Robocop, 1987. My Journey into Science Fiction Part 12.

Hello, and welcome back to My Journey into Science Fiction Part 12. Robocop, 1987 was directed by Paul Verhoeven, and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Marketing the film was difficult, as the title Robocop was considered terrible. I have to admit, I knew about the movie before I even saw a second of it, and the title did sound a little strange, but there was also something fascinating about it. I can still remember how much I needed to see this movie as a child. However, the film became a hit, making over fifty million at the box office, and became a cult classic instantly. The film spawned two sequels, a television show and a couple of animated series. In recent times the franchise was rebooted, but never really matched the success of its predecessor. However, we have had a theme park attraction, and Robocop even has a statue in the Michigan Science Centre in Detroit. Robocop is currently being used as part of a promotion for Kentucky Fried Chicken in the US, and I am surprised at how easily this violent and graphic movie seeped into popular culture so effortlessly. Rogue City was released to the video game market early in the year. And the documentary, RoboDoc, was fantastic, and I urge you to check it out. 

So, what attracted me so much to this film as a child? Well, Robocop was nothing like anything that had come before it. The movie looked mind-blowing and exciting and pretty much caught my imagination straight away, and it still does to this day. The special-effects team nailed it when they created the suit for Peter Weller. Plus, the actor also did a fantastic job bringing his character to life. I know the film is pretty violent, but I think the comedy desensitised it, in a good way. I didn’t know much about the Reagan administration when I was younger, so the satirical themes of the film went over my head a little back then, but it was the immortal one-liners that were repeated in many of the classrooms I attended as a child, Can you fly, Bobby? However, they are still used by many adults I know, including myself. 

ED209 is a beautiful addition to the movie, and his creation and design are the work of Phil Tippett. Tippett is responsible for some of my favourite scenes in cinema history, and Mad God, 2021 is a work of art.  The toxic waste sequence is probably one of my favourite moments in the movie, and I do seem to remember acting that one out a few times amongst friends, skin-meltingly magnificent. I have watched the film hundreds of times as a child, but as an adult, it is more prophetic. Don’t get me wrong, I still love all those moments I enjoyed before, but this film does have deeper meanings. The religious tones, and how Robocop is a modern-day American Jesus, with guns of course. It’s all there, paradise lost, the resurrection and by the end, he’s even walking on water. When you get older, you start to think more about life, and your place in the universe. Now, I think more about the impact this had on Murphy’s life, and it makes me appreciate the genius of Paul Verhoeven even more.

I also think the casting for this film was perfect. I found Kurtwood Smith as Clarence J. Boddicker highly impressive, and his acting in this role is beyond satisfying. Omni Consumer Products, also known as OCP, also hits harder, as we do seem to be heading towards a future that is run by a handful of major companies. The fight for power, using corruption and greed is shown very well between Dick Jones Ronny Cox and Bob Morton Miguel Ferrer. As drastic as their fight becomes, you can still see glimpses of this type of behaviour across many workplaces across the World today. I feel privileged to have witnessed Robocop when it was first released, as movies like these shaped my mind as a child and somehow pointed me in the right direction. It may sound a bit unorthodox, but Paul Verhoeven is an intelligent filmmaker, and he has a lot of honesty in his films, and he can smell bullshit a mile away. Robocop is a fantastic film, and when I become a little better at this writing thing, I can go a little deeper into its complexities. For now, I am just happy to share a few of my thoughts and be happy it’s still around. 

So, where next in My Journey into Science Fiction Part 13? My next review is a no-brainer, as this is a movie that has eluded me all my life. Peter Weller stars in Robocop and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension, and I have no idea what to expect from this film. I just know it is a film I know nothing about, and that excites me.

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