Enter Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), a loving husband to Clara (Abbie Cornish) and father to David (John Paul Ruttan), and a cop hot on the heels of a crime lord named Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow). When he and his partner, Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams), get a little too close for Vallon's comfort, his retribution lands Lewis in the hospital and Murphy all but dead. His only hope, as explained to Clara by OmniCorp's lead robotics scientist, Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), is for OmniCorp to rebuild what remains using robotics and A.I., saving his life but forever changing him. So that is exactly what she agrees to, although reluctantly.
Murphy as RoboCop is mortified at what has become of him, but with a bit of tinkering, he proves himself to be a law enforcement powerhouse. Unfortunately, these tweaks chemically reduce his humanity and further alienate his family. But OmniCorp is happy and the country is on the verge of accepting robots and overturning key legislation preventing their use being pushed by Senator Hubert Dreyfuss (Zach Grenier). How far will Sellars and his right hand, Rick Mattox (Jackie Earle Haley) go to insure the future of robotics in America? Further, what happens when Murphy starts to go off-script and wants to solve his own murder? Let's just say bullets will fly.
RoboCop has been completely reimagined for 2014 and although I enjoyed the 1987 version a lot, I was surprised at how much I liked this version. It's different, but fresh, new and relevant to modern times. While I am not the biggest fan of Joel Kinnaman, he was fantastic as Murphy the RoboCop, even nailing the moves of the head and all. I have to give him kudos. Michael Keaton was great as the villainous head of OmniCorp, Jackie Earle Haley was downright evil, and Gary Oldman plays the conflicted Dr. Norton to a tee. Truly, everyone was good in their roles, from Jay Baruchel as a marketing guy, to Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Police Chief Karen Dean, Abbie Cornish as Murphy's wife, and especially Samuel L. Jackson as an entertaining and pro-robot TV news show host. He didn't quite seem like himself for most of the film, but it's there. Just wait for it.
Special features on this Blu-ray edition are slim, including some OmniCorp product announcements highlighting their technology and weapons, a handful of deleted scenes, and a featurette talking about how the film was re-envisioned for current times. This was really interesting and I especially enjoyed Keaton talking about how he and Kinnaman traded banter about whose suit was more uncomfortable - RoboCop's or Batman's. Funny stuff. RoboCop looks and sounds gorgeous on Blu-ray with bullets flying everywhere during the fight scenes and robots coming at you (or RoboCop, really) from every direction.
If you are looking for a fun action popcorn flick, check out RoboCop. As of this writing, it's only $12.99 as a new release, which is a bargain!
