When José Padilha’s RoboCop reboot hit theaters in February 2014, it did so under the weight of an impossible verdict. The original 1987 Paul Verhoeven film wasn’t just a sci-fi action movie; it was a satirical, hyper-violent masterpiece. How do you improve on perfection?
IMDb user Quicksand wrote in a top-voted review: “RoboCop without the gore is like The Terminator without the chase scenes. It’s a corporate product about a corporate product, and it forgot to be angry.” That review has over 2,000 upvotes. According to IMDb’s “StarMeter” and biographical data, the film’s cast is objectively excellent: Gary Oldman (a true chameleon), Michael Keaton (in his post-Academy Award cool-down), and Samuel L. Jackson as a bombastic, Glenn Beck-style TV host. The problem? The man inside the suit. robocop 2014 imdb
So, is it worth your time? If you want a bloody, satirical masterpiece, the original’s 7.6 is waiting. But if you want a sleek, smart, slightly neutered corporate thriller about the nature of free will—and you can accept a black suit instead of silver—the 2014 RoboCop is the cyborg we deserved, even if it wasn’t the one we wanted. When José Padilha’s RoboCop reboot hit theaters in
That bimodal passion is the first clue. People didn't dislike this movie; they felt betrayed by it. IMDb user Quicksand wrote in a top-voted review:
The IMDb page for RoboCop (2014) is a digital museum of a movie that arrived 15 years too early and 10 million dollars too cheap. It failed as a remake because it refused to be cynical. It succeeded as a think-piece because it dared to be serious.