Robocop stumbles across information uncovering an evil group of government officials and seeks the help of his former partner to stop them.
Director Julian Grant given the budget constraints delivers an interesting first part in a four part series which includes Dark Justice, Meltdown, Resurrection and Crash & Burn. Dark Justice is an improvement on the 1994 TV series, going back to its more violent roots. Even with a made-for-TV look and very low budget, Robocop costume and practical effects are brought to the screen quite well. The villain Bone Machine's costume is a little over the top along with Richard Fitzpatrick's performance. The tone is a mixed bag like some dialogue and visuals effects.
Writers Joseph O'Brien and Brad Abraham offer some poignant and hard hitting scenes, especially when Robocop broods over his purpose. In addition, notable is the interaction between Murphy and Cable, also their tense investigation flashbacks. The acting from Page Fletcher as Alex Murphy/RoboCop and Maurice Dean Wint as John T. Cable is quality. Wint shines here. As it's set 10 years on, physically and emotionally Fletcher's RoboCop movement and mindset is fittingly slightly different to the films. To his credit Fletcher delivers a likeable Murphy and solid Robocop performance.
There's nods to other Robocop outings, Robocop's Meg Hogarth's Dr. Colleen Frost character makes a reference to RoboCop cleaning up Cadillac Heights from, RoboCop 3, there's the "I'd buy that for a dollar" catch phrase said by Murphy. There's the staple news reports and adverts synonyms with the films and it includes Murphy's (now older) son to name a few.
Overall, while expanding the Robocop character despite some production short comings O'Brien's Dark Justice is an interesting watch thanks to an engaging storyline and some good performances.
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