Dead Or Alive, This Franchise Is Coming Back: Robocop 2014 Remake Chat

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Dead Or Alive, This Franchise Is Coming Back: Robocop 2014 Remake Chat

«‹›37 »

Rhyno: Mar 22, 2003; Can't post for 10 years!

CelticPredator posted:

The silver suit was actually really great. It felt like an honest to god update of the original design and looked stunning. I still never got used to the black suit. It didn't have any personality. Maybe that was the point. And if it was, it was done well. Because I hated it.

Back in the old Robocop thread when the first leaked pictures hit someone said it looked too much like the suit from Batman Begins. Why it wasn't that extreme it did seem a bit slim in a few scenes.

I hope we get a sequel!

# ? Feb 13, 2014 07:22

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 10, 2024 17:11

Rageaholic: May 31, 2005; Old Town Road to EGOT

CelticPredator posted:

The silver suit was actually really great. It felt like an honest to god update of the original design and looked stunning. I still never got used to the black suit. It didn't have any personality. Maybe that was the point. And if it was, it was done well. Because I hated it.

Edit: The score was really, really bad too. It felt really inappropriate during most of the movie, and had zero staying power. I got a bit annoyed when they played the 87 theme again in the middle of the movie...it just made me with they got someone better to do the soundtrack.

Yeah they kept using that dumb wub version of the original theme a few times and it felt disappointing every time.

The black suit made him look like every other machine out there, which I guess was sort of the point but it also defeated the purpose at the same time.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 07:35

DivisionPost: Jun 28, 2006; Nobody likes you.
Everybody hates you.
You're gonna lose.

Smile, you fuck.

Rageaholic Monkey posted:

Yeah they kept using that dumb wub version of the original theme a few times and it felt disappointing every time.

You know, I only heard that version twice. Once at the title card -- which I didn't like -- and once at the end of the Novak Factor episode where Novak is hailing Robocop as a hero and the program itself uses it as "heroic fanfare" diegetic to Novak's show, abruptly cutting off after a character shuts off the TV. I thought the latter was a clever touch, and it would've worked even better if, again, that same music wasn't used for the title card.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 07:43

JT Smiley: Mar 3, 2006; Thats whats up!

I would have enjoyed this movie so much more if there was a decent villain at some point. Murphy's quest for vengeance just felt so flat with that terrible antagonist they set up.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 08:03

CelticPredator: Oct 11, 2013; 🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

I didn't even find the OCP guys all that bad. The worst thing they did was want to shut RoboCop down.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 08:37

jerichojx: Oct 21, 2010

JT Smiley posted:

I would have enjoyed this movie so much more if there was a decent villain at some point. Murphy's quest for vengeance just felt so flat with that terrible antagonist they set up.

Couldn't agree with this more. Ronny Cox and Kurtwood Smith did such an amazing job as villains in the original, it is certainly a shame that the villains in the remake did not have as much punch.

Ronny Cox was also fantastic in Total Recall.

Perhaps if we could have gotten Bryan Cranston as the gangster, it would have been tons of fun. No knocks against Michael Keaton but I felt that he simply did not do as well compared to Sam Jackson or Gary Oldman.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 08:38

Disharmony: Dec 29, 2000; Like a hundred crippled horses lying crumpled on the ground

Begging for a rifle to come and put them down

Is there only ONE channel in Detroit? Because there's a strong implication that whatever the Novak Report says, the city will eat it up.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 10:33

Reasonerr: Oct 8, 2009

I simply have to say that going into this, I had been ranting and raving for months about the fact they were making this movie. It pissed me off to no end. Every trailer looked like absolute poo poo to me, and when they started running the TV spots my wife started getting annoyed because I couldn't help myself from going on short little rants about needless sequels and remakes, blah blah etc etc.

So, entering the theater and preparing myself to see an absolute abomination of one of my all time favorite movies, I am still shocked by the fact that I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

Many have already covered in spoiler text all the different points about this movie, so I don't feel the need to restate them and re-spoiler tag them here, but suffice to say, there are so many different layers of complexity in this movie from amazing use of imagery to actually well done foreshadowing (something I almost never see in big movies these days). There's thinking and discussion about the different scenes, set pieces and reasons for every decision made, I absolutely love movies like that and I am wholeheartedly amazed this is one of them. I mean, in multiple ways they actually play off the fans of the original and use what they predict will be their hatred towards the new movie, to make certain points and say specific things about the original movie in a completely respectful way, that's not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

That being said, I think the one thing that really helped me to understand and see what this movie was about, and get over my outright hatred for it was having played (and loved) a certain video game. Deus Ex: Human Revolution . There is a certain scene very early on that almost perfectly mimics a viral marketing campaign for that game, and then almost just to further reinforce in case anyone has any doubts, When robocop first awakens from the dream sequence and busts out of the lab, the first thing he sees is a yellow-lit room seperated by plexi-glass eerily reminiscent of the opening in Sarif-HQ and the entire place looks like it could be a Tai-Yong Medical aug factory which really served to set the tone for the rest of the movie and in a way showed me how I should watch it. I couldn't help but feel, from the very first opening scenes, that the film-makers were HEAVILY influenced by video games. There are a multitude of ways and scenes wherein they use camera angles I can't really remember ever seeing used this way before, except in video games (and I'm not referring to the first-person robot-view stuff either). The opening scene looks like it came directly out of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the entire movie uses the Robocop IP, and especially the original movie, in order to address and give their take on the primary issues featured in those two games. Issues that few if any movies have touched before and ones I'm definitely happy to see brought into the mainstream for discussion.

Add to that a ridiculous amount of homages and fan service throughout the movie and actual concrete, defendable and important reasons for having a black armor robocop and a human hand (my two biggest "OH COME ON! That's just ridiculous!" gripes before having watched the actual movie), and you've got a solid film that is only aided in every way by using the Robocop IP.

I really think that this is one of the extremely few movies that you can point to in a text book and teach future execs and directors "This is how you do a remake correctly!". The fact that I have that opinion after having seen it I would have thought a complete impossibility before hand.

Reasonerr fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Feb 13, 2014

# ? Feb 13, 2014 11:50

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

CelticPredator posted:

I didn't even find the OCP guys all that bad. The worst thing they did was want to shut RoboCop down.

You mean kill a police officer by terminating his life support and murder Kim or Norton to cover up. Also, kidnap Murphy's family for leverage against him, because if you thought Sellers was being nice about them boarding the helicopter first, then you'd be mistaken.

My thoughts on this are:

The reveal seen was pretty hard to watch, especially when Murphy starts breaking down. I particular cringed when they pulled away the right hand and show that it's not actually attached to anything, which is a great subtle point. It's a symbolic gesture and nothing more. Even better was Murphy comment about "that's not even my brain", when shown that he's missing chunks of his brain that have been repaired with chips.
I liked that there wasn't too much focus on Vallon, since it gets to the real meat of the story, that it's government and police corruption that's the biggest threat, not crime. If Vallon was killed sometime in the 4 months of rebuilding Murphy, his Chief would simply start taking bribes from some other up-and-coming crime lord. Vallon is replaceable in the long run. It's telling in the story that the "what's bigger than a hero" scene revolves around the implications of Robocop cleaning up corruption, which, while popular with the public, make the guys who pull the strings very nervous. In fact, that scene reminded me of two movies: Network, since that whole scene is practically modeled on the scene where Hackett, Christensen and the other executives are conspiring to kill off the now-liable albatross of Howard Beale; and Elysium, where the robot cops turn into unbiased defenders of everyone once their programming are redefined at the end of the movie. Sellers creates an unbiased system and is surprised when his own trickery is questioned.
Sellers' "debate" with Dreyfus, where he refers to Murphy as a "system".
I thought the action was a little flat, with the exception of the Biggs "arrest", the training montage, and the lobby fight. Even Vallon's standoff was too linear, although I can appreciate it since it's supposed to be some sort of fatal funnel situation. I felt the weakest fights were Mattox's confrontation in the boiler room and the rooftop climax, which I had hoped would be a bit longer and drawn out.

I think most of my feelings what everyone else has said that it's strong up to the confrontation with the Chief of Police, which I would hope that the film would have examined that "government and corporate corruption is more a threat than crime" theme a lot longer. It felt like everything after that was like 10 minutes, it felt way too fast.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 12:00

Reasonerr: Oct 8, 2009

In reply to your second point Young Freud

I find alot of criticism is being leveled against the movie regarding the amount of actual crimes depicted and the lack of Robocop actually doing much to stop crime on camera. I agree with you and love that they actually didn't focus on that, especially with the whole Vallon, I want to say sub-plot (?) but maybe it was a bit more than that. In any case, in this movie, Robocop is created as a PR stunt, he's a marketing gimmick. They want him to be functional and efficient on a simulation level and able to create just the right amount of buzz in their favor, that they can then use to spin the public opinion via their control over existing media channels (i.e. the Novak show). They even make it a point in multiple places (and use it as a way to nicely depict needed character development) to show the company scrambling to MacGuyver in last minute fixes so that he looks good on camera. They make it clear from the get go, that's basically all they care about. If they had chosen to show Robocop as actually going around and stopping crime, I think it would detract from that entire angle of the movie, it might then be construed that they intended to send the message that corporate PR stunts are ok and actually work sometimes, or that perhaps Omnicorp is going to make more than one Robocop. Keeping it this way, they're able to send the subtext that everyone in the company except the Dr. sees him as a disposable one-off. A temporary tool. They built and are using Robocop to help further play their political game. I also think that's another interesting line this movie draws as well. We finally see the cliche of Corporations being able to buy any law they want shattered, and now we have an entire movie illustrating to people that it's a bit more complicated than that, their opinion still does matter, however their opinion is easily manipulated by the mass media, now so firmly and blatantly under corporate control.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 12:12

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

Reasonerr posted:

In reply to your second point Young Freud

I find alot of criticism is being leveled against the movie regarding the amount of actual crimes depicted and the lack of Robocop actually doing much to stop crime on camera. I agree with you and love that they actually didn't focus on that, especially with the whole Vallon, I want to say sub-plot (?) but maybe it was a bit more than that. In any case, in this movie, Robocop is created as a PR stunt, he's a marketing gimmick. They want him to be functional and efficient on a simulation level and able to create just the right amount of buzz in their favor, that they can then use to spin the public opinion via their control over existing media channels (i.e. the Novak show). They even make it a point in multiple places (and use it as a way to nicely depict needed character development) to show the company scrambling to MacGuyver in last minute fixes so that he looks good on camera. They make it clear from the get go, that's basically all they care about. If they had chosen to show Robocop as actually going around and stopping crime, I think it would detract from that entire angle of the movie, it might then be construed that they intended to send the message that corporate PR stunts are ok and actually work sometimes, or that perhaps Omnicorp is going to make more than one Robocop. Keeping it this way, they're able to send the subtext that everyone in the company except the Dr. sees him as a disposable one-off. A temporary tool. They built and are using Robocop to help further play their political game. I also think that's another interesting line this movie draws as well. We finally see the cliche of Corporations being able to buy any law they want shattered, and now we have an entire movie illustrating to people that it's a bit more complicated than that, their opinion still does matter, however their opinion is easily manipulated by the mass media, now so firmly and blatantly under corporate control.

Yeah, it reminded a lot of Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, where the only real criminals you see are getting their skulls ventilated in pretty much one-sided gun battles by the police or BOPE. When Nascimento is directing fire from a goddamn helicopter like Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, it puts into perspective how much less of a threat the favela druglords are. Then you see his plan backfire when the corrupt police officers figure out that it's better to run the favelas themselves than let the druglords continue to run it.

Also, the Novak Element bits are pretty much the big-budget Americanized version of Rep. Fortunato's talk show.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 12:39

Slim Killington: Nov 16, 2007; I SAID GOOD DAY SIR

Rageaholic Monkey posted:

Oh right. It seemed weird that no one at OCP/Detroit Police HQ used it, though.

A bit behind, but I pointed out to my wife about 3/4 into the film that nobody referred to him as "RoboCop" the entire time, and she pointed it out when Lewis said, "Bad cop, RoboCop" being the first time. Then Novak does once later, but those are the only two times.

Also want to agree that I'm in love with the silver version of the suit too, and hated the black one. I'm glad the silver one got as much screen time as it did.

And the ED-209 drones turning on OCP security and disarming them at the end was great tongue-in-cheek.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 15:41

Ghost of LSV: Jul 3, 2006

The_Rob posted:

So what it sounds like from the reviews here and other places is that the movie is Robocop if you took out the fun of Robocop.

This is kind of true, I wasn't expecting a frame-by-frame faithful reshoot of the original but I felt that a really charismatic and truly terrifying villain was missing from this version. The Clarence Boddicker crew and Dick Jones were genuinely loathesome and worthy adversaries, whereas Michael Keaton just kind of faffed around by avoiding confrontation and Jackie Earl Haley came across like an angry little goon forced to engage in sibling rivalry with a cyborg stepbrother. The bent cops and the gun runner guy were all truly forgettable and Gary Oldman was caught somewhere between Commissioner Gordon and John-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in his altruism vs. material gain struggle.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 15:54

Rhyno: Mar 22, 2003; Can't post for 10 years!

Reasonerr posted:

In reply to your second point Young Freud

I find alot of criticism is being leveled against the movie regarding the amount of actual crimes depicted and the lack of Robocop actually doing much to stop crime on camera. I agree with you and love that they actually didn't focus on that, especially with the whole Vallon, I want to say sub-plot (?) but maybe it was a bit more than that. In any case, in this movie, Robocop is created as a PR stunt, he's a marketing gimmick. They want him to be functional and efficient on a simulation level and able to create just the right amount of buzz in their favor, that they can then use to spin the public opinion via their control over existing media channels (i.e. the Novak show). They even make it a point in multiple places (and use it as a way to nicely depict needed character development) to show the company scrambling to MacGuyver in last minute fixes so that he looks good on camera. They make it clear from the get go, that's basically all they care about. If they had chosen to show Robocop as actually going around and stopping crime, I think it would detract from that entire angle of the movie, it might then be construed that they intended to send the message that corporate PR stunts are ok and actually work sometimes, or that perhaps Omnicorp is going to make more than one Robocop. Keeping it this way, they're able to send the subtext that everyone in the company except the Dr. sees him as a disposable one-off. A temporary tool. They built and are using Robocop to help further play their political game. I also think that's another interesting line this movie draws as well. We finally see the cliche of Corporations being able to buy any law they want shattered, and now we have an entire movie illustrating to people that it's a bit more complicated than that, their opinion still does matter, however their opinion is easily manipulated by the mass media, now so firmly and blatantly under corporate control.

I'm not surprised that people are complaining about Robocop not fighting more crimes. There's a certain type of person who thinks that if we didn't see it, it absolutely never happened. Go check out the Man of STeel thread where dozens of posters say that since Superman barely helped any normal civilians during the times of crisis that it 100% did not happen.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 18:06

massive spider: Dec 6, 2006

One thing I liked that we didnt see none of the OCP tech really breaks down in the movie. In the original the ED209s are something of a joke in a "build it to get the contract, who cares if it works" kind of way but in this one everything is scarily efficient. Theres basically nothing stopping OCP from nailing you whereever you are at any time.

The only glitch in the system is murphy himself, I was half expecting the hostage training scene to end with a scene that shows that murphy is a better cop than the system because he's a hybrid with empathy and such but nope, the machine can handle the hostage situation perfectly thanks. The human element is a total inconvenience.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 18:16

CelticPredator: Oct 11, 2013; 🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

Rhyno posted:

I'm not surprised that people are complaining about Robocop not fighting more crimes. There's a certain type of person who thinks that if we didn't see it, it absolutely never happened. Go check out the Man of STeel thread where dozens of posters say that since Superman barely helped any normal civilians during the times of crisis that it 100% did not happen.

Yeah, I don't agree with this at all regarding Man of Steel. But I'm sure RoboCop stopped 40 crimes in between scenes, like in the original. But I would've liked to have seen more then just "RoboCop takes down drug dealers". Hell, I would've cracked up if they had RoboCop take down a 15 year old for pirating movies. There's a lot of fun stuff they could've done to make the movie a bit more enjoyable to watch.

But can someone explain the OCP being responsible for Murphy's death thing? I must have left for the bathroom during the connection part or something. I assumed Vallon sent Bad Cop to do it because Murphy was a problem. Not OCP sent Bad Cop to do it so they can have a RoboCop.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 20:49

spacegoat: Dec 23, 2003; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Nap Ghost

I think he was taking about his second " murder", where Michael Keaton's character gave the order to offline him.

The more I think about the movie after seeing it the more I like it. It's a very different film from the first that works for me as a modern take on the concept.

spacegoat fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Feb 13, 2014

# ? Feb 13, 2014 21:07

Rageaholic: May 31, 2005; Old Town Road to EGOT

CelticPredator posted:

But can someone explain the OCP being responsible for Murphy's death thing? I must have left for the bathroom during the connection part or something. I assumed Vallon sent Bad Cop to do it because Murphy was a problem. Not OCP sent Bad Cop to do it so they can have a RoboCop.

I think that's all that happened, and that Murphy's hosed up, barely functional body simply fell into OCP's lap at the right time. The time frame between OCP looking for candidates for their new project and Murphy's attempted murder seemed too tight for OCP to have planned it so they had the perfect candidate.

Also, your use of "Bad Cop" is especially hilarious because I saw The LEGO Movie right after I saw Robocop yesterday.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 21:08

DivisionPost: Jun 28, 2006; Nobody likes you.
Everybody hates you.
You're gonna lose.

Smile, you fuck.

CelticPredator posted:

But can someone explain the OCP being responsible for Murphy's death thing? I must have left for the bathroom during the connection part or something. I assumed Vallon sent Bad Cop to do it because Murphy was a problem. Not OCP sent Bad Cop to do it so they can have a RoboCop.

That was never something they were trying to push. The reason OmniCorp tried to kill Robocop was because the trail of his murder led straight to the Chief of Police. Vallon got the guns from the bad cops with his superior's knowledge, and just as Murphy was about to smoke her for it, he was literally shut down.

So OmniCorp had a problem. If Robocop's willing to arrest the same people that keep OmniCorp propped up, that's going to gently caress with their bottom line. But they also had an opportunity: Robocop just solved his own murder and uncovered a gross ring of corruption, proving for OmniCorp the infallibility of machines over men. And as far as the public knew, the process left him completely hosed up. Like Sellars says, "What's bigger than a hero?" A martyr. And OmniCorp had an opportunity to martyr him on the back of a massive PR victory, solidifying passionate support for drones on US soil.

OCP didn't have anything to do with Murphy's initial death. They were just trying to give their story the tragic ending it needed so it could do what they wanted.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 21:17

CelticPredator: Oct 11, 2013; 🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

DivisionPost posted:

That was never something they were trying to push. The reason OmniCorp tried to kill Robocop was because the trail of his murder led straight to the Chief of Police. Vallon got the guns from the bad cops with his superior's knowledge, and just as Murphy was about to smoke her for it, he was literally shut down.

So OmniCorp had a problem. If Robocop's willing to arrest the same people that keep OmniCorp propped up, that's going to gently caress with their bottom line. But they also had an opportunity: Robocop just solved his own murder and uncovered a gross ring of corruption, proving for OmniCorp the infallibility of machines over men. And as far as the public knew, the process left him completely hosed up. Like Sellars says, "What's bigger than a hero?" A martyr. And OmniCorp had an opportunity to martyr him on the back of a massive PR victory, solidifying passionate support for drones on US soil.

OCP didn't have anything to do with Murphy's initial death. They were just trying to give their story the tragic ending it needed so it could do what they wanted.

Thank you. I will see this again at some point. Maybe I'll feel differently the second time.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 21:19

Tenzarin: Jul 24, 2007; .; Taco Defender

Has anyone noticed how Robocop 3 has the exact same plot as Escape from the Bronx/Escape 2000/Bronx Warriors 2?

# ? Feb 13, 2014 22:11

Rageaholic: May 31, 2005; Old Town Road to EGOT

RedLetterMedia posted their thoughts on Robocop today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThWGN0igAsk
...but the original Robocop. And Robocop 2. And Robocop 3. Not the new one.

Although it says "To Be Continued" at the end so I'm guessing the next episode will actually be their review on the new one.

Rageaholic fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Feb 13, 2014

# ? Feb 13, 2014 22:52

CelticPredator: Oct 11, 2013; 🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

It was a great little re-review.

# ? Feb 13, 2014 23:26

marshmallow creep: Dec 10, 2008; I've been sitting here for 5 mins trying to think of a joke to make but I just realised the animators of Mass Effect already did it for me

Saw the film today. I think I liked it. I'm still kind of freaked out by the body horror scene. I mean that pretty much the stuff of nightmares. But I think I was more freaked out by how he was so easy to manipulate after they started tweaking him. Him going from an amputee victim to an automaton disturbed me probably more than anything else. I felt like the tracking down of the crime lord was a little...perfunctory. The emphasis in the film really, really is one the guys watching his brain. I kind of like the sequel potential the film still has.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 02:27

jerichojx: Oct 21, 2010

Holy poo poo, Ronny Cox is 75?!

Too bad he prefers music over film. Would be awesome for him to be a villain if there is a sequel.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 02:48

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

Lotish posted:

Saw the film today. I think I liked it. I'm still kind of freaked out by the body horror scene. I mean that pretty much the stuff of nightmares. But I think I was more freaked out by how he was so easy to manipulate after they started tweaking him. Him going from an amputee victim to an automaton disturbed me probably more than anything else. I felt like the tracking down of the crime lord was a little...perfunctory. The emphasis in the film really, really is one the guys watching his brain. I kind of like the sequel potential the film still has.

Yeah, it seemed a little drastic. His right arm looked to be perfectly fine, at least in those medical scans, and I'm sure most of his organs weren't gooed by the concussion if his lungs survived.

I thought it was weird they hadn't replaced his lungs and heart. Those are probably the easiest prosthetic parts to replace since most of the work has gone into them over the past four decades.

jerichojx posted:

Holy poo poo, Ronny Cox is 75?!

Too bad he prefers music over film. Would be awesome for him to be a villain if there is a sequel.

Yeah, he hasn't actually retired either. I know he did a short science fiction film a few years back.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 04:44

JT Smiley: Mar 3, 2006; Thats whats up!

Young Freud posted:

Yeah, it seemed a little drastic. His right arm looked to be perfectly fine, at least in those medical scans, and I'm sure most of his organs weren't gooed by the concussion if his lungs survived.

I thought it was weird they hadn't replaced his lungs and heart. Those are probably the easiest prosthetic parts to replace since most of the work has gone into them over the past four decades.

I must admit, even though I thought the movie was just ok, that moment will stick with me forever. Talk about a haunting scene, shame nothing else in the film came close to that.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 04:59

a dingus: Mar 22, 2008; Rhetorical questions only; Fun Shoe

When will this scene find its way to Youtube? Its the only one I want to see.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 05:02

jerichojx: Oct 21, 2010

Have you watched the movie yet? If not, I kinda feel sad we spoiled it for you because it is that good.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 05:34

Vintersorg: Mar 3, 2004; President of
the Brendan Fraser
Fan Club

Oh man, I loving loved this movie! Just got back and I was pleasantly surprised how well made and engaging this movie was! Aside from Murphy, the concept of RoboCop, OCP and a Lewis character - this movie is a new take on everything. It wrapped up neatly - albeit a little rushed - but still was a complete package.

I dunno what else to say, not really good at a full review - just loved it, I adore the original as I grew up with it and this was a great remake.

NOW - despite all that, I do not like the actor who played Murphy. He doesn't have the same gravitas as Peter Weller. Something didn't fully click - he did well but I just couldn't get into him playing it.

I dont think there is need for a sequel, I am not even sure what they could do as from here on out he's a superhero. But maybe, just maybe... if it does well - a writer will find a way.

Go see this movie!!

# ? Feb 14, 2014 05:45

marshmallow creep: Dec 10, 2008; I've been sitting here for 5 mins trying to think of a joke to make but I just realised the animators of Mass Effect already did it for me

Vintersorg posted:

NOW - despite all that, I do not like the actor who played Murphy. He doesn't have the same gravitas as Peter Weller. Something didn't fully click - he did well but I just couldn't get into him playing it.

Yeah, the actor didn't seem like he worked on all levels, like he had some limited range. He really seemed at his best once he was in the suit. I think he does an excellent job of playing a hood in his undercover work--he sells that quite nicely--but the other stuff up to the explosion and his transformation--his actual on-the-job cop persona and his family presence--felt off. I think he comported himself okay after that and I think he worked very well in a few key scenes, like the aforementioned body reveal, mostly because at a certain point you're not sure how much of him being slightly off isn't because of some level of interference, but at the end of the day he doesn't have Weller's presence.

marshmallow creep fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Feb 14, 2014

# ? Feb 14, 2014 05:54

JT Smiley: Mar 3, 2006; Thats whats up!

Lotish posted:

Yeah, the actor didn't seem like he worked on all levels, like he had some limited range. He really seemed at his best once he was in the suit. I think he does an excellent job of playing a hood in his undercover work--he sells that quite nicely--but the other stuff up to the explosion and his transformation--his actual on-the-job cop persona and his family presence--felt off. I think he comported himself okay after that and I think he worked very well in a few key scenes, like the aforementioned body reveal, mostly because at a certain point you're not sure how much of him being slightly off isn't because of some level of interference, but at the end of the day he doesn't have Weller's presence.

I assumed he was trying to hard to mask some accent and it hurt his performance.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 06:09

Rhyno: Mar 22, 2003; Can't post for 10 years!

JT Smiley posted:

I assumed he was trying to hard to mask some accent and it hurt his performance.

Dude is Swedish, I've read a few conflicting reports but he may not have learned English until he was in his mid 20's.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 07:40

spikenigma: Nov 13, 2005; by Ralp

Saw it, was awesome. I take back all of my previous worries about it.

Why did ED-209 have a sexy wiggle?

:roboluv:

# ? Feb 14, 2014 08:15

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Some Guy TT posted:

I actually really liked the ending when I thought about it some more. The key to this is the soldier guy in that scene and consider his perspective. The boss is clearly knee deep in criminal poo poo. The guy straight up taunts Robocop for not being able to make an arrest thanks to a software exploit. The boss demands the soldier give him a gun, something the soldier does without hesitation even though at this point the only thing the boss could possibly use it for is to commit a crime. Hell, he immediately threatens Robocop's wife and son with it- for absolutely no reason, just be a giant dickhead, and the soldier stands there doing nothing. Plot twist- everyone in the movie is a machine. The soldier, just like every other employee at OCP, has been trained to unconditionally obey mechanical orders with no regards for context. There was no special code preventing the soldier from kicking the boss to the ground- just training instinct. Robocop's abstract defiance of his software code in this context is a mockery of societal obsession with following the rules. Robocop broke the rules because he wanted to- even though there was a huge technical obstacle in his way. The soldier could have done the exact same thing but chose not to- solely because he was conditioned to. So unsurprisingly, once Robocop solves the mess the soldier could have but didn't, the soldier just quietly walks away hoping nobody will notice he gave Snidely Whiplash a gun to menace innocent civilians and did absolute jack poo poo to stop it.

So, in more direct response, Robocop is not a bitch to OCP. Everybody else is a bitch to OCP except Robocop because he chooses not to believe it. Because software codes, like martial ones, can be hosed around with. Our decision not to do so is a personal choice.

This is probably the most perceptive thing written in this whole thread, and needs more recognition.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 09:12

Android Apocalypse: Apr 28, 2009; The future is
AUTOMATED
and you are
OBSOLETE; Illegal Hen

Saw the movie with friends & enjoyed it. We were discussing how this movie's main plot was overturning the Dreyfus Act and how Murphy/Robocop almost became ancillary. Honestly, we thought this film should have been called OCP: The Movie (featuring Alex Murphy as Robocop).

Like Total Recall this movie has the spectre of the original hanging over it, which is a curse (always being compared to it) and necessary (the name recognition itself helped finance the movie). With this movie's modern take on the drone war & corporations, a part of me wished it was actually a Universal Soldier remake.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 10:41

Dog_Meat: May 19, 2013

massive spider posted:

One thing I liked that we didnt see none of the OCP tech really breaks down in the movie. In the original the ED209s are something of a joke in a "build it to get the contract, who cares if it works" kind of way but in this one everything is scarily efficient. Theres basically nothing stopping OCP from nailing you whereever you are at any time.

The only glitch in the system is murphy himself, I was half expecting the hostage training scene to end with a scene that shows that murphy is a better cop than the system because he's a hybrid with empathy and such but nope, the machine can handle the hostage situation perfectly thanks. The human element is a total inconvenience.

Yeah, the efficiency of OCP was something that changed the feel of the film and really hammered home the "giving our freedom to machines" theme. I thought the hostage scene would result in Murphy talking the criminal down and saving both lives, showing 'yay humanity', but instead we got the cold results that he simply isn't as good as a machine

# ? Feb 14, 2014 11:52

Pingiivi: Mar 26, 2010; Straight into the iris!

I actually really liked this. The action wasn't so hot but Padilha was pretty much the right choice for this movie. The socio-political stuff worked well.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 12:20

Ramagamma: Feb 2, 2008; by FactsAreUseless

Was an Ok movie. Wouldn't rush for a sequel and wouldn't want to watch again but it was fine for a nights entertainment. One thing that felt totally out of place was the choice of music. Hocus Pocus by Focus being used during the training section was whack as hell. I love that song and I've waited years for it to crop up in a movie at some point so maybe I'm a little biased.

Also I Fought the Law by the Clash over the end credits was kinda jarring. Maybe if it was a comedy it would have worked but nah just felt dumb to me.

Also the dropping of memorable lines from the original movie was cringe worthy.

# ? Feb 14, 2014 12:29

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 10, 2024 17:11

Gatts: Jan 2, 2001; Goodnight Moon; Nap Ghost

Solid, decent, worthwhile movie with a lot of potential and things to explore. It kept throwing things out there for you to think about and maybe didn't really go too into depth with a lot but can't blame them and am happy with it. I wouldn't have minded if we got a 4 hour movie if it was allowed to breathe and not go action tard. This is what a remake should be, exploring a different facet of a work of art rather than rehashing or comparing to the original. It's not the same thing again trying to recapture a past glory, and that's good. Don't compare it to the original, I think it stands well enough alone. I thought the way they got into Robocop's head and how he functions and the whole design/testing phase was really great. I don't think the human vs robot element was too well done as far as humanity vs machine, Murphy's character exploration, or some jazz but taking a step back at how Omnicorp, Robocop, Murphy and all the characters relate, humanity in robotic world driven by companies vs free will and whatever else, that's shown was good. It feels like to me that it was something to get off the ground and establish and touch on things, as the scope of what they cover is so wide, than really having a chance to dive in and focus, and I'm fine with that. If there's a sequel, I'll look forward to it.

The action sequences were meh, with some cool moments like Robocop using the ED209s legs and body as cover while being more agile and mobile. And tactical HUD and planning. And yes, the Body Horror is amazing.

Music felt out of place, I don't know what quite they were going for.

I also don't know how anyone can think there isn't satire in this thing. Maybe not beat over your head, but anything Novak related with happy reporters in the middle east exclaiming about safety, America's place in the world, justification of a police state at home, versus what the populace is feeling which is who gives a poo poo, I mean come on it's there. Jay Bruchel's character is another. Anything dealing with the geopolitics at home or abroad. There are a couple of other examples I'm trying to recall outside of that.

The thing was full of it.

Android Bicyclist posted:

Saw the movie with friends & enjoyed it. We were discussing how this movie's main plot was overturning the Dreyfus Act and how Murphy/Robocop almost became ancillary. Honestly, we thought this film should have been called OCP: The Movie (featuring Alex Murphy as Robocop).

Like Total Recall this movie has the spectre of the original hanging over it, which is a curse (always being compared to it) and necessary (the name recognition itself helped finance the movie). With this movie's modern take on the drone war & corporations, a part of me wished it was actually a Universal Soldier remake.

Yes, this is another great point. Robocop was just a small facet of what was going on and a tool for a greater purpose of a more competent or modern company that has influence over governments.

Gatts fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Feb 14, 2014

# ? Feb 14, 2014 16:31

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Dead Or Alive, This Franchise Is Coming Back: Robocop 2014 Remake Chat

«‹›37 »