Paul Verhoeven’s geek credentials are crystal clear. He’s the man who directed one of the best sci-fi films ever, RoboCop, and he also gave us Total Recall, which stands strong against the current remake.
Plus, Verhoeven directed Starship Troopers, which is not in the same league as Cop and Recall, but it’s still pretty fun and has some of the best CGI (at leaste for its time) I’ve ever seen.
Yes, many of the effects in Total Recall were cheesy even then, but it’s remarkable how much love there still is for the original, because the remake went down the toilet this summer. The remake of RoboCop is currently in production, and it’s already gotten a lot of geek knee-jerk reaction all over the net, especially the new RoboCop suit awhich looks like its is aping The Dark Knight just a bit.
While Ronnie Cox, who starred in both Cop and Recall, made it very clear he’s not happy that both movies got remade, Verhoeven was a little more circumspect when talking to Indie Wire. Being that RoboCop had a great sense of satiric humor, Verhoeven also laughed at the irony that “Critics were a lot more complimentary to me and Arnold about the original after the remake came out than they had been before it.”
And indeed, Verhoeven felt a mistake with the Recall remake was taking the humor out of it. “I really thought they made a mistake when they did the remake by making it so serious,” he said. He felt RoboCop, Recall and Troopers “are accepted because they don’t take themselves so seriously. There’s a lightness, you believe it, but we also know it’s not true.”
Verhoeven also dismissed the rumor he was going to be involved in the RoboCop remake, and he’s never wanted to do sequels either, even though the second RoboCop sure could have used his help. “I’ve always escaped them narrowly,” he told Indie Wire. “I think you better not do them. Sometimes there’s so much pressure and so much that they offer you – but I’ve always been able to avoid the temptation.”
