6 hours Ago By Ben Hathaway
RoboCopIt’s not as long-running as The Terminator franchise and it’s not even as popular on the macro-scale, but RoboCop is an important part of cinema history, nonetheless. Like The Terminator, it’s a sci-fi franchise that’s entertaining and intelligent in pretty much equal measure. But, in the case of RoboCop, it skews intelligent even more than entertaining, whereas Terminator is the inverse.
With RoboCop, you get razor-sharp satirization of corporate greed, how the government views low-income individuals, and marketing. Naturally, Terminator aimed a lens at corporate greed, because there would be no T-800 without Cyberdyne Systems, but RoboCop is more direct in its mockery.It’s arguably doing better than ever, too, with both a television series and an expansion to the excellent videogame RoboCop: Rogue City on the way.
But, while we wait for those projects, let’s just see how the existing RoboCop movies stack up against one another.4) RoboCop 3nancy allen and robert john burke in robocop 3In an attempt to make the franchise financially viable on a wider scale, those behind RoboCop 3 ended up killing the whole thing. The first two films worked so well in part because they were so violent and pulled no punches.
RoboCop 3, in its attempt to line-up with the title character’s mechanizability, ended up coming across as a bland action movie, and even on that front it didn’t succeed.If a movie is going to try and appeal to a younger audience to get more butts in seats, the one thing it absolutely cannot be in the end is dull. RoboCop 3 is dull, too content to focus on endless scenes with underground revolutionaries and too hesitant to even craft any memorable villains.
Weller’s absence is also consistently felt, as he was busy with Naked Lunch. Robert John Burke does his best, but without Weller there really is no RoboCop.3) RoboCop (2014)joel kinnaman in robocop (2014)It says a lot about José Padilha’s RoboCop remake that it’s only marginally better than the third film.
For one, it makes the same mistake of neutering the first two films’ graphic nature. The only thing that really elevates it above that earlier franchise-killer is that it goes for the savvy tongue-in-cheek culture commentary that the first film perfected and the second film did fairly well, too.Like RoboCop 3, the best word to explain the remake is dull.
Not even Gary Oldman and a villainous Michael Keaton make much of an impression. It never feels as though there are any stakes and, even though he’s playing the same character as Weller, the audience never quite feels for Joel Kinnaman’s take on Alex Murphy. In the end, it’s just a hollow retread of most of the elements that made Verhoeven’s film a classic, and it never quite pulls any of them off.
[RELATED: RoboCop Star Peter Weller Addresses Potential Return for TV Reboot]2) RoboCop 2patricia charbonneau and peter weller in robocop 2A decade after helming The Empire Strikes Back, Irvin Kershner returned to the world of sci-fi action sequels with RoboCop 2. And, while RoboCop 2 is no The Empire Strikes Back, it is an underrated and admirable extension of what Paul Verhoeven established in the original film.Admittedly, the sequel isn’t nearly as intelligent as the original film, but unlike the third entry it is a lot of fun.
Its greatest asset is the return of much of the original film’s cast, from Peter Weller and Nancy Allen to Felton Perry and “The Old Man” himself, Dan O’Herlihy. And, while it operates more as a comic book movie (like the third film, it was co-penned by Frank Miller) than the sharp satire of modern culture Verhoeven’s movie was, it incorporates that element as well. For instance, the montage of the attempts to replicate the Alex Murphy RoboCop is a winner.
1) RoboCoppeter weller in robocopThe 1980s was, overall, a fantastic decade for science fiction films. Back to the Future, John Carpenter’s The Thing and They Live, Blade Runner, and E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial are all stone-cold classics. And Paul Verhoeven’s ingenious RoboCop is right in league with them.It’s amazing how well RoboCop works.
It’s attack on corporate ladder-climbing and low-brow marketing is incisive, its violence is brutal yet doesn’t quite cross the line, and, at its core, it has a compelling character arc for Peter Weller’s Alex Murphy. Speaking of Weller, he was a perfect choice for the character. He brings a distinctly human touch to his character even after he’s “Part man.
Part machine. All cop.” It’s also a film that excels when it comes to bringing memorable villains to the table.
Kurtwood Smith is perfectly smarmy as Clarence Boddicker, Ronny Cox is a terrific weasel as Dick Jones, and, while not a full-on villain, Miguel Ferrer brings a ton of gravitas to a naive ladder-climber with an ill fate.The post Every RoboCop Movie Ranked Worst To Best appeared first on ComicBook.com.
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