I went into the 'RoboCop' reboot with fond, but not very vivid, memories of the original, seeing as it came out when I was 2! I do remember having a RoboCop figurine that I used to play with as a kid. And this new film does a good job of making him look both new and futuristic, but also similar enough to the original that old fans won't be disappointed - he's silver for about a third of the film and black for the rest.In terms of story, it's pretty straight forward - Detective Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) is almost killed, is turned into a cyborg and then tracks down the bad guys in Detroit. Sure, there's a little more to it than that - is he more man, or machine? Does he still have a conscience/soul? And does it matter if he's good at his job?There's some decent action, but a lot of shaky/fast camera work that doesn't always help the action scenes. It feels longer than it should and doesn't have the best ending. Oldman and Keaton are good, but it's hard to feel any real connection to Murphy and his wife (Cornish), as you never spend any real time with them.

I watched Paul Verhoeven's film as soon as it was released and I was impressed by the violence but also by the script's intelligence. I confess that I was anxious to watch the new version of Verhoeven's film, even because director José Padilha is my compatriot (Brazilian). However, I was disappointed by the weak script, the superficiality of the characters and the drastic changes of the original film. You may accuse me of being old fashioned, but overcoming a classic lately has been an impossible mission. Another example is the classic Total Recall, also by Verhoeven.

Now I understand that a lot of people feel upset about how this remake departed from the original. After all, the original Robocop was a masterpiece. The dark comedy, the violence, the 1980's.... no remake could ever recreate that. After all, we're not living in the 1980's anymore.But thanks to other people's scathing reviews, I approached this movie with low expectations and I was actually very pleasantly surprised. While the dark comedy aspect of Robocop is very much toned down in the remake, and yes the weepy family moments are a little overdone (and that's why I don't give it 10 stars), I think this movie still maintains a lot of good qualities.Example: in the original Robocop, the battle scenes were actually very disappointing. They involved Robocop lumbering slowly through a warehouse, full of guys just standing there unloading their AK's at him to no avail. He shot them down one by one, and nobody ever grew a brain and realized their rifles were no use. But in the remake, I think the gunfights were a lot more realistic. The new Robocop is fast and agile, and also vulnerable to gunfire. He doesn't just stand there stupidly and let bullets bounce off of him, he ducks and weaves and takes cover, gets hit occasionally and actually gets hurt from it. So in that sense I'd say the remake improved on the original.Also, the evil Omnicorp is as evil as ever, albeit in a flashy 21st century kind of way. The sinister 1980's businessmen in suits have been replaced with soulless, clever Steve Jobs types, which I found to be a pleasing illustration of how the corporate scumbag class has evolved over the past 30+ years.There's also the deep-rooted corruption within the police force and within Corporate America that lies at the root of all evil, and Robocop wants more than anything to root it out. But his programming does not allow him to do so. That, I believe, is the central message of the original Robocop that has been preserved in the remake. I think the movie would have been an absolute fail if they tried to erase that central message.So all in all, this remake has been adapted for the 21st century audience, for better or for worse. I think they did a really good job, all things considered. My only real complaint is that the dark comedy was removed, presumably to reach a wider audience. Because of that flaw, I give it 7/10 stars.

I'm watching "Robocop", witch is not Robocop for the second time. Just to see if it is really as bad as I recall it, watching it the first time.And I still don't like it.Despite better effects and a more robot-like Robocop, the original still prevails.Here is why.First of all Joel Kinnaman is no Peter Weller. In the original, despite only 15 minutes or so as a human, Weller created a very likable Alex Murphy. Kinnaman can't create a likable Murphy. He comes off too much like a tough guy and a smart-ass. Murphys death in the real Robocop movie is to the date still a very hard scene to watch. And the evil sadistic Clarence Boddicker (brilliantly played by Kurtwood Smith) and his ditto gang are to this date still awesome bad-guys. And when Robocop remembers its an absolute delight to watch him kill every member of the gang one by one.In this "Robocop" movie Murphy is almost killed by a car-bomb. A pg13 death that don't hold the impact from the brutal R-rated slaying in the original movie. And I still don't like the new Murphy, nor do I care what happens to him either. That is a clear sign that the movie isn't working at all.And of course because "Robocop" is PG13, there is no blood whenever someone dies, no Boddicker, no Dick Jones (awesome Ronny Cox) no Bob Morton(awesome Miguel Ferrer) or any other bad-guys, just a Fallon whats his face and a Dennet Norton (Bob Morton get it?) "Robocop" has no drive or motivation to go on living as a machine. In the real Robocop movie he had revenge that pushed him forward. The CGI version of ED-209 that, like OCP has a different name, moves exactly like the much more menacing stop-motion-robot in the original. So what's the point? Much like the rest of the movie.They spend a lot of time letting "Robocop" go through the motions with his new robot-body and showing how he is made. And running simulation programs where he fights other robots. Again probably the rating. Had it been rated R, he would have been send out on the streets right away killing bad-guys, because that's what the real Robocop does.And what's with all that crap with his wife and son? Who cares? Like he could ever have a life with them again after his transformation. In the real Robocop movie they wiped his memory and he barely remembered them and that worked really well. There was not a single scene with Murphy together with his wife and son. And yet we felt Robocops pain (now that is good acting from Peter Weller) Seeing the new "Robocop" cry as he talks to his wife on a Skype like connection made me wanna puke.And all the satire and humor of the real Robocop movie is gone here. Instead we have a movie that takes it self way too seriously and the action-scenes feels like they were shot and directed by a teenager.Avoid this crap. Even if you've never seen the real Robocop movie from 1987 and you were born later and it seems outdated I guarantee that you will still prefer that to this crap.