Robocop

...and so to the latest entry in the remake of violent 80's films dumbed down for today's cinema paying public. Everywhere you look in respect of this remake / relaunch of Robocop there are danger signs. The budget doubling from $60m to $120m. Delays in production. Darren Aronofsky (wisely) doing a runner. Arguments over the look of Robocop's get up and the tone (i.e. certificate) of the final product. Though perhaps the fact of who ended up in the lead role sums it all up; Crowe, Cruise, Depp, Fassbender were all considered. We've ended up with, er, Joel Kinnaman. Though he understandably towed the company line during marketing and press for the film, Brazilian director Jose Padilha has been widely reported as saying the making of the film was "hell", and the "worst experience of his life". Frankly I don't have much sympathy for Padilha (the film was already in a hell of a mess pre-production when he signed on) and both himself and the studio seem to have completely missed what made Paul Verhoeven's 1987 effort so memorable. For clarity the storyline isn't too different (in a crime-riddled Detroit of the future a cop is injured and a multinational corporation turns him into a part-man / part-robot crime fighting machine), but this is missing all the wit and satire that subtly counter balanced all the bloodshed of the original film. On the plus side, some of the nods to the first film find the mark (there's a neat reference in respect of buying something for a dollar) and Gary Oldman as the scientist / inventor behind Robocop gives a great performance that the film really doesn't deserve. Overall though there's nothing here to justify this remake and you're better off just re-watching the original or checking out Padilha's great Brazilian Elite Squad films instead. Rating: 4/10.