A plethora of RoboCop reboot images recently hit the ‘Net, courtesy of a leaked concept reel. Spoilers follow.
The reel has been taken down, but before it disappeared, fans were able to snag some screen shots from a clip showcasing some of the art associated with the new RoboCop film.
First, there is a pretty clear look at the new RoboCop armor from several different angles. We already know the director decided not to go with the silver armor, opting instead for a fully black carapace. Interestingly, one of thes images below seems to indicate that a black helmet was originally under consideration.
As you may recall, fans have roundly criticized the color choice as being a rip-off of Christopher Nolan’s particularly dark Batman, but really all super hero films, of which RoboCop is one, have been getting darker over the years, and this was one way that director José Padilha is able to distinguish his film more from the original, and make it appear more modern.
There are also images that look like they were taken from storyboards. An interesting detail to note here is the image in which there seems to be multiple RoboCops on the street, hinting that perhaps in this version of the story our protagonist will not be the only one of his kind.
Also rather interesting is the prevalence of daylight imagery. One would expect most of the reboot to take place at night, especially considering the decision to dim an already dark film, so a prevalence of daylight would certainly be an interesting touch- if it doesn’t make the whole film feel slightly off.
Finally, we have what appear to be images of RoboCop’s weaponry, the new Omnicorp logo and one of the robot villains, the prototype patrol robot ED-209, the failure of which begins the RoboCop program in the original film.
The film’s official synopsis is thus:
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.
RoboCop, which stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson, is slated to hit theaters on February 14th, 2014.
