• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • Top Gun Maverick: Tom Cruise

      REVIEW: Top Gun Maverick is a sequel that soars!

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 27, 2022
    • Star Wars New Hope Mark Hamill Carrie Fisher Harrison Ford Luke Skywalker Princess Leia Han Solo

      Star Wars: 45 Years Later and the four people who made it happen

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 23, 2022
    • Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers Poster

      REVIEW: Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a fever dream of family fun

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 22, 2022
    • Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness: Benedict Cumberbatch, Xochitl Gomez and Rachel McAdams as Steven, America Chavez and Dr. Christine Palmer

      REVIEW: Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is Sam Raimi’s Sam Ramiest movie in ages!

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 7, 2022
    • Full Metal Jacket: Vincent D'Onofrio

      Full Metal Jacket is still awesome thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 5, 2022
    • Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Jude Law as Albus

      REVIEW: Fantastic Beasts 3 (The Secrets of Dumbledore) is a gloomy sequel with little pizzaz

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 18, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Matrix Keanu Reeves Neo 2

      1999 was a Mt. Vesuvius of pop culture

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 25, 2019
      Movie Blogs, Music
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Nancy Drew S03e01: Kennedy McMann as Nancy

      Nancy Drew S03E01 Review: The Warning of the Frozen Heart - Uh-oh!

      By Salome G
      | October 10, 2021
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • The Flight Attendant S02e08: Kaley Cuoco and Cheryl Hines as Cassie Bowden and Dot Karlson

      The Flight Attendant S02E08 Review: Backwards and Forwards – A satisfying conclusion

      By Salome G
      | May 27, 2022
    • Riverdale 6 15 3

      Riverdale S06E15 Review: Things That Go Bump in the Night – Unexpected allies

      By Salome G
      | May 23, 2022
    • Doctor Who S10e8 Peter Capaldi

      Why is it that The Doctor can never seem to become ginger?

      By Jason Collins
      | May 23, 2022
    • Big Sky S02e18: Katheryn Winnick and Jensen Ackles as Jenny Hoyt and Beau Arlen

      Big Sky S02E18 Review: Catch a Few Fish – Solid finale

      By Salome G
      | May 22, 2022
    • The Flight Attendant S02e07: Griffin Matthews and Kaley Cuoco as Shane and Cassie

      The Flight Attendant S02E07 Review: No Exit – Huh?

      By Salome G
      | May 22, 2022
    • Star Trek Strange New Worlds S01e02 Celia Rose Gooding and Ethan Peck as Uhura and Spock

      Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Episodes 2-3 review (Good stuff!)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 21, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
    • Mario Headphones

      The SNES Turns 30: A look at some of the system’s best soundtracks

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 22, 2021
    • Metroid Dread Poster

      REVIEW: Metroid Dread reawakens the old gamer in me

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 11, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • Wwe Payback 2017 Poster 2

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE Payback 2017

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 30, 2017
      WWE Blogs
    Recent
    • Raw 210501: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

      May 21, 2001 – A (forgotten) date that will live in WWE infamy

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 20, 2022
    • WWE WrestleMania 39 Logo

      Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
    • WWE WrestleMania 38 Poster

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE WRESTLEMANIA 38!

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 30, 2022
    • Wrestlemania 31 Paige Aj Lee 2

      BOOK REVIEW: The Women of WrestleMania is a balanced take on an under-valued slice of history

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 16, 2022
    • ROH Proving Ground 2009: El Generico aka Sami Zayn

      In buying ROH, AEW has a chance to redo history (the right way)

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 14, 2022
    • Cody Rhodes Tnt Title Belt 220720

      Cody Rhodes is gone from AEW. What does that mean for wrestling?

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • The Flight Attendant S02E08 Review: Backwards and Forwards - A satisfying conclusion
    • REVIEW: Top Gun Maverick is a sequel that soars!
    • Star Wars: 45 Years Later and the four people who made it happen
    • Riverdale S06E15 Review: Things That Go Bump in the Night - Unexpected allies
    • Why is it that The Doctor can never seem to become ginger?
    • Big Sky S02E18 Review: Catch a Few Fish - Solid finale
    • Latest Comments

    Robocop is still awesome thirty-five years later

    By Matthew Martin
    | January 29, 2022
    Movie Blogs

    This year, Cultofwhatever is looking back on some of the great films of 1987, a year that saw the release of many genre classics, as well as memorable films both highbrow and low. There were so many to choose from, in fact, I nearly made this a twice-monthly series and probably still would have had a few left over. In all, I found twenty-four movies that I loved from 1987, at least twelve of which are considered “still awesome” after all this time.

    We begin with a movie that I could probably talk about for hours and not run out of things to say, in terms of the film itself, its reception upon release, its extremely confusing sequels, the legacy it has after these many decades, and of course the tired and tiresome reboot that came out a few years ago.

    Robocop 1987 Poster

    Robocop is a brilliant film, but it’s not the kind of film you might think would be brilliant. On the surface, from a distance, it looks like a generic action movie with a sci-fi twist. Indeed that’s basically all it devolved into as its sequels rolled out. It even received a short-lived animated series, just to illustrate how misunderstood the original film was to basically everyone but the director.

    Robocop is one of the greatest examples of a movie that is what it is purely because of who was helming the production. Put this in the hands of a traditional action movie director of the 80s—even a great one, like a John McTiernan—and it probably would have come and gone with little fanfare, and been reduced to the same “does anyone remember that movie ____” status as other minor hits of the era, like “Scanners” or “The Last Starfighter.”

    From a story standpoint, the movie is pretty straightforward. Sure, it’s bizarre in all the ways you’d expect a sci-fi film to be, but there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about it in that context…

    In future Detroit, the crime-ridden city is barely holding together by its corporate-owned police force. When a cop is brutally gunned down by a powerful crime boss, the corporate-police take the remnants of his body, merge it with cybernetic technology and create the ultimate police officer, a nigh-indestructible hybrid of man and machine, nicknamed Robocop.

    If you stop there, you’ve got the potential to go in all kinds of directions. There’s nothing about the premise that couldn’t be developed and released on Disney+ or HBO Max, from the kind of safe, bloodless action sequences found on Disney+, to the harder, R-rated stuff found on HBO Max.

    In fact, the screenplay was written with the intention of it to be the next sort of Star Wars or Blade Runner, with only a hint of satire that spoofed the 1980s cutthroat culture of big businesses. For the most part, the script played it straight. It wasn’t until the story found its director that it became the film we know today.

    Paul Verhoeven took the story, with its hints of satire and subtext, and turned everything up to eleven, added enough gore to warrant the infamous “X” rating (it had to be trimmed and resubmitted nearly twenty times to receive a marketable “R” rating), and decided that the whole story should be an allegory for Jesus Christ.

    I didn’t come up with that, and it’s not just a commonly bandied-about theory. The director himself says so…

    “The point of ‘RoboCop,’ of course, is it is a Christ story… It is about a guy that gets crucified after 50 minutes, then is resurrected in the next 50 minutes and then is like the super-cop of the world, but is also a Jesus figure as he walks over water at the end.”

    I mean…

    Gif: Robocop Walking On Water

    Alright.

    In different hands, this movie would never have the reputation or lasting appeal that it holds today. That’s not even much of a theory either. Robocop III is basically what the first one could have been had Verhoeven not put his personal touch all over it: It would have been a PG-13 nothingburger of a movie; a stale, bland waste of film, too concerned with what focus groups thought to create something bold and memorable.

    Robocop 1987: Peter Weller

    What makes Robocop work is not the story. No one recalls the story particulars in any great detail. What people recall are the ridiculous one-liners and the outlandish violence. It’s a movie that seemed to revel in going so far over the top that it started as shocking, then became funny, then it kept going until it circled back around to shocking again. Not to mention, there are a dozen little gags that add nothing to the story or to Verhoeven’s “turn it up to eleven” ethos, and instead are there just because they’re funny. The scene where the ED-209 fails to walk down a flight of stairs is one, as is ED-209’s introduction when he blows away an entire boardroom. Basically anytime the suits react to the insanity of the violence is hilarious, simply because they are so subdued and unbothered by it. Their reactions don’t work unless the action they’re reacting to is stupidly over the top.

    Robocop 1987: Peter Weller and Kurtwood Smith

    That’s not to say the film is a non-stop gore and action-fest. On the contrary, Verhoeven did not neglect the humanity woven throughout the screenplay. At its core, Robocop is a movie about someone whose identity was taken away and the painful steps he has to take to recover it. The quiet moments that build Murphy’s character are critical to the story, as they payoff in the final action scene that depicts the title character, not as a “man-turned-machine,” but as a “man enhanced by machine.”

    Robocop 1987: Peter Weller

    I don’t know if there’s another sci-fi action movie, at least from this era, that is as widely misunderstood and misremembered. It’s evident by the sequels that followed, each one missing the reason why the first was so special. It’s evident by the remake that was released in 2014 as a PG-13 nothingburger of a movie; a stale, bland waste of film, too concerned with what focus groups thought to create something bold and memorable.

    Robocop may not be a movie for everyone, but for what it was, it was nearly a perfect movie. It’s bold, audacious, confident, insanely over the top, occasionally poignant, wickedly clever in its satire, and still awesome thirty-five years later.

    Robocop 1987: Peter Weller

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    1987 MoviesSci-Fi Movies

    You might also like

    • CONAN THE BARBARIAN is still awesome, 35 years later…

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 9, 2017
    • Mortal Kombat is still awesome…twenty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 2, 2020
    • Batman 1989 was not Batman…until it was.

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 16, 2019

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Movie Topics

    Recommended for you

    • REVIEW: Top Gun Maverick is a sequel that soars!

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 27, 2022
    • Star Wars: 45 Years Later and the four people who made it happen

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 23, 2022
    • REVIEW: Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a fever dream of family fun

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 22, 2022
    • REVIEW: Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is Sam Raimi’s Sam Ramiest movie in ages!

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 7, 2022
    • Full Metal Jacket is still awesome thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 5, 2022
    • Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • The big movies of 2022

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 18, 2022
    • Read the Book Instead: The most disappointing book-to-film adaptations

      By Oliver Johnston
      | September 20, 2021
    • The future of Star Wars on film

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 3, 2021
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter