RoboCop
Paul Verhoeven's American breakthrough film, Robocop, is an exceedingly violent blend of black comedy, science fiction, and crime thriller. Set in Detroit sometime in the near future, the film is about a policeman (Peter Weller) killed in the line of duty whom the department decides to resurrect as a half-human, half-robot supercop. The RoboCop is indestructible, and within a matter of weeks he has removed crime from the streets of Detroit. However, his human side is tortured by his past, and he wants revenge on the thugs who killed him. The film was later followed by two feature-length sequels and a live-action television series, neither of which were as successful as the original film.
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer
Robocop is as tightly worked as a film can be, not a moment or line wasted.
A first-rate production full of nonstop action and inventive special effects but what truly makes Robocop spellbinding is a superior script.
Despite a level of lurid violence that may offend many, this movie has a motor humming inside. It's been assembled with ferocious, gleeful expertise, crammed with humor, cynicism and jolts of energy. In many ways, it's the best action movie of the year.
It was this love of mayhem combined with a biting comic attack on neo-fascist corporatism - most notably seen in the TV ads for products like the apocalyptic board game Nuke 'Em - which helped raise Robocop above the common sci-fi herd.
Robocop is a thriller with a difference.
Stephen Hunter Flick
Academy Awards (1988)
Best Director
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1988)
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival (1988)
Best Make Up Artist
BAFTA Awards (1989)
Basil Poledouris
BMI Film & TV Awards (1988)
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