Brock Landers
10-09-2000, 01:20 PM
"Robocop" A Brock Landers Review of A Paul Verhoeven Film
This inately sarcastic thriller set in the punk-rock future is a fast-paced carnage-enhanced hedonistic trip through a comic strip-like world built on a foundation of urban pain and indelible tension...not to mention lots of blood, gore, profanity and all around fucked-up morals...you know, the four basic food groups for cinema buffs like myself.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, whose trademark is outrageous themes and kinky behavior ("Basic Instinct", "Showgirls", "The 4th Man" & "Hollow Man"), he shows us a more flashy and high-tech production than most, including some very "Brazil"-like imagery and design, in this big budget action film.
It takes place in "Old Detroit" (actually modern Dallas, Texas) where gangs run rampant and kill anybody that their whim desires including cops. The police get taken over by the private sector (a business called Omni Consumer Corp.), who after the over-the-top killing of a rookie cop (Peter Weller) and the failure of their top enforcement model (it kills an executive in a board meeting) decide to try out their Robocop concept on Weller. They rebuild his body using hydraulics, computers, electronic wiring and, of course, a fully automatic gun w/license to kill...in effect, creating the ultimate ass-kicking machine on the mean streets.
The story comes together nicely in the end, drawing on Weller's past, the gang who killed him and the evil corporation as the plot fundamentals. The rest is just icing on the cake...but if you want to see a bit of the ol' ultra-violence, than this is the film for you...(9/10)...
(note: I recommend the unrated version available on The Criterion Collection DVD...see it exactly as the fucked-up director intended it to be released...)
This inately sarcastic thriller set in the punk-rock future is a fast-paced carnage-enhanced hedonistic trip through a comic strip-like world built on a foundation of urban pain and indelible tension...not to mention lots of blood, gore, profanity and all around fucked-up morals...you know, the four basic food groups for cinema buffs like myself.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, whose trademark is outrageous themes and kinky behavior ("Basic Instinct", "Showgirls", "The 4th Man" & "Hollow Man"), he shows us a more flashy and high-tech production than most, including some very "Brazil"-like imagery and design, in this big budget action film.
It takes place in "Old Detroit" (actually modern Dallas, Texas) where gangs run rampant and kill anybody that their whim desires including cops. The police get taken over by the private sector (a business called Omni Consumer Corp.), who after the over-the-top killing of a rookie cop (Peter Weller) and the failure of their top enforcement model (it kills an executive in a board meeting) decide to try out their Robocop concept on Weller. They rebuild his body using hydraulics, computers, electronic wiring and, of course, a fully automatic gun w/license to kill...in effect, creating the ultimate ass-kicking machine on the mean streets.
The story comes together nicely in the end, drawing on Weller's past, the gang who killed him and the evil corporation as the plot fundamentals. The rest is just icing on the cake...but if you want to see a bit of the ol' ultra-violence, than this is the film for you...(9/10)...
(note: I recommend the unrated version available on The Criterion Collection DVD...see it exactly as the fucked-up director intended it to be released...)