Robocop (2014)

Robocop, from acclaimed Brazilian director José Padilha (Ônibus 174, Tropa De Elite) is a successful reinterpretation of the 'cop becomes cyborg' theme initiated by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven in 1987 with the eponymous film Robocop.

Again, a foreign director takes a critical look at the state of America. Whereas Verhoeven's film version was marked by the Reagan era and the accompanying brutalization of the media, Padilha is more interested in the ethical-philosophical and thus also political question of automated killing. Police officer Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is seriously injured in a bombing. His wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) allows the head of the OCP Raymond Sellars to restore Murphy's mutilated body using cybernetic technology.

Murphy as a test subject suits Sellars well. He would like to use his killing machines on American soil as well. But an onerous law prohibits the use of robots with firing orders on American soil. So a human is planted inside the machine and its body and brain remnants are tinkered with until, per se, all that remains is a soulless machine.

But CEO Sellars and researcher Norton (as always congenial: Gary Oldman) have not reckoned with the strength of the mind in the machine.

As a fan of the first Robocop movie, I was critical and feared a similarly failed conversion as the remake of 'Total Recall'. But the film shines with scathing spotlights on the current state of America. In place of news and commercials, right-wing conservative televangelist Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) appears as a chorus of commentary.

Joel Kinnaman also does a remarkable job. His agonizing struggle to find human dignity and moral integrity in his inhuman existence is portrayed remarkably.

But Robocop is first and foremost an action film, and it packs a punch in that department as well. The PG-13 restrictions are satisfactorily resolved with video game aesthetics and human-machine versus robot combat. Bottom line: Robocop is much better than expected.