"What's your name son?"........."Murphy!"I've been thinking a lot lately about the movies I loved watching as a kid. There's a joy i get when reminiscing about my favorite character, costume, quote in a film. I've read a lot of about the new Robocop film and I honestly don't know what to think or feel about it. Will it work? Could it possibly be any better then the original?...
The movie being currently shot has an amazing cast, actors I'd never expect to see in a Robocop franchise; Sam Jackson, Michael Keaton, that just blows my mind. I'm excited that Robocop is coming back to theaters and the social conscious. in 87, the film hit all the right notes about what was happening to the US and it all felt gritty and real even tho there was a giant cyborg walking around. I miss the 80's when I think of films like Robocop.
With this new iteration, one of the major faults I have with the film is the design of the titular character. time and time again with superhero movies, never fails to use the standard muscle suit or the similarly abused "iron man" armor. just look at it, its all black, flat, a boring swat uniform on steroids. There's no love, no soul in it, it's void of any personality and more importantly lacking in Robotic appeal.
I have no doubt the acting in this film will be great if not good, but for me, I just don't see this version of Robocop having the magic or presence waking into a crime scene. Even as I type this, I'm looking at my Robocop 18" figure from Neca, standing terrifyingly stoic holding his auto-9. The figure itself doesn't look comfortable, he looks so robotic, but then again isn't that the point?
I ended up drawing this photo above just out of pure disappointment and just a little sadness of having a childhood memory raped by a designer's poor imagination. However, I will always take pleasure knowing that my favorite version of Robo has had a long and healthy life in movies and tv show (so not so good) that I can always go back and enjoy. Regardless how the new film turns out, I will go on Believing that the real Robocop, the original Murphy, will still kick ass.
