Until I saw it, I would have sworn up-and-down (and to several sides) there was neither need, nor use for another Robocop– he’s a man; he’s a machine; he serves the public; he’s like a good Terminator. So what? But the reboot went and made it all political, opening with Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) hosting the O’Reilly Factor, er, that’s the Novak Element, which has turned its attention to safe streets in the Middle East. Why are they safe? Because this is the near future and they’re patrolled by American Robots! Thoughtless lethal robots, sparing American lives by cleaning up wherever. Yay, us! We the audience immediately see the horrible – wherever these robots go becomes a police state. The show and consequences — Novak concludes a fairly damning sneak peak (the robot kills a teen boy) with “why can’t we do this in America?” — is an obvious attack on myopic ultraconservative punditry. And yet, the closest parallel in current America is the drone program so championed by President Obama. There’s plenty to blame on both sides of the fence here, folks.
This Robocop reboot certainly has an agenda – it spends a great deal of time and energy discussing the cost of automation, eventually creating an enemy in its Bill Gates-like robopioneer Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton). The adversarial role is masked for the first two acts by the face of the 
ultimate entrepreneur; all Ray wants to do is Sellars more robots. Unable to convince the U.S. to buy the police robots by themselves, he goes to plan B: cyborg. Now all we have to do is find a good cop missing a few limbs and make him into the Bionic Man.
BTW, is anyone else bothered that the Robocop franchise takes place in Detroit? Here is the symbolic American epicenter for jobs lost to machination, and now you’re suggesting that the police can be replaced by automation as well.
Good cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) does good policework, is a good friend, treats his family good and eventually gets blowed up real good. Wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) signs over the body rights to the mad scientist (Gary Oldman) and *poof* we have a title character. Oldman is presented throughout as a positive figure, constantly empathetic to the needs of his Frankenstein. That’s weird. So is the fact that when Murphy gets blown up, his body is -clearly- still present. He may lack a function or two, but he has a body. As Robocop, weird Al is down to a head sans skull cap, a pair of lungs and a right hand. If the effects weren’t fantastic, you’d find it really creepy. So where’s the rest of his body, huh?
Director José Padilha doesn’t let Kinnaman do much of the driving; Robocop himself exists in this world as a chess piece. Looking very much like Judge Dredd (thank a lot for that memory, jerks), R-cop behaves for the most part like a non-stop, no nonsense, emotionless law enforcer. Murphy has, essentially, one reunion scene with his wife and son, but spends the majority of time being robotic or simply off camera. I don’t honestly remember what the point of the first Robocop was; maybe just a kneejerk reaction to Terminator. This one wanted me to know automating the control of evil is a dangerously stupid idea. Oh, ok. I’ll try not to do that then. But I don’t think it’s my call.
Murph was a cop on the beat
Who exploded on paved concrete
His body in pain
They salvaged the brain
Now he’s a robot, how sweet
Rated PG-13, 117 Minutes
D: José Padilha
W: Joshua Zetumer
Genre: Hatin’ on the future
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Unionists
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Fox pundits
