Robocop 2

Rating:
Summary: I agree with Shawn Watson
Review: This movie was not made to dethrone Robocop or Citizen Kane but to draw money.Whether it did or not doesn't change the fact that it was a fair sequel.Some things were lacking from the first one that were present in all but this one:I'll buy that for a $" guy 6000 SUX,and Robo's spike.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: Too many people judge this film too harshly. As a slice of undemanding pure hokum it rocks. It wasn't made to knock Citizen Kane off it's throne. Everything about this movie is entirely lighthearted and most of the funny bits are quite amazing. Keep this in mind when you watch it and you'll have a good time.

Rating:
Summary: Robocop 2 REVIEW
Review: Worthwhile sequel to Verhoven's smash hit, "Robocop" has Weller reprising his role of Alex Murphy, a deceased cop brought back as a machine to fight crime in futuristic Detriot. This time around, Motor City is at war as a dictator-like drug dealer is using his new designer drug, "Nuke" to gather a group of followers. Meanwhile, most of the police force is on strike while Robo's manufacturing company, OCP, wants to take over the bankrupt city. OCP decides to create a newer more stronger "Robocop" but rather than use an actual field officer like they did with Murphy, they turn to the very drug dealer who has turned the city into a war zone. The usual violent mayhem ensues before the two Robocops battle their way through the city in an anti-climatic grudge match. "Robocop 2" is even more violent than the original but it does still feature a lot of the over-the-top humor displayed in its predecessor as well. Fans of the first will enjoy but most others will proably be unimpressed.

Rating:
Summary: Should be called Roblowcop. Everything goes wrong here...
Review: What's wrong with Robocop 2? Everything. In their attempt to reproduce the success of the $10 million 1987 sleeper hit producers threw $100 million dollars at Director Paul Verhoven, and told him to do it again. Well that would be hard to do without one essential piece: The two original screenwriters. But since those executives perceived Robocop as just a "comic book" movie they hired a "hot" comic book writer Frank Miller to write the screenplay.
Frank Miller killed the Robocop Franchise with Robocop 2. His horrible screenplay proves that comic book writers know nothing about the medium of film and should stick to 2-D images. He just doesn't understand the depth and complexity of the Robocop fantasy world. The violence in the first Robocop was making a comment about the state of society. The "fake ads" poke fun at the state of society and how we commercialize things that hurt us.
The three stories don't come together to make a complete movie this time like in the first movie. Each seems lost. The first story about OCP trying to replicate the success of the Robocop program just doesn't work here. They need to create an army of Robos to clean up old Detroit so they can build New Detroit. Unfortunately they have no success. The second story is a lame attempt to make a comment on the War on Drugs. Robocop is hot on the trail of Cain a drug lord producing Nuke, a highly addictive substance similar to crack. Robo eventually busts Cain and puts him in a coma. So what do the OCP executives do? They turn the drug lord into Robocop 2, a robot they send out to kill the mayor in their plans to overthrow Old Detroit and build New Detroit. That makes sense to you? Not to me. The final sequence of this movie falls completely apart as Robocop does things that are so stupid you will shake your head. High impact bullets and power tools damage Robocop but a fall off the top of a 100-story building doesn't harm him. In the first movie we knew the Cobra assault cannon was dangerous. It blew ED-209 to bits. But in this movie Robocop 2 isn't scratched with a shot from it. However, the Robocop's auto-9 can shoot off parts of him.
Peter Weller probably realized how bad this script was during the shooting of this film He isn't as riveting here as he was in the first movie. In the opening scenes where the robot follows his wife he's great but the rest of the film he's uninspired. He simply phones it in hoping it doesn't hurt his career. Nancy Allen has absolutely nothing to work with here. She can't share any of the wonderful chemistry she had with Weller in the first movie because the script downplays her role for more stupid stunts and special effects.
I really wish someone else had been involved in the Robocop sequels. Someone with enough vision to see past the "comic book" action and let us get to know the characters in some riveting human drama. There were some great stories to tell like Murphy facing his wife and son, Lewis' feelings regarding Murphy and Murphy coping with being a machine. Throw in some social commentary, violence and politics and this would have been a great continuation of the Robocop franchise. But alas, we have this movie and the equally banal Roblowcop 3. Stick with the original. It's one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.


Rating:
Summary: Should Have Been An MGM Double Feature with Robocop 3
Review: Believe me I'm not one of those people who have dismissed a sequel before it's even released. I do love many, many sequel's but the Robocop sequels where major flops to me. Robocop 2 was a big disappointment to me when I first saw it, and the review I gave it as soon as it finished hasn't changed the slightest in the few times I have watched it since. It is a movie that starts off looking very promising, but fails to have the same greatness of the original. And Robocop 3 I would put into my list of worst movie's of all time category with no questions asked. The movie was not thought out and had completely taken the impression that "This could happen in real life" to "This is just an unrealistic comic book made into a movie". The first movie was an action/horror kind of movie and easily rated R. The sequels got tamer as they went along trying to make them into a kid's film. But what I have always wondered about that is, "WHY?" The first movie has an R rating. So kids wouldn't be watching that one, so why bother to make sequels that kids can watch. They ruined what could have been great sequels the same way they ruined the Batman saga, by forgetting who the original audience was and ditching the dark side to lighten it up into a flick for kids as a PG rated movie. Robocop 2 I would give 1 and a half stars to. But that's very generous because I give Robocop 3 no stars.

What MGM should have done with Robocop 2 & 3 is put them on the same disc and sold them that way as one of there MGM Double Feature DVD's. And then retailed them at a very cheap price as 2 for 1 on the same disc, or flip side, whatever, but I would give both movies an extra star for being on the same disc so that it wouldn't take up much room if you just decided to get them just to complete the Robocop collection. Or, maybe when H.D.D.V.D comes out Robocop 1, 2, 3 will be released on the one disc. But when you have 2 movies with no bonus features and aren't great movies, only to die hard Robo fans or people who watch them now `cause it's a reminder for something from there child hood then no one's gonnah buy the 2 sequels individually on purpose. But add both of them together on one disc, and maybe 2 bad movies might sneak into an, "ok, maybe I'll get this" category.


Rating:
Summary: Bigger is not always better
Review: Robocop was such a huge success that it only made sense to do a sequel. However as time has proven once again, bigger is not always better.

Robocop 2 takes place about a year after #1. In that time the Police have gone on strike and OCP is slowly taking over every aspect of Detroit. Robocop is out to stop this new drug that has hit the street called Nuke (basically it's kind of like Heroin), and the creator of the Drug Kain. After succeeding in doing so OCP uses Kains brain to Create Robocop 2. But when it goes renegade it is to the original to stop this menace and set things right.

Robocop 2 proved that bigger is not always better. WHile this one does feature more action and in some ways more despicable villians, it loses some of the dark humor and just over all good directing that made the first a classic. WHile it is not terrible as some may have you believe but it is in no way a great movie. It's Ok, a popcorn flick, with a lot of violence and gore.

Rating:
Summary: Behave yourselfs!
Review: Peter Weller returns as Robocop in this action packed sequel to the ultra-violent Robocop. Although the message about society from the first movie is still apparent, it seems much more obvious and forced. It seems the filmmakers have gone straight for the action instead of the meaning of the film. It's a fun watch, but is still extremely violent.

Rating:
Summary: "I'm having... trouble."
Review: While it's not quite as good as the first RoboCop, I found part 2 an entertaining mix of comic-book-style action and violence with the usual dash of over-the-top social satire that adds a nice comedic edge to the mix. Sadly, the satire part, while just as overdone as the stuff seen in the first movie, doesn't have the same bite here. Which is unusual, considering how screenwriter Frank Miller is well-known for hard-hitting social & political commentary in his comic books, most notably 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns' and especially his 'Give Me Liberty' series. BTW after reading quite a few of his comics, I can state with assurance that the electronics-store-robbing little league team was definitely Miller's idea...

One thing that didn't sit well with me here was RoboCop's ridiculously hammy 'socially aware' routine following his reprogramming; they made this part a bit TOO over-the-top. Then there's Phil Tippett's stop-motion animation that makes up a great deal of the climax, which makes the flick look a bit dated. But for the kinda budget they had and the era this flick was made in, it's some of the best stop-motion stuff I've seen this side of Ray Harryhausen. I only wish they coulda' made the background pieces and details in the model shots a bit more realistic; I took a good look at a few of these scenes and said to myself, "Is Tippett filming this on his model railroad layout at home or something?" Weird thing is, I never picked up on the model sets' level of detail when I watched Robo-2 on VHS. Which just goes to show that the superior picture clarity and resolution that the DVD format delivers ain't always a good thing, heh...

Final note: save for the obligatory theatrical trailer, special features are nonexistent. Looks like you'll hafta search the web to find out tidbits on this flick, if ya care to (a decent place to start is www.imdb.com/title/tt0100502/)...

'Late

Rating:
Summary: Robocop 2 REVIEW
Review: Worthwhile sequel to Verhoven's smash hit, "Robocop" has Weller reprising his role of Alex Murphy, a deceased cop brought back as a machine to fight crime in futuristic Detriot. This time around, Motor City is at war as a dictator-like drug dealer is using his new designer drug, "Nuke" to gather a group of followers. Meanwhile, most of the police force is on strike while Robo's manufacturing company, OCP, wants to take over the bankrupt city. OCP decides to create a newer more stronger "Robocop" but rather than use an actual field officer like they did with Murphy, they turn to the very drug dealer who has turned the city into a war zone. The usual violent mayhem ensues before the two Robocops battle their way through the city in an anti-climatic grudge match. "Robocop 2" is even more violent than the original but it does still feature a lot of the over-the-top humor displayed in its predecessor as well. Fans of the first will enjoy but most others will proably be unimpressed.

Rating:
Summary: "Behave Yourselves!"
Review: Not nearly as good as the first one but it has its moments. Peter Weller remains strong in the lead role. The action and Phil Tippet's stop motion effects are what is worth seeing here.