RoboCop 2014 – Would You Buy That For a Dollar?

Let’s face it, there’s more fear and loathing aimed at this shiny new metallic target than optimism. Oodles more. Read nearly any online review of the upcoming film and you’ll likely feel as though you’ve been sentenced to a gangbanger’s back-alley firing squad if you admit any sense of excitement over the new 2014 RoboCop release. But the wheels of this mechanical beast are already well set in motion, and have been for some time, much to the sickened dismay of many die-hard fans. But perhaps we should wait and see what this new offering has up its metal thigh-holster sleeve before we sound the alarm and start blowing up cars with .50 caliber rifles. What say you?

Scheduled for release in February of 2014, film director Jose Padilha is gunning for successful, challenging and zealous modern-day adaptation of a widely beloved 1980’s sci-fi/action/drama classic directed by Paul Verhoeven. The news of this undertaking first hit the streets over five years ago and has been leaving a bitter, metallic taste in the mouths of fans ever since. But why? The 1987 original gained a passionate cult following for a reason. The first RoboCop movie delved deeply into the slimy and alarming social overtones of the then-modern social milieu in a highly relevant, enthusiastically satirical manner which continues to illustrate its applicable significance to this very day, if not even moreso. Add in a healthy injection of action and explosions, along with a rad looking cyborg and you’ve got yourself a winner. The film fit comfortably in the 80’s American film scene, but it’s certainly not a comfortable movie. The film took social critique to an incredibly hostile level, essentially challenging America’s love of capitalistic consumerism, violence and sex, as well as governmental and corporate tyrannical over-lording, utilizing bizarre satire as a means for awareness. Basically the film fought fire with fire and fans latched on tighter than Mr. RoboCop’s robo kung-fu grip hands. But herein lies one of the primary fears among still-necked fans: will this new addition drain the life-blood right out of the franchise? It seems that director Padilha might be steering this jet-black paddy-wagon in a somewhat new direction. Take a peek at the trailer and see what you pick up on.

Here’s the 2014 movie synopsis as written by Sony Pictures Entertainment:

In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years – and it’s meant billions for OmniCorp’s bottom line. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine pursuing justice.

So, yes, this is a definitively different take on the film. It looks different, feels different, heck, it’s even Samuel L. Jackson-different. But does this automatically spell disaster? Among the various revisions, at least it looks like this RoboCop can actually move faster than a break dancer’s robot pace, but once February rolls around we’ll see if all of the smoke being blown over this film is actually due to any real fire.

About the Author: Ezra Melino is an all-around-geek turned serious blogger out of North Carolina who not-so-secretly relishes an in-print love affair with everything from technology and multimedia entertainment to film and uverse TV. Specifically, his blog, DX3.net, is a tech blog that is devoted to exploring new technological developments all around the world.