ROBOCOP (1987)
As one of the all time science fiction greats, RoboCop goes beyond a straightforward blend of futuristic ideas and 1980s satire. It's a film that has it all; the biggest squibs, the biggest guns, the best men's room scene. There's a lot of horrifying violence and a lot of horrifying corporate ambition. But at the
same time it still manages to be darkly funny. Which is thanks in part to the way everything is so excessive, from the amount of blood to the amount of over acting. These ingredients perfectly portray a world full
of excess. A film about a cyborg that fights crime is a recipe for trashy B-movie cinema, however the whole thing is crafted with precision. All the moving parts are engineered to be exactly right, from the script, the performances, and of course the robot effects.
The story goes that when Dutch film maker Paul Verhoeven landed in North America, what he saw in the media would become his
vision of 'Old Detroit'. His hotel television set showed him a world where shocking real life news was broken up with upbeat commercials. Stories of nuclear panic meeting with advertisements for cars and board games. A cacophony of images being broadcast alongside the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. So in a way the resulting film is less satire and simply a very mild exaggeration from one man's perspective. A man who didn't want to direct the story at all.
It's a script he initially rejected simply because of the title, something I'm sure some prospective audience members did at the time. It sounds big and dumb. Parts of it are big and dumb. However there are also elements of something far smarter and infinitely more interesting. Expectations are once the film begins, as jabs are taken at health care schemes and corporations buying up public services. It immediately sets the tone. I doubt you would find this sort of thing elsewhere during what (on the surface) is just a crowd pleasing spectacle. Of course there is a nice variety, it's not all parody. There are plenty of well made cyborg action beats along the way.
Where else can you find such a layered sci-fi tale, combined with such great stop motion and crime fighting scenes? It's fun for the whole family (get them before
they get you). Instead of being another throwaway robot movie it has real substance, which is saying something post-Terminator. It also has a central character that brings plenty of heart to the story. Some the best scenes are the quieter ones where the eponymous officer tries to remember his past life, looking over what is left of his old family home. There's a lot of trash talking and scenery chewing, but here it works thanks to the haunting melody of one of the scores least pronounced but most effective themes.
But I guess it goes without saying that the music by Basil Poledouris is pretty fantastic overall. It moves effortlessly between these emotive sequences to those with a far more sinister atmosphere. Of course when it gets to that roaring theme tune during moments of action things really ramp up. Loss, resurrection and vengeance are all covered here with a nuanced sound that mixes the melancholy and the bombastic equally well. The orchestral range is pretty varied, but it also has plenty of nice synthesized elements to bring out that dreamy sci-fi flavour. What better way to portray a man who lost his life and is searching for his soul?
The large than life music accompanies a science fiction adventure which is straight out of a comic book. So it's fitting many of the characters over emphasized to the point of them being caricatures. The over the top ideas fit with the people who inhabit the world being presented. Which is particularly true of the bad guys here, a selection of obnoxious criminal sadists and scheming yuppy scumbags. They're the kind of villains who are easy to both love to hate. The grotesque yet magnetic ensemble makes for an engaging rogues gallery, whether it's the slimy Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) or the truly evil Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) and Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his unruly gang of thugs. There are many other good turns from familiar faces such as Nancy Allen and Ray Wise who fill out a great cast.
It goes without saying that the main man himself Peter Weller often steals the show. He imbues the armour plated body of OCP's latest product with a wry sense of humour thanks to his verbal cadence. He also lends it a sense of weight and reality through his physical movement. His journey from death to robot back around to humanity would have never worked without all the ways he progresses as a character during the story. The core of the movie from his murder to the crime fighting montage, as well as reveal of 'Directive 4' is all so effective because of the performance. Its to his credit that the ending, which leaves a lot of dark questions unanswered, manages to feel so upbeat.
Great performances aside a big reason this all remains so memorable is the script, which offers so much great dialogue throughout the running time. It feels like a lot of the film is made entirely from punchy lines and classic sound bites. Amusing '80s movie quotes have never been better perhaps outside Aliens and Predator. Together they form a holy trinity of electric dialogue and silly one liners... however that's a story for another time. But the heightened reality here between the terrible taste people have in sitcoms and the sleazy antics of corporate executives gels so precisely because of way people act and what they say. By the time ED209 trips on the staircase and Emile dissolves in a wave of toxic waste, the whole thing is fully realised in a way that is totally acceptable.
This is hardly a recommendation for all viewers, and yet at the same time it's a huge pop culture mainstay. It moves effortlessly from graphic violence, to humour to effective drama. Sometimes within the same scene (see Mr. Kinney's death). But that's all part of the magic. It also stands as a classic example of how to do things like real blood and believable robotics. It feels solid and heavy, and things like the squibs and pyrotechnics are still all so visceral. It's sad that the sequels vary from mediocre misfires to horrible disasters, but I guess that's the inevitable result of continuing a story which ends with humanity being achieved. A bunch of board members had to get together just to sate their desire for more box office revenue; I guess the message was too subtle for some people.
5/5
