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Robocop

Starring: Peter Weller
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Genre: Action / Science Fiction
Year: 1987
Rating: 3 / 5

The 1980s featured more than a handful of would-be science fiction films, but precious few have stood the test of time. Films such as Terminator and Aliens clearly captured the public's attention, but a few lesser-known films have also managed to survive. One such film is Robocop, Paul Verhoeven's take on a future where corporate America runs law enforcement. Is this film a guilty pleasure? Without a doubt. Should it be judged on the basis of its multiple abhorrent sequels? Not unless we plan to condemn the likes of Predator and Highlander as well. I choose to remember Robocop as a visionary spectacle that put a human face on America's war against crime.

Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is a veteran cop just assigned to one of the worst jobs in the world - a precinct in Old Detroit. Crime is rampant, and cops are being killed in the street at an alarming rate. In hot pursuit of drug lord Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), Murphy and his partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen) corner this band of criminals in an abandoned warehouse. With Lewis knocked unconscious, Murphy is jumped by members of Boddicker's gang and left for dead. With bullet holes riddled across his body and a near-fatal shot to the skull, Murphy is seen as nothing more than another deceased cop, which happens to be exactly what OCP is looking for.

Bob Jones (Miguel Ferrer), a power-hungry young executive at OCP, the corporation now running the police force, has developed the Robocop program. Its goal is to produce the ultimate police officer - part man, part machine. Alex Murphy makes the perfect test subject, and, refitted with body armor and some high-tech computer chips, he is dispatched to rid Old Detroit of crime. All is not well at OCP, however, and the ruthless Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) sees Robocop as an unnecessary obstacle in his path to the top. Jones turns the police force against Robocop, forcing him and his former partner to run for their lives.

In a movie that is headlined by Peter Weller, one almost has to look to the supporting characters for excitement. Oddly enough, in Robocop, they deliver, at least in terms of that Before They Were Stars angle. Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and Paul McCrane (ER) play two hoodlums in the gang run by Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show), a man who, despite his wiry frame and glasses, somehow made a career out of playing despicable villains. Weller adds a little bit of the "everyman" notion to his role, a rather thankless one considering that he spends most of the film wrapped in metal. Then again, fans do not like this film because of Peter Weller; they like it because of a half-man, half-machine entity known as Robocop.

Cast:

Certification: Rated R for violence.
Running Time: 102 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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