We just ran a report on TGD about the reboot of RoboCop, which is coming on February 12. A friend of ours who runs the Movie Zombie blog saw it early, and he wasn’t terribly impressed. Now the first official reviews are in. The verdict?
According to Variety, the movie is “smarter-than-expected,” and that director Jose Padilha’s “pumped-up, cleaned up update makes it clear that this sci-fi concept merely holds a mirror to the political present. Shifting the prime target of its satire from corporate greed to post-9/11 jingoism, this well-cast, smarter than expected remake repairs much of the damage done by meat-headed sequels and action reboots…”
However, The Hollywood Reporter wasn’t that nuts about it. As the industry trade writes, “This remake of the 1987 dystopian classic has a better cast, more meticulous script, and naturally, flashier effects, but it lacks the original’s wit and subversive slipperiness.” Which is what we expected would happen with a RoboCop remake.
What’s especially unfortunate is that The Hollywood Reporter tells us it’s “neither the complete disaster some might have been anticipating or any kind of cinematic landmark,” which is also disappointing to read because it sounds like it’s just another middle of the road Hollywood movie that will probably be forgotten the minute you walk out of the theater. Oh well, there’s always the original, which I haven’t seen in a while, but I’m willing to bet it still holds up pretty well.
