Remakes have been flying out of studios and the next to hit theaters is RoboCop. Can this new RoboCop hit it big with fans of the original and create a new, younger fan base? Watch the trailer and speculate in the comments after the jump.
RoboCop – Official Trailer #2 – In Theaters 2/12/14
Release Date: 12 February 2014 (United States)In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and OmniCorp – the world’s leader in robot technology – sees a golden opportunity …
I have never seen the original RoboCop (surprise, surprise), but I’m actually being swayed to give this a chunk of time after this new trailer. What say you, watchers of the original? What say you, readers new to the RoboCop scene? Make your thoughts known, now!
9 Comments
I can’t stand the bare hand! Even if he is mostly human he should be wearing a glove or something. The single fleshy hand just looks silly.
Looking better!
If this looks good to people, more power to them. This is hitting every remake button: 1) Toned down from original. 2) Just looks generic. 3)Batman-envy.
Daft Punk fights crime now?
Yep. He fights harder, better, faster, and stronger.
Remakes. There was an excuse to remake early movies when sound came along. There was another excuse to remake old movies when color came along. Now it seems like Hollywood is making remakes only because they can’t think of any new ideas.
I liked the original RoboCob, just as I liked the original Total Recall, and the original Flight of the Phoenix and the original Manchurian Candidate and the original Judgement at Nuremberg: and none of them, quite frankly, needed a remake. In the last three examples, the original couldn’t be improved upon no matter what they did. In the case of Robocop and Total recall, the original wasn’t really good enough to deserve a remake. And let us not even mention such abortions as “Wild Wild West” or “The Green Hornet”…
Since there are plenty of interesting properties available that have never been made into movies, this spate of remakes smack of laziness on the part of Hollywood producers. Where is our live action movie based on Lee and Kaluta’s “Starstruck”? Where is our Elfquest movie? Where is our “Old Man’s War” movie, or our Honor Harrington movie, or any more Master and Commander movies? Or a new Indiana Jones movie that DOESN’T have Shea LaGoof in it?
One of the most horrifying scenes in the original RoboCop was when Officer Murphey was shot to pieces by the bad guys before he was turned into a cyborg. This new version appears to sanitize it and gloss right over it, and that robs the whole thing of much of the original’s creep factor. Maybe I’m just being needlessly cynical here, but, personally, I’ll wait for the movie to be released on DVD…
Broadway Plays are basically remakes of the first production. As each new version of a play comes out, new parts are sometimes added, new songs, and new ideas. It evolves the play to better suit the new audience.
Why should hollywood be any different.
Yes, the original was great but it had it’s limits. The new version will expand on the original with new ideas and new technology (CGI over stop motion, and new avenues for the emotional storylines). This may not guarantee greatness but it does add to the pool of ideas on the specific topic at hand.
Arguably, Nolan’s Batman built on what came before it and was considered by many as a triumph. James Bond constantly reinvents itself and builds. Yes, they’re not entirely “remakes” but they do tackle the same underlying themes.
Maybe this Robocop wont be “teh awesome” but that doesn’t matter. Maybe someday when movies become more like the HOLODECK, and they’ll take the best parts from both and add it to the pile, and create something that will be considered the pinnacle of what the Robocop story is supposed to be about.
It’s not laziness. It’s building on what came before to try and make something bigger than the sum of it’s parts. That’s a lot of hard work.
Besides, if the first Robocop is still the greatest. Well, it still exist in some form. One can break out one’s old Laserdisk or VHS player and watch it. Or maybe you can take a more modern rout and catch it on streaming. The point is you can still enjoy it in it’s “original” incarnation and love it from there.
I was all like NO NEED FOR ROBOCOP REMAKE but then MICHAEL K WILLIAMS.
Looks like Shadow Hawk or Night Thrasher or insert 90’s hero name here.