Joel Kinneman, he’s probably the only reason I’m still watching the killing. Anyone seen Snabba Cash? Quite, quite good.
You clearly hate life if you even remotely champion ROBOCOP 2. Fuck that movie hard and wrong.
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