By: Cynthia A.

Directed by: José Padilha

Screenplay by: Joshua Zetumer

Based on Characters by Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Jennifer Ehle & Jay Baruchel

Genre: Action

In the year 2028, a multinational conglomerate, OmniCorp, after expanding their reach of mechanical soldiers by supplying them to the US Military, they want to bring their product home and sell their products for use in civilian law enforcement.  OmniCorp CEO, Raymond Sellars, asks his marketing team to create a new law enforcement product by combining human and machine to sway public opinion.  Their candidate: any civilian officer injured in the line of duty.  And when Detective Alex Murphy is severely injured by a car bomb, he makes it to the top of the list, becoming Robocop.  Part man, part machine, but all cop.

Fans of the original have no worries. RoboCop us a loosely based remake on the 1987’s film RoboCop that spawned a trilogy and created a franchise.  Nevertheless, make no mistake, while the movies share many common elements, this movie is a new RoboCop is more story oriented and character driven.

As the movie opens, moviegoers are introduced into the world of tomorrow and the base incentive to for the creation of a human inside of a machine before introducing viewers to who Detective Alex Murphy is and why viewers should care about him and his predicament.

As a fast-paced movie, the writers and directors decided that they were going to focus on the character development and the human component.  The movie takes a strong focus on the creation of the RoboCop and the psychological element that would come into play after such a drastic turn of events.  One moment he’s a man with a loving family, the next moment he’s more machine than he is man, his whole life completely altered.  That gave the movie a powerful undertone as viewers travel alongside Det. Alex Murphy.  Nevertheless, it wasn’t just the writers and the directors who made that aspect so powerful but also the actors.  Each actor was able to bring to light a completely new part of the story and give the viewers’ something tangible to grasp, giving these characters life and bursts of captivating energy.

Joel Kinnaman was, easily, an amazing choice as the actor to bring new life into this RoboCop revitalization.  He was able to capture the pain that the character felt, the intense emotions that Alex Murphy felt with his incredibly expressive eyes and demeanor.  Even with the visor down, his voice and charisma vibrated off screen making him amazing.  He shows more character than the original had, and I love the original, don’t get me wrong, but this movie just had more substance behind it and the actor gave more to the part.

Additionally there was the family element.  In the original, the family thought he was dead, in this one, the family is very much aware of what he is.  The tension between the family and OmniCorp, between the wife and the doctor, brought out a lot in the other characters and gave the movie such a heart gripping tension.

This movie, aside from the beginning, which was a little disturbing, was awesome.  The script, direction and story behind all the action was  put together amazingly.  Oh, and Michael Keaton as the corporate bad guy, that was perfect.  That man is a very talented actor.  ★★★☆ (A-)

Posted from WordPress for Android By Cynthia Ayala