Robocop is not a film I was keen to see. I am not a big fan of action movies, especially when they forsake story and characters for yet more special effects. So, the prospect of watching a cyborg hero shooting his way through villains in futuristic Los Angeles left me rather unimpressed. However, when I finally saw the film, it blew me away.
Robocop is a wolf in a sheep's skin. It is a satire written for people who hate satires. Most people who'll see this film won't even notice. Robocop is Paul Verhoeven's 'Modern Times', but it is much subtler in delivering its message than Chaplin.
Superficially we are given a vision of the future, a bleak future with rampant crime and rampant capitalism. It is not an entirely consistent vision, as advances/changes in science and society are immense while people still seem to wear the same clothes, live in the same houses, go to the same shops, drive the same cars as they did in 1987. Well, it is 1987. We are not shown the future at all, we are shown a caricature of today, we see the present through the eyes of a cartoonist.
Robocop works perfectly well as an action flick and it delivers all the cliches we expect; since it has more humour than your average special effects bonanza it is very entertaining to watch. What makes it special though is the social comment beneath the surface.
Robocop is a wolf in a sheep's skin. It is a satire written for people who hate satires. Most people who'll see this film won't even notice. Robocop is Paul Verhoeven's 'Modern Times', but it is much subtler in delivering its message than Chaplin.
Superficially we are given a vision of the future, a bleak future with rampant crime and rampant capitalism. It is not an entirely consistent vision, as advances/changes in science and society are immense while people still seem to wear the same clothes, live in the same houses, go to the same shops, drive the same cars as they did in 1987. Well, it is 1987. We are not shown the future at all, we are shown a caricature of today, we see the present through the eyes of a cartoonist.
Robocop works perfectly well as an action flick and it delivers all the cliches we expect; since it has more humour than your average special effects bonanza it is very entertaining to watch. What makes it special though is the social comment beneath the surface.