RoboCop (2013)

[shiznitz]

Is "Bitches. Leave." R or PG-13?

I don't like the eye piece or the motor cycle.  In the original, he was always a little awkward, a bot slow and plodding in the suit but its durability made up for that.

[murdoc]

This looks worse than the Total Recall remake and that was awful, awful pandering shit.

[Ironwood]

Yeah.  That's pretty much what it reminds me of, now you mention it.

And, yeah, it was fucking awful.

[satael]

This trailer made me feel worse about the suit. As others have said, he doesn't look like a cyborg. He looks like a dude in power armor. Also, his voice and movements are too fluid. I don't know if any of you have seen that recent thing Peter Weller did in Austin where he talked to a crowd after a screening of an original but he talked about how he got the walk and movement down and that is what sold the character. This guy doesn't move like a robot and they changed his voice in post to have a mechanical sound to it but the actor isn't speaking in a mechanical way so it just sounds like a guy whose voice is slightly off.

Yeah, I remember seeing some interview in the early 90's where he said the same thing. I recall Weller being really lauded in '87 for exactly how INTO the role he got, and the way he sold it. He won a Saturn award for it, no less, which was about as big a deal as you could get for Sci-Fi acting in '88.

Just looked him up on Wikipedia and he's really interesting.  He got a Masters in Roman and Renaissance art in 2004 and is now doing a PHD in Italian Ren. art history.

A nice piece on the original Robocop suit by Peter Weller (worth a watch)

[Teleku]

This looks worse than the Total Recall remake and that was awful, awful pandering shit.

You know, I watched it, and didn't think it was that bad of a movie.  They just needed to have called it something completely different than Total Recall.  It actually wasn't bad as a summer sci-fi action movie thing.  I mean, other than it being something totally different than Total Recall, what did you guys not like about it?

Note: I think the new Robocop looks like shit for all the same reasons being mentioned in this thread.  Robocop is not god damned PG-13.

[Ironwood]

It was a stupid and nonsensical Colin HotIrish Vehicle.

The elevator that goes through the Earth was the bit that I stopped giving a shit and that was in the first five minutes.

It made No Sense Whatsoever and didn't even (get this) have the sophistication of a fucking Arnie Movie.  There wasn't even ANY mindfuck at all.

[Miasma]

It looks bad but I don't think anyone was seriously expecting something good.

As far as the rating goes, a 1987 rated R is probably the same as 2013 PG-13.  It's just going to be an action shooter type thing, not sure how you would push such a thing to R without throwing in a torture scene for no reason.  Either that or the horrors of an exposed breast that seem to terrify the ratings people so much.

[Teleku]

Do not agree.  You're right about any breast being an instant ticket to R territory, but 80's gore in R movies seemed way worst than what I see in any PG-13 movie today.  And Robocop was way the fuck more bloody than almost anything I've seen since.  That trailer looked absolutely G rated compared to the original Robocop.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, Robocop is an extraordinarily violent movie. I think it is an open question if it wouldn't get NC-17 if made now in the same way.

[Ironwood]

Put me down in the 'You're Talking Shite' column too.

The original Robocop was pretty fucking horrific all the way through.  Unashamedly so.  It was better for it, but you can't fool yourself that it was anywhere NEAR PG13.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Horrific is a perfect way to describe it.  You felt horror at the actions of this evil corporation, horror at Alex Murphy's plight and watched as the human spirit triumphed over that horror. 

This bullshit is iron man fighting robots except he doesn't have control of his suit the first 60min.

[Merusk]

Spot-on.  Particularly with the way the visor works.

[Ironwood]

I was never really sure he triumphed, but that's probably an argument for another day.  Sure, he knew who he WAS at the end, but actually that was a lie because he really, really did die.

Um.  I may have just argued.

[Nevermore]

I didn't think the trailer looked as awful as you all are making it out to be, but I still would not buy this movie for a dollar.

[Sir T]

What happened in the interim was the Ropocop TV show which was PG13 and was pretty damn popular, and a couple of made for TV movies. Thats probably where most of the inspiration was this is coming from, rather than one great movie with 2 AWFUL sequels.

[Teleku]

I didn't think the trailer looked as awful as you all are making it out to be, but I still would not buy this movie for a dollar.

Well, as I said about the Total Recall remake, this movie might not be bad as a brainless summer sci-fi blockbuster action movie.  May even be entertaining in that regard.  But its painful to watch them reboot movies and COMPLETELY MISS what made those movies special/classics to begin with, and instead turn them into generic action movies with almost no connection to the original material.  It's particularly bad in this case because Robocop was specifically unique in its unflinching blend of ultra violence and political satire.  There really isn't anything special about a power armored cop who fights crime and says one liners, by itself.

[Ingmar]

Ropocop TV show which was PG13 and was pretty damn popular

 

[Lakov_Sanite]

I was never really sure he triumphed, but that's probably an argument for another day.  Sure, he knew who he WAS at the end, but actually that was a lie because he really, really did die.

Um.  I may have just argued.

You are correct.  Triumph was a bit much, struggle perhaps is a better word.

[Merusk]

Ropocop TV show which was PG13 and was pretty damn popular

 

I wasn't even aware there was one. I thought he meant the cartoon series for a bit then I Googled.   I don't think you can call a show that aired for barely a season in 1994 "pretty damn popular."

[Sir T]

*shrug* everyone i knew was watching it at the time.

[Ingmar]

#IrishTV

[Sir T]

#Honeybooboo fine example of American TV. 

ANYWAY, the point was that they are maybe going for a more modern view to get in the punters, and the more recent portrayals of the character and therefore would be more familiar are not anywhere close to the gorefest that was the original movie.

[Riggswolfe]

One thing that bothers me also is how this robocop dies. The other died in a brutal and personal way at the hands of Clarence Boddicker and his pals. That becomes a driving point of the movie as he has flashbacks to it and goes looking for them and uncovers their connection to OCP. In many ways, that is why he ends up coming back as much as he does, because his memories of his death are so painful he has to resolve them.

[Ironwood]

It's going to be much easier if we all stop thinking this has anything to do with Robocop beyond the name.

It doesn't.

[Merusk]

Relevant:
http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-reasons-why-remakes-sci-fi-movies-are-doomed-to-suck/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage

[Lakov_Sanite]

One thing that bothers me also is how this robocop dies. The other died in a brutal and personal way at the hands of Clarence Boddicker and his pals. That becomes a driving point of the movie as he has flashbacks to it and goes looking for them and uncovers their connection to OCP. In many ways, that is why he ends up coming back as much as he does, because his memories of his death are so painful he has to resolve them.

He never dies in the remake, he is simply put on life support and the family is told he may never function again.  That way they get rid of any kind of tough ethical and moral decisions and just make him a fucked up dude in a power suit...original!

[MediumHigh]

So I finally saw the trailer, this movie will be terrible. In a terrible sense of the word terrible. Like throw your diet coke at the screen because you actually bought a large diet coke for the sole purpose of tossing it at the screen terrible.

[WayAbvPar]

Put me down in the 'You're Talking Shite' column too.

The original Robocop was pretty fucking horrific all the way through.  Unashamedly so.  It was better for it, but you can't fool yourself that it was anywhere NEAR PG13.

Exactly. I just caught most of it on HBO or Encore or something last week. It is REALLY violent. The scene with the gang shooting Murphy to pieces was mildly amusing when I was 17...at 43 it was pretty disturbing. Add in the half-melted guy getting splashed all over a window, the data spike through the neck, and Red Forman shooting up Miguel Ferrer's legs, and just the sheer body count and you would have to cut half the movie to get it to PG-13.

e- I think there is definitely a space for a movie about life in shithole Detroit ( I am not sure OCP would even take the contract today...that place is FUCKED)- this is just not the one.

[kaid]

Put me down in the 'You're Talking Shite' column too.

The original Robocop was pretty fucking horrific all the way through.  Unashamedly so.  It was better for it, but you can't fool yourself that it was anywhere NEAR PG13.

I agree the original robocop was hardcore even for its time. Lots of boobies about as graphic violence as they could pull off tons of f bombs and profanity. It was nowhere near a pg13 with the MPAA today they would have been lucky to manage an R rating and probably would have wound up having to cut out the boobies to make it.

[Merusk]

For reference, the original Robocop nearly received an "X" rating for the violence it did have.  What we all saw was the toned-down version.  I remember this vividly because I owned an Fx Magazine that talked about it, showing the animatronic of Weller that was deleted in the final cut. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboCop#Rating

What I did NOT remember, was they had to go back and forth 12 times before receiving an "R." Also , the commercials we all love as amusing send-ups and some of the most memorable catch phrases were added to de-grim the movie.

[Ingmar]

Maybe the best thing the ratings board ever did, in a way, because the commercials add a contrast between media and reality that I think really elevates the commentary the movie is making.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, I can't imagine Robocop without the Adverts.

Nuke-em, the fun family boardgame. 

[Teleku]

"You crossed my line of death!"

[SurfD]

SO, just watched the trailer at work.  Holy shit this looks bad.  Please, hollywood, if you are going to make a godaweful remake of a beloved classic, at least have the decency to just rip off the plot but call it something else, instead of actually using the original name as well.

[Merusk]

If they did that it would be seen as being as risky as a new property and not get greenlit.  The actual strategy for a pitch now is, "Here's a proven concept, we do a remake/ sequel and we should get <as many dollars as the original> or better."  Hollywood movies are too big business to be more than that and have been since at least the late 90's.  Budgets are too big and returns getting smaller as audiences stay home and watch on super-sized (and now hi-def) TVs.

The risky projects used to be able to say, "we'll do lousy in the theaters but we'll make it up on DVD sales."  That's no longer the case, so you see fewer of them.  Now the only way a risky movie can get made is if you say, "It'll tank in America but more than make that up internationally."