Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Robocop






Robocop is a futuristic action thriller set in Detroit, when the city privatizes most of its services to a large corporation, Omni Consumer Products (OCP). The OCP is hard at work trying to militarize the police force through replacing the need for humans, however, lead CEO Dick Jones' (Ronny Cox) primary prototype fails in a demonstration test. The project is replaced by a new prototype led by young CEO Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer).

When cop Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is shot on the job and is soon declared dead, the OCP turns his body into "Robocop," attaching "state of the art" legs, arms, and a torso to Murphy. He retains a few murky memories and characteristics from his life as a human, but mostly lives as a robot.

Trouble starts when Robocop recognizes one of his killers and looks up the criminal's profile in the police database. In the file, one of his crimes is listed as killing Alex Murphy. Robocop soon pieces together who he used to be, before the OCP turned him into a walking piece of machinery.

The movie is a vintage 80s film, particularly given the "state of the art" technology it uses, which dates the film now considerably. The robotics used are laughably prop-like and the characters are distinctly 80s-- with uber nude make up and uniforms. The robotics and outfits used resemble others used in similar futuristic films made during the 80s, such as Star Wars and Tron. All in all, it is a timeless piece of vintage 80s action, and can be used as a warning of the evils of corporate power.

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