RoboCop 2 (1990)

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writers (WGA):

Edward Neumeier (characters) &
Michael Miner (characters) ...

Release Date:

22 June 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

He's back to protect the innocents.

Plot:

A corrupt businesswoman seeks to disable Robocop in favor of her own model of cyborg.

Plot Keywords:

Stylized | No Opening Credits | Tense | Uniform | Crime Fighter

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Belinda Bauer	...	Dr. Juliette Faxx
John Glover	...	Magnavolt Salesman
Mario Machado	...	Casey Wong
Leeza Gibbons	...	Jess Perkins
John Ingle	...	Surgeon General
Tom Noonan	...	Cain
Roger Aaron Brown	...	Whittaker
Gabriel Damon	...	Hob
Mark Rolston	...	Stef
Lila Finn	...	Homeless Woman
John Hateley	...	Purse Snatcher
Gage Tarrant	...	Hooker
Thomas Rosales Jr.	...	Chet (as Tommy Rosales)
Brandon Smith	...	Flint
Wallace Merck	...	Gun Shop Owner

Runtime:

Germany:82 min (FSK 16 version) | USA:117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:R (video rating) | West Germany:18 (video premiere) (cut) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) (re-release) | Iceland:16 | Brazil:16 | Italy:T | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1990) | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:18PL | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-15 (2002) (uncut version) | Finland:K-16 (1991) (cut version) | Finland:K-16 (1996) | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Norway:(Banned) (1990-2003)

Filming Locations:

Fourth Ward, Houston, Texas, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

RoboCop 2/Cain's metal body has the symbol for nuclear radiation attached to the chest. For most of the film, Cain produced & distributed the designer drug Nuke and as a cyborg he is dependent on it.

Goofs:

Continuity: The damage to Robocop's helmet after being burned by the welder isn't consistent with the motion of Cain's mechanical arm.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Magnavolt Salesman: MagnaVolt - The final word in auto security. No embarrassing alarm noise, no need to trouble the police... And it won't even run down your battery!
Commercial Voiceover: MagnaVolt! Lethal Response!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema & the Myth of Cool (2001)

Soundtrack:

THE KID GOES WILD

Not as terrible as some make out, but still a disappointment.

If you believe the video game that was made out of RoboCop, it was set in the same year that RoboCop 2 was released. RoboCop is simply one of the best films ever made, and it brought me much relief from a very sorrowful childhood. Which brings me to the point I am trying to make here: anything was going to be something of a letdown. Another rebuke I would like to make of other critics of this film lies with their complaint that the movie was too mean-spirited and had too much violence. Let me quote Paul Verhoeven's commentary about the original: "the whole style of the movie is 'too much'".

The real failing of this sequel lies in the story, which is full of threads that are either resolved badly (the attempt to reprogram RoboCop with new directives) or not resolved at all (RoboCop's memories of his wife). Considering that not a single second in the original was wasted when it came to drawing the viewer into the hero's mind or building some emotional connection, the lack of sympathy one feels with even Lewis or the Sergeant is worrying. Then there's the villian. A film with a superhero, like Robocop or the Bond series, is only as effective as its main villian. Cain is not an effective villian, and gets very little development in the bargain, the exact opposite of the situation with Clarence Boddicker in the original.

The mock commercials are something of a hit and miss affair. The OCP Communications commercial was hilarious, but the Sunblock 5000 commercial was just plain tasteless. The use of children in RoboCop 2 also counts against it. There were no children in the original, reflecting the fact that the film just wasn't made with children in mind. The use of children in RoboCop 2 smacks of a cheap attempt to appeal to the children who are allowed by their parents or whomever to see the film. It doesn't work because the writers are trying to transplant adult dialogue into a child's mouth. Similarly, the attempt to transplant the manner in which the Christian Coalition think children talk into Robocop fails.

All in all, RoboCop 2 is a passable sequel, but it pales in comparison to the harsh perfection that is the original. Give it a chance because it does have some entertainment value.