Robocop - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: HIGH-VOLTAGE SATIRICAL CARNAGE!
Review: Despite its simplistic and quite-laughable title, Robocop is a wonderful piece of satirical science-fiction. In the Criterion edition, the amount of "excessively violent" added footage amounts to less than a couple of minutes but helps to make the story whole. This violence isn't there just for kicks; it actually fits the overall context of the particular scenes and further defines the story. Despite the MPAA's decision to give the added scenes a rating of "X" (remember, this was in 1987, well before the NC-17 rating existed), I can honestly say that I've seen worse violence in other R-rated films. In any case, the movie is now restored to its entirety and one aspect of Murphy's execution scene suddenly makes a lot more sense. The Criterion edition includes many extras, only a few of which are excellent. Most, however, are for ardent movie fans only. The audio commentary by director Verhoeven, executive producer Jon Davison, and co-writer Neumeier is very interesting but uneven: some passages are quite enlightening while others are awfully banal. The film-to-storyboard comparison is mildly interesting, for once you've seen it, it's enough. The two storyboards showing unfilmed scenes are rather unremarkable novelties, although the cemetary scene would have been a great touch to add in the movie. The illustrated essay on the making of the movie is very lengthy and sometimes overly detailed. The amount of time devoted to the design/production/animation of the ED 209 robot is excessive and goes on ad nauseam. An index feature within this essay would have been helpful because if you exit at any time before reaching the end, you must start all over again. The two trailers are surprising in that they somehow made the movie look like a low-budget snorefest. Fortunately for us, it's exactly the opposite. I would have given 5 stars for the restored movie alone, but some of the Criterion extras being what they are, I subtracted one star. Still worth getting, however.

Rating:
Summary: A classic action movie that makes Kill Bill a comedy
Review: The 1987 classic Robocop is one of my all time favorite movies next to Scarface(1983), First Blood(1982), Goodfellas(1990), Braveheart(1995), The Exorcist(1973), Animal House(1978) and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie(1979). When I first saw this movie in 1988 when I was 12, I was in for a time of my life. As for the first Robocop(forget the sequels), Old Detroit has become a violent wonderland of criminal activity. New officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) and Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen) are partners in a police force under siege from OCP, a company that wants to turn Old Detroit into a Metropolis kind of place. Whilst pursuing particularly bloodthirsty and disgusting badguys, led by the reprehensible Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), whom had some of the funniest lines ever uttered by a villain in film, Murphy is captured, tortured, shot full of holes and killed. This scene is rather disturbing to watch for those who don't like violence. After his death, Murphy becomes ROBOCOP. Murphy now has a mechanical body and becomes a walking weapon of mass destruction! He in initially goes out to clean up the streets and uphold the law. However, the scientists forgot that he was human and Robocop subsequently has a flashback to the night that his human form was killed and is later haunted by memories of his wife and son. The nightmare sequence sets up one of the best revenge films I've ever seen next to the first First Blood. ROBOCOP then finds out the sinister secrets of OCP's #2 man (Ronny Cox) after assaulting Clarence and must do battle with the ED-209, an earlier robotic crimefighter design with heavy-duty guns and missiles. The rest of the film is great too. I can't give more away, you have to watch. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: too bad criterion doesn't put this out anymore.
Review: it's a nice dvd and by nice i mean the most violent thing i think i have ever seen. i wouldn't recommend watching it with your grandmother unless she's a jaded freak.

Rating:
Summary: Robocop is Lethal
Review: Before I rented this movie I looked it up in the movie guide. It stated, "One word of warning; this is an extremely violent motion picture." Of course, I rented it. I figured it wouldn't be too bad.
Next time I'll accept the warning.
After a Detroit cop(Peter Weller) is gunned down(in brutal Verhoeven style) he is combined with machine parts to become the ultimate cop. Whew, and I thought Dirty Harry was dangerous! I found this to be an interesting idea, perfect for a science-fiction film, and Weller does well with the part he is given. Another plus for this movie was the acting of Kurtwood Smith as the main villain, who gives his character such an evil, mesmerizing personality that it's impossible to feel any sympathy for him.
Like many other movies, Robocop is good, but not great. Personally, I just couldn't deal with the violence. The scene of Weller getting shot up by Smith and his chums almost made me throw up, but the violence of that scene succeeded in getting the audience(me) to root for Robocop for the rest of the movie. Director Paul Verhoeven also throws in several satirical punches aimed at the media and society in futuristic times, and they succeed for the most part.


Rating:
Summary: "I'll Buy That For a Dollar!"
Review: Generally I'm not a fan of the work of director Paul Verhoeven. He seems to wallow in the decadent and take a bleak world-view, particularly as it pertains to the United States. "Robocop" contains a number of Verhoeven's favorite themes but there are a number of redeeming features that elevates it above his normal fare. First off, it is deliciously darkly comic. The special effects and sound editing are superb. Ronny Cox as a corporate shark and Kurtwood Smith as a hired thug give outstanding villainous turns. What ultimately redeems this film, though, are the humane performances of Peter Weller as Alex Murphy a.k.a Robocop and Nancy Allen as his partner. Weller in particular shines because he is not only called upon to act with heavy body armor on but also make his character sympathetic. It is debatable whether "Robocop" is classic sci-fi but it is terrifically entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Good Action Film of the Future!
Review: Along with the Terminator this was the best scifi action film to come out during the 1980's. Though Peter Weller didn't become a household name, he does an excellent job as a murdered police officer, who is resurrected as a type of cyborg programmed to fight crime. As "Robocop" he dispenses justice with computer controlled pinpoint shooting accuracy.

There is a lot of camp (some of it is extremely funny) which does nothing to diminish the serious drama of the film. Nancy Allen does a good job as Robocop's partner and look for the guy from That 70's Show as the evil villian.

Rating:
Summary: The Movie is great, this version of the DVD is awful
Review: I am a huge fan of the first Robocop movie, if you've never seen it I recommend it. If you have seen it and are looking for a good version of it to buy on DVD, stay away from the Criterion Edition! It is hugely disappointing. The video quality looks like someone recorded it from television, the screen format is 1.66:1 which is god-awful for a DVD claiming to be top of the line, the audio is only Dolby 2.0!!! Absolute trash, going to try to get my (significant) money back. Buy the trilogy, on paper it seems to be much better.

Rating:
Summary: a very gripping movie
Review: robocop is explosive from beginning to end. from the very beginning where he is human to where he gets gunned down(the shooting doesn't last very long on DVD as it did on the big screen- that's my only complaint)to where he becomes transformed into robocop and he then exacts revenge on those that killed him and then on dick jones after he gets fired from OCP. this is non-stop action, but also lots of violence and foul language. i would not recommend it to anyone under 13.

Rating:
Summary: An awesome movie! Two thumbs up!
Review: Although it may have competition from it's 1984 counterpart "Terminator" as a movie about a human cyborg, 1987's science fiction classic "Robocop" is an extraordinary achievement in sci-fi like almost nothing before then.

Starring Peter Weller and Set in future Detroit, crime is spiraling out of control with massive drug gangs evolving from just mere street gangs into violent predatory militant organizations that are terrorizing the city population, a policeman named Murphy (first name?) has been tracking down a violent drug cartel and his thugs with the help of a fellow officer (Nancy Allen) they reach into an abandoned industrial complex, the lair of a corporate criminal named Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith from That 70s Show) and his vicious gang. The bust however goes horribly sour and Murphy is brutally gunned down and left for dead by the gang he faced off against. His body is partially-saved and what parts of his body that they saved is integrated into a state-of-the-art robotic humanoid machine, part of his humanity restored, and now in his `new life' Murphy is resurrected as Robocop, a new state of the art weapon against crime in Detroit and is now ready to fight the explosion in crime throughout Detroit and hunt down the killer who `killed' him before then. Now Robocop is out to revolutionize the war on crime and protect the citizens of Detroit.

"Robocop" is without a doubt one of the best action movies of the 1980s and while parts of it do show it's age, it is still quite an impressive movie to watch today, a full 17 years after it was released. I can actually remember although vaguely actually seeing this at the theatre and enjoying it. The special effects are really amazing even by 1987 standards and the whole concept of humans being built into mechanical humanoid machines, while far-fetched is something worth thinking about even if it's on the border of being impossible.

The movie however is incredibly violent so parents should strongly caution their kids about watching this as well as it's two sequels. The scene of officer Murphy meeting his `first end' is very bloody and one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever watched (I do have a tendency to be a little sensitive towards scenes of cops being killed). One scene however towards the end which I'm not going to mention out of fear of spoiling it however is one of the best `bad guy meets his end' scenes ever filmed.

This is a must-have movie for those who love action movies as well as sci-fi but be warned that it is a rather graphically violent film that younger kids should not be allowed to watch without parental supervision.


Rating:
Summary: R-rated alert!
Review: This is the R-rated theatrical cut that is being sold everywhere since its release on home video format. From VHS to LD and now to DVD!

MGM had the cojones to release this truncated version knowing full well that consumers are still going to buy it anyway because it's the first and best robocop movie. If you don't mind spending a little more, get the whole robocop trilogy boxset, that's where the unrated version resides. If you just want the unrated version of this movie, I suggest you either:

1. Wait for another MGM reissue (MGM sure loves doing this! Look at Raging Bull and Fargo)

2. Get the Criterion Collection title from eBay or Amazon marketplace. It may be a little pricey, but it's a good buy, just from its cover.

3. Get the UK region 2 DVD from Amazon UK. Before doing that, make sure your DVD player is region free. (Come on, why restrict yourself to a certain region? Enjoy the best of both worlds!)