How do you follow up a Film so good and influential? Seriously, think about the 1980s in Film and a few obvious things come to mind. You've got Die Hard. You've got Predator. You've got St. Elmo's Fire. You've got Robocop.
So, again, how do you follow that up? Well, the answer is 'Not easily.' It took a number of Screenwriters and Directors before we finally got the finished product. In fact, we lost the previous Director right before the shoot. Irving Kirshner- the Director of The Empire Strikes Back (!) came in last minute and ended his Feature-Film Career with this.
The Plot involves OCP up to more bad things, Robocop trying to stop crime and, well, lots of shooting. This supposedly had the second-highest body count in Film that year, just beat out by Die Hard 2. Hey look- a callback...of sorts.
So why is the first one so beloved, the third one so ridiculed and this one...also existing? To find out, read on...
Future Detroit (or is it past now?) is worse than ever as the OCP is forcing a Police Strike and crime is rampant.
Robocop, of course, is on hand still to try and keep the peace.
He's conflicted, however, as he remembers his past and must decide whether he's Alex Murphy or just Robocop.
I can't wait to see that not really paid off very well in the final Script.
A criminal named Cain is ruining things with his new super-drug.
Using terrible methods- including a corrupt Cop and a pre-teen Dealer, he is alot to deal with.
As such, he manages to tear Robocop apart and, of course, deliver his body to the Police as a show of power.
The corrupt Scientists at OCP mess with his programming to further exacerbate things in Detroit, leading a strange comedic bit where he's basically a parody of Robocop.
It doesn't last long enough, to be honest.
He manages to fix himself, but it's not exactly easy.
Actually, it's super-easy, barely an inconvenience.
Now he can stop Cain...who's definitely not coming back as a Cyborg/Android.
I spoke too soon.
Can Robocop stop the stop-motion terror?
Will things be neatly-wrapped up?
Will the third one deal with the dangling Plot Threads?
To find out, watch the Film. I've got the Blu-Ray release, so thank you mediocre 2014 Remake.
A fun, if very muddled Film. Is this as good as Robocop? No. I mean, duh, right?
That said, is Robocop 2 enjoyable? Yes. It has a simple enough Plot at first and then things get complicated before the end. The Plot involves OCP's machinations as a background to Cain's drug-dealing chaos. It does all come together as Cain becomes RoboCain (not to be confused with
RoboCable). It's definitely a convoluted thing to get there, as Stories of Irving Kirshner supposedly-ripping out pages of the Script, while supposedly Writer Frank Miller watched. Yikes.
The Robocop Suit is made out of new, shinier material by Rob Bottin's company and the work by Phil Tippet with the stop-motion is also great. How great so much of the Film looks- especially in 1080p- really helps make up for the Plot.
Robocop 2 is on the right side of being an enjoyable mess as we get good Action, a convoluted Plot and some good performances by all involved. Now to check out a new Game...
Next up, I stay in the same relative time period for a change. What happens when you watch a Film you sort of vaguely remember from 25-30 years ago? Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment