Robocop (2014)

After a very, very long wait the Robocop reboot has finally arrived. It was more than seven years ago when I first heard that they were going to reboot my childhood favourite and keep in mind that this was back when reboots as a concept had not yet worn out their novelty.

The interwebs have been especially unkind to Robocop (2014) and even I slung my fair share of mud at it's glossy black visage. The decision to put Alex Murphy in a black suit made him look unmistakably like he was wearing a rubber suit instead of the fully prosthetic cyborg that he is. If that wasn't already enough, he inexplicably retains his right human hand which, again, detracted even more from the cybernetic illusion.

But these are criticisms of an aesthetic and design nature and without having actually seen the film, not very fair ones at that.

But Robocop is finally in cinemas and like some of you I have gone along to see what a contemporary Robocop looks, sounds and feels like. No one was more surprised than I at how good this film is. It shares much with it's original but also stands alone. The aspects that it shares with the 1987 original have been intelligently revisited and re-imagined in a more sophisticated manner and the aspects that are new are worthy additions.

The original was a tale of a man transformed into a machine and his struggle to regain his humanity. The transformation was quick (but not painless!) and largely permanent. While in the original, Robocop may regain some semblance of his humanity, he never truly reclaims his former identity and instead becomes a new man, if it were.

The remake differs slightly in that when Alex Murphy is transformed into the cyborg we know from the original, he is physically more machine than man but his memories, personality and psyche are completely intact. This difference opened up the film to explore more thoroughly the chipping away at Murphy's humanity as his mind is tweaked and his free will slowly taken from him.

It was an interesting new direction which kept Alex believably human throughout the film which may have been a goal of the film makers in an effort to avoid what some might call the goofiness of the original. Speaking of which, as a pre-teen boy in the 80's, what I loved most about Robocop was the jerky, twitchy, bird-like and yet wholly robotic way that Robocop would walk, turn on his heel and draw his gun. Even the simplest action such as knocking on a door or turning his head would send ripples of excitement through me. The way he would hit henchman without even looking... I could go on and on. Utter coolness. In contrast the reboot sees a much, much faster and agile cyborg that moves with fluid grace which makes him more realistic as current day humanoid robots are already quite graceful.

The change from chrome to “tactical” black is still a step backwards even after seeing the film but it made me hate OCP more for it which only makes the film better. Fans of the original chrome are also treated to a new and genuinely improved version of the chrome suit and will be happy to know that the film vindicates fans of the chrome version through the course of the film.

The human hand's presence is still not explained and remains an idiotic inclusion. However it does serve a symbolic purpose, signifying his unbroken connection to his son. Though it is still stupid from a combat perspective and surely should have been ripped off in numerous violent action sequences throughout the film.

Performances are good all round. Joel Kinnaman plays a less cliched Alex Murphy and a more sympathetic Robocop. Gary Oldman plays a very similar character to the performance he brought to Batman's Commissioner Gordon and that's not a bad thing. Michael Keating is a bit flat but manages not to bring the movie down too much. Fans of Watchman were treated to the talented Jackie Earle Haley better known for his role as Rorschach who filled the obligatory role of antagonist's “just plain bad” right hand man. Samuel Jackson's character also helped bring a new dimension to the original's humourously morbid television spots that once were a satirical parody of the rise of amoral conglomerates and unfettered greed. The remake chose to instead use these staples of the series to shine a light on the prevalence of bias in today's media.

To conclude, the previous criticisms of the suit are largely absolved with some choice explanatory scenes in the early exposition and protests of “not another reboot” fall to the strength of this timely and quality re-imagining of an 80's sci fi classic.

The Wolverine

With the recent superhero movie releases such as the vastly disappointing Iron Man 3 and the less than cerebral Man of Steel, I feared The Wolverine would follow the trend. Thankfully I was not disappointed for a third time.

This review is fairly lengthy so if you don't have the time to waste on an in-depth review then skip to the Good vs Bad section at the bottom for my opinion in a nutshell.

The Wolverine has very few minuses and a lot of pluses for me. Logan's healing factor played a crucial role in the storyline and was artfully done. We're given a taste of how powerful his healing factor is in the first scene and then it's shortly all but taken away leaving Logan uncharacteristically vulnerable but more courageous and resilient because of it. Logan takes bullets and knives and fights on in spite of his dulled healing factor, showing just how awesome he is.

The love story didn't disappoint either. This is not your generic Hollywood token romance inserted into an action movie either. I won't go too much into it but the 'girl' was in fact the prize like most films of this nature but it's not all what it seems and I think it was done well. The nuances were there for the viewer to interpret them as much as they cared without boring some audience members that could care less. I think it was just enough to add dimension and subtlety to the story while staying consistent with previous films and close enough to comic 'lore' for the aficionados out there.

I really loved how well Jackman and the writers portrayed the Wolverine's toughness while never making him feel like a phony He-Man. When he was weakened he was still the deadliest man alive and when his healing factor was 100% he was unstoppable, rage personified. These two 'gears' as I'll call them were well balanced and timed throughout the movie and you'll just have to go see it to find out which order they occur.

One slight misrepresentation of Logan's powers was his strength or should I call it super strength? Logan has three powers:

1. Super dooper healing factor

2. Heightened senses

3. It's artificial and made possible by his healing factor but he also has an Adamantium laced skeleton.

Notice that super strength does not appear on that list. I counted at least four separate occasions when Logan performs feats of strength that can only be referred to as super. Some were subtler than others but they were all unnecessary and added very little.

The worst part of this otherwise very good but not GREAT movie was the weak villain/antagonist factor. It's a problem that plagues the vast majority of movies and in this case The Wolverine is no exception. What makes The Wolverine stand somewhat apart in its inferiority is that the villain was not only uninteresting and lacked presence but that throughout the movie I wasn't even sure who the bad guy was. I mean, I knew who they were, there were at least three defined villains but none of them really stood out. Their villainy was diffused and diluted among them and you can bet that none of them came close to great villains such as The Joker, Bane or even the T1000.

That The Wolverine thrived in spite of these handicaps shows how far Jackman's Wolverine has come since the first X-men. That a movie can stand strong on the basis of a great protagonist and little else speaks volumes for Jackman's performance and dedication to the character.

Oh, and do yourself a favour X-men fans and don't miss the after credits epilogue. It's the best one since X-men 3. Back when Marvel epilogues meant something.

The Good:

- Way better than Wolverine: X-men Origins (which I liked at the time).

- Best portrayal of Wolverine yet. Jackman looks great and is as gritty as hell.

- First truly solo Wolverine movie.

- Nuanced and subtle romantic thread that is neither in your face nor the two dimensional "hero gets the girl" type affair.

The Bad:

- Weak antagonists. Too many and none fully present or adequately realized.

- Minor inconsistencies with Wolverine's mutant abilities. Will only bother super nerds like myself.

P.S. Did I mention that Hugh Jackman looks incredible in this episode? Here's hoping he can keep it up for another decade.