Anyways, back to Robocop. It’s been twenty years (already?) since the release of this iconic action/sci-fi film, so MGM has decided to release a steelbook DVD edition to commemorate all that which is good about robotic police officers. This two-disc edition pulls out all the stops with this film, and is clearly the most content-packed DVD of the Robocop series. It also looks really cool, too (steelbook DVD cases get me every time).
Robocop is the story of a police officer named Alex Murphy, played by Peter Weller. He’s a happy cop with a loving family who gets transferred to old Detroit (a section of future Detroit that is ridden with crime). He and his partner Anne Lewis, played by Nancy Allen, team up to take down a gang of criminals aimed at doing practically anything illegal. But the gang gets the best of them and guns down Officer Murphy (in extremely violent fashion, I might add). Unfortunately, he dies as a result of these wounds.
Somehow he’s brought back to live via the wonders of future science and is restored as a cyborg by the OCP Corporation, who now practically owns him as product. He is the first in the line of the Robocop series. Also, his mind is wiped clean like a computer and he has no recollection of his past life. As a result, he’s an unstoppable police officer with super-strength, perfect aim, a really awesome gun, and an unwavering sense of the law who barely needs any rest at all. Robocop takes to protecting the citizens of Old Detroit from any criminals who might cause them harm, and may just get some revenge for his “death” while he’s at it.
Robocop is one of those films that really doesn’t look like much on the exterior. It has an eighties’ B-movie feel to it and rightfully so, because it is. The name is pretty corny and it really looks like something that would only appeal to hardcore sci-fi geeks. But if you look at it a little closer, you can notice layers of dark comedy and satire. This is especially evident when you look at the criminals or the corporate businessmen (who will have a conversation about profitability moments after one of their coworkers is shot down by one of their malfunctioned products). The entire film is intended to be some capitalist satire, but you can appreciate it on any level you’d like, as it is a truly quality sci-fi/action film.
The acting performances of this film are a little corny, but it works well enough because of the ridiculous superficiality of future Detroit. This future is more of a dystopia, though, as you won’t find any awesome Jetsons-esque flying cars. Everything is market-controlled, including police and government entities (the OCP Corporation funds the police). As a result, you can deduce that abstract concepts such as the value of life and such aren’t nearly as valuable in the future as they are today. Director Paul Verhoeven, who also directed a film called “Starship Troopers” that draws plenty of parallels with this movie, really likes to throw that message into his films. As a result, many of his actors and actresses are very superficial and cold in their performances.
Another thing that I’ll caution you about with this film is the amount of violence, especially in the extended version. When this film was initially released to the ratings board, it received a now-defunct “X” rating for its blatant violence and gore. Blood goes flying when people get shot by Robocop’s automatic handgun, well it’s actually more like an automatic hand-cannon. The execution scene is quite brutal, as is some other stuff spread around this film. This is definitely not something you’d want your young children watching. While Robocop sounds like a great kids’ film, you’d be wrong on that. But if you’re cool with violence, then watch away. It actually adds to the ridiculousness.
This 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition has quite a bit in the way of special features. It comes with two discs, which both contain special features and two separate cuts of the film. On the first disc you have the original theatrical release of the film, and a good number of extras. It has the commentary on it with Director Paul Verhoeven, Writer Ed Neumeier, and Executive Producer Jon Davison. The commentary is packed with info you’ll also get from the featurettes, except you can strain to understand half of what Verhoeven is saying while you get said info. Also on that disc you get a ton of featurettes. The first is called Flesh and Steel: The Making of Robocop. This is a newly created making-of featurette. This is pretty standard with these DVDs, but oddly enough another featurette is included on the same disc called Making Robocop. The difference is that Making Robocop was made when the film was originally released. So you get to actually see how much each person who made the film has aged.
Also on disc one is another featurette from the eighties’ entitled Shooting Robocop. It starts off with a laughably corny interview with Robocop, and it details the camerawork in Robocop. There’s also The Boardroom, which is a storyboard with commentary from the Animator Phil Tippet. Some very short deleted scenes are thrown in which didn’t make the cut in either film. They aren’t very good either, but I guess that’s why they didn’t get included. There’s also your standard photo gallery, trailer, and TV spot to be found on this disc.
The second disc contains extended version with all of the extra gore included. It also contains an interesting featurette titled Villians of Old Detroit, which has interviews with the cast who played the villains of this film. One of the guys, Ray Wise, comes off as really creepy. It also has a featurette called Special Effects: Then and Now which is pretty interesting if you’re into the effects aspect of this film. Lastly, there’s Robocop: Creating a Legend. This featurette details the creation of Robocop as a character and his physical creation (the creation of the suit was actually pretty cool).
As far as presentation goes, the film looked as flawless as I’ve ever seen it and the sound was blasting in 5.1 DTS and 5.1 Dolby Surround sound (also, ironically, it comes with the original 4.0 Dolby Surround). It also comes with English and Spanish subtitles and French language options.
Overall, this is a great DVD pickup if you were into the film at all. The film itself is a quality addition to the genre, although it may not be for everybody.
Overall: 8.3 — Great Collector’s Edition for a good film. If you’re a fan you should definitely buy this. Make sure you’ve seen the film first, though, to assess if you’re a fan (how anyone couldn’t be a fan of cyborg cops I’ll never know).