The new RoboCop film has already generated criticism from fans of the first film who are upset over the new costume or uniform housing the rebooted cyborg police officer. It’s matte black, and rather Batmanish, missing all of the beloved steel and chrome of the costume from the original film.
Interestingly, the character’s vehicle seen in the video below seems to have undergone the same treatment, as RoboCopy simply used standard issue police vehicles in the original films.
While I was surprised when I first saw it, I can’t bring myself to be too concerned about the black costume and vehicle. Sure, it looks different, but this is a different age of filmmaking. Aesthetics and the expectations of a modern audience have changed, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman films have had a huge influence on the super hero genre.
We should expect that for the next decade, most dark super hero stories will be very reminiscent of Nolan’s vision for Gotham, while lighter super hero stories will look like the Marvel vision. A few die-hard fans of the original RoboCop might be put off, but they’re not the majority of the audience, and they will always have the original film to go watch when they get nostalgic.
We also have this new synopsis for the film from the studio:
The year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Their drones are winning American wars around the globe and now they want to bring this technology to the home front. Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) is a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes their remarkable science of robotics to save Alex’s life. He returns to the streets of his beloved city with amazing new abilities, but with issues a regular man has never had to face before.
And, there is a piece of concept for the new version of ed-209. For reference, the robot from the first film is on the right.
RoboCop, which stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson, is slated ti hit theaters on February 14th, 2014.
