@fan_of_films said:

There is a weird religious dimension to Robocop. If you think about Christianity, it's based on the rebirth of Christ. In Robocop, Murphy is killed but rises from the dead. He defeats the bad guys, finds salvation. There's some subtext going on. I'm not a religious person but I do think the concept of a hero dying, coming back to life to save the day is fascinating and makes Robocop a more profound movie.

Robocop is incredibly deep for an 80s actioner. The Jesus allegory is just the tip of the iceberg and I always considered it to be the least interesting and least poignant of the film's depths.

The film is a political satire of 80s Reaganism and where such encouragement of capitalist greed would lead (A notion obviously still heavily relevant today.) The world of Robocop is a world in which capitalist gain has become more important than human life. Human life is portrayed as cheap throughout. Remember the scene in which ED- 209 malfunctions and horrifically kills one of the OCP executives? The death is forgotten about seconds later as the board members are more concerned about the fact that their product doesn't work.

Robocop himself, in a spin on the typical cyberpunk notion of humanity vs machine, is a representation of humanity vs capitalism. The taglines read- Part Man, Part Machine, but more significantly Robocop is also Part man, Part product. As we frequently hear lines throughout the movie such as 'He doesn't have a name, he's a product of OCP'. Capitialism has become so overwhelming that we've got to the stage where human beings themselves are now products.

Of course in the end the human side regains agency and his own humanity when in the film's closing moments he responds to 'Nice shooting, son? What's your name?' with 'Murphy.' Showing that the human soul has prevailed and won it's battle against capitalism.

All the different concepts this spirals off into are immense and I'm constantly shocked at how much I continue to find deeper depths that the film explores.

And there's also a little bit about Reagan's foriegn policy.

Robocop is my favourite Sci-Fi film.

My particular favourite was the car that was so desirable because it only did 8.2mpg! The way the world has gone these past 33 years it is every bit as relevant today.

@Billions the funny moments are probably intentional... it is a highly satirical film afterall...

@CheekyMonkey said:

@Billions the funny moments are probably intentional... it is a highly satirical film afterall...

Hush now, Robocop can't hold a candle to the creativity, depth, grit, character development and social commentary of [insert generic, studio controlled, copy and paste-production line, pre-existing franchise, superhero sequel here]. Now that is the high watermark of human endeavour right there!

@Fergoose said:

Robocop can't hold a candle to the creativity,

you need to visit a retreat center, ham

@CheekyMonkey said:

@Billions the funny moments are probably intentional... it is a highly satirical film afterall...

Did you not read in that post of mine that I liked RoboCop because it wasn't taking itself seriously?

@Fergoose said:

@Eaglezone said:

Definitely a strong argument that the film deserves a higher rating than this... The script behind it being especially noteworthy, with certain successful screenwriters (who were fans of the film) saying they analysed it deeply- as a sort of attempt at reverse engineering for their own works. Robocop has such a perfect economy of characters and motivations, where people/ideas overlap without seeming contrived...

To my shame I had somehow never seen Robocop until now, knowing if only for the incredible Gameboy video game theme. The above post is what struck me most. It really ticked along with unusual aplomb. It was so tightly plotted but never felt rushed. It didnt have extended emotional scenes or dialogue, but somehow developed character very well. The soundtrack was very discreet and served the film, not the other way round. Moderrn action films could learn a lot from this.

It has aged very well. 33 years after release, watching with fresh eyes, this was cruising for a 8/10 from me, but sadly lost a point with the steelworks showdown, which was decidedly average. Still, a pretty top drawer film.

7/10 (sorry OP)

Oh my god 😂

@Fergoose said:

@CheekyMonkey said:

@Billions the funny moments are probably intentional... it is a highly satirical film afterall...

Hush now, Robocop can't hold a candle to the creativity, depth, grit, character development and social commentary of [insert generic, studio controlled, copy and paste-production line, pre-existing franchise, superhero sequel here]. Now that is the high watermark of human endeavour right there!

You gave RoboCop a 7 out of ten, sit down. I must admit my initial post to you was removed by moderators but the fact you outed yourself as a robo fan girl then proceed to mock superhero fans is either incredibly brave of you or incredibly stupid.

@mechajutaro said:

Of course in the end the human side regains agency and his own humanity when in the film's closing moments he responds to 'Nice shooting, son? What's your name?' with 'Murphy.' Showing that the human soul has prevailed and won it's battle against capitalism.

This also exposes a false dichotomy("Human Soul" vs capitalism)that remains just as alive and well today as it was during the 80s. By nearly(thought not every) all measures, the human race and the planet are in better shape today than they were back when RoboCop was made. The dystopian vision of America seen in RC not coming to pass in reality is, in no small part, attributable to the benefits we receive from the free market

Alas, I can't agree with you that we're in better shape today. No I'm not a political or economical expert and while I do think the free market does have it's benefits to a degree, I think things are worse and I attribute that to the free market. And attitudes that the free market creates. As Thatcher and Reagan shifted the Overton Window far over to the right, the western world has continually shifted more and more in that direction.

I'd be ok with a little capitalism, but not to the extent we are today. Today we are living in the extreme right. Even Obama and Clinton were Republican, just a little less so. Anyone who talks about anything slightly left wing is labelled a communist. So we've got no real choice. That's not a good place to be and it's because of 80s Reaganism.

A lot of technology today is double edged too. It's racing too fast and companies are just creating things for the sake of it without thinking of the consequences. That's capitalism in action.

@Billions said:

@CheekyMonkey said:

@Billions the funny moments are probably intentional... it is a highly satirical film afterall...

Did you not read in that post of mine that I liked RoboCop because it wasn't taking itself seriously?

Yeah.. I missed it... I agree... Verhoeven is really good at that. It was the same in Starship Troopers...

I liked the direction of the Robocop remake, despite the lack of humour... The problem there was that unlike Verhoeven, they didn't realise that the violence was key to showing the risks of a mechanised police-force... The consequence of removing human agency and morality... The remake was neutered to get to a PG rating, so it lost it's bite, it's sense of consequence... Yet, it didn't have any of the satirical humour to fall back on...

@CheekyMonkey said:

@Billions said:

@CheekyMonkey said:

@Billions the funny moments are probably intentional... it is a highly satirical film afterall...

Did you not read in that post of mine that I liked RoboCop because it wasn't taking itself seriously?

Yeah.. I missed it... I agree... Verhoeven is really good at that. It was the same in Starship Troopers...

I liked the direction of the Robocop remake, despite the lack of humour... The problem there was that unlike Verhoeven, they didn't realise that the violence was key to showing the risks of a mechanised police-force... The consequence of removing human agency and morality... The remake was neutered to get to a PG rating, so it lost it's bite, it's sense of consequence... Yet, it didn't have any of the satirical humour to fall back on...

That reply you quoted of mine was originally sent to clown fergoose and the one moron that liked his post but the moderators made it look like I replied to you instead.

@Billions No problem.

@Billions said:

but the moderators made it look like I replied to you instead.

trash needs to be cleaned from time to time or it begins to stink. the sooner we all know the better it would be, clubber lang

@suburbandog said:

@Billions said:

but the moderators made it look like I replied to you instead.

trash needs to be cleaned from time to time or it begins to stink. the sooner we all know the better it would be, clubber lang

Then that doesn't explain why you're allowed to still post on this forum.

@mechajutaro said:

Could you be specific as to the ways in which are planet is in worse shape today than it was in the 80s? Not out to argue, though I also can't promise to agree with everything you have to say. The notion that we're in worse shape than ever seems to also be rampant today, on both sides of the sociopolitical spectrum

I can give that a go. And I'd call it healthy debate rather than arguing. The struggle will be keeping it concise as it's such a big subject and as I said, I'm not a political expert so I can find it hard to articulate this kind of stuff. So I apologize for the length. I'm not sure if you want to hear ways I think the planet is worse in general or ways it's worse due to the free market so I'll try and stick to reasons related to the free market.

1- The 2008 Recession. It was Reagan's deregulation of the financial industry that led to the banks being able to carry out the kind of predatory lending practices such as the lending and selling of subprime mortgages that led to the crash. The sociopathic MO of the free market would inevitably set up an environment where something like this can happen.

2- The Rich/Poor divide. People talk about the top 1% all the time but how about the top 10%? Apparently the top 10% in the US own 70% of the countries wealth. The bottom 50%? They own about 2%. This divide has been growing since the 80s. I guess whether the world is in worse shape or not is down to who you are. If you're rich it's probably isn't. https://www.statista.com/chart/19635/wealth-distribution-percentiles-in-the-us/

3- Workers Rights. Reagan and his right wing buddies are not big fans of the trade unions. And over time they've been repealing those union's powers and using any excuse they can to cut their funding. Workers rights get in the way. Not good for capital gain. I don't know a lot about the situation in the US but here in the UK workers rights have become a joke. You have to be employed by an organisation for at least 2 years before you have any proper rights and your boss can fire you no matter what in that period. This gives the opportunity for bosses to treat their staff appallingly and speak and scream at them like dirt. And this is very prevalent. Often due to the existence of jobs with high staff turn over rates and zero hour contracts. Also products of the free market.

4- Access to Information. Internet sites are selling all our information to different companies. People don't know what they're doing with it or where it's going. Do you think that new data protection message that comes up makes a difference? People are so hynotized by the internet that they'll just click 'agree'. And this new facial recognition technology? I don't know the situation in the US but it's all being given the go ahead over here. And you just know that technology is not going to be used with care and respect. Technology is racing so fast that the government won't stop long to think about whether it's ethical or not.

5-The Commercialization of the Internet. It is the nature of capitalism to corrupt any great new life transforming invention that becomes popular. Now when I'm reading an article I don't know if I'm being sold something or not. Youtube videos have adverts every 3 seconds. Every site seems to be owned by a big corporation. And with the fairly recent net neutrality vote the internet will just be getting more and more commercial and more expensive.

6- A Few Corporations Own Everything. And thus they control the narrative. They control politics, they control entertainment, they control discourse, they control us. Much like OCP in Robocop.

7- The Abundance of Recent Mass Shootings and Attacks. I hear something in the news every week. Ok, maybe this isn't directly due to the free market but I thought it worth mentioning.

There are many more things that I could go into but I'd be rambling for ages. And yes I do realize that there are good things that come from the free market too. I'm not a black and white thinker. And I know we have a lot to be grateful for because of capitalism. I know if I'm getting a take away I can whip out my phone and read an article while I'm waiting for my burger to cook. That's great. But it's a luxury. I don't need it. I was fine before these things existed. We're just overwhelmed by distractions today and I'd prefer everyone to have just a better general standard of living and to live in peace.