Robocop (2014)

[Eoraptor]

http://youtu.be/ymMNEPfcO5M

yup... they took one of the bloodiest movies in history... and made it grimdark.

I'm not impressed by this first trailer, but feel free to form your own opinions.

[Magus Prime]

Yeah, I'll see it but I'm convinced by the trailer that it's not gonna be anywhere near as good as the original.  Murphy's death scene needed to be visceral and hard to watch.  That's one part they never should have changed.  And the androids don't look so hot.  They're just not as sleek and futuristic as the other technological designs in the film.

[Nos482]

ED-209 looks stupid.
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.superrobotmayhem.com%2Fimages%2Fcomic-book-movies%2Frobocop%2F2013-ed-209%2Ffirst-picture-of-2013-robocop-ed-209_1257.jpg
Reminds me of the Bayformers :(

[saipaman]

That trailer is terrible.

[eabrace]

ED-209 looks stupid.

Reminds me of the Bayformers :(

Agreed.

I can sort of justify that in my mind for a transformer as a somewhat organic structuring evolved over centuries.

On something man-made that's designed for combat, no engineer in their right mind leaves everything open like that.  Even if it doesn't make the inner workings of the thing more vulnerable, that design provides openings for foreign objects to be introduced, possibly interfering with the range of motion of the articulation points.  A well-engineered machine eliminates as many possible sources of failure, it doesn't intentionally add them in.

[The Fifth Horseman]

It might stand on its' own, but it doesn't really feel the same.
For one, they've made Murphy too human after his transformation. A major element of the original was him rediscovering his past.
And what is that with the organic arm? Yes, could be a nod to the original - but all in all it makes very little sense.

[Eoraptor]

What you all said. What gets me is the conspiracy theory angle. "we've secretly replaced his free will with folger's coffee, let's see if he notices"

is there a point to this? was the story not served well enough by the original's idea of a for-profit police force in the ultimate excess of reaganomics run amok and "do not harm an OCP executive"? It just exemplifies why the movie didn't NEED to be remade. It stood just fine on its own with story and effects (well some of the stop motion was weak, but still)  All this added stuff is just grimdark for the sake of grimdark.

[Manga]

They removed the grey area in the original and replaced it with something that's purposely cruel and violating.  In the original Murphy was dead, so any time anyone asked about his free will or rights, the answer was "he's dead, he doesn't care anymore".  In this case they specifically did something to him while he's *alive*, and then tried to trick him.

[JetFlash]

Wow, so much hate over a trailer.

Whatever... I loved the original, and from what I can see I will very likely enjoy the remake.   I actually like the fact that they are changing things up some from the original movie, but I am also hopeful that they do not stray too far from the original premise.  I see they have some big name actors in the new movie too (SLJ, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton).

And I see Miguel Ferrer is in this one too.  I'll be VERY disappointed if we don't see cameos by Peter Weller and/or Nancy Allen.  :D

[Magus Prime]

And I see Miguel Ferrer is in this one too.  I'll be VERY disappointed if we don't see cameos by Peter Weller and/or Nancy Allen.  :D

Then brace yourself!... to be disappointed.  Peter Weller has all but poopooed on this movie, wanting nothing to do with it.  As for hate?  I'm not there yet.  I want to see a retelling of Robocop.  I like that this one is slightly slimmed down.  The trailer just didn't do such a great job of getting me intrigued. 

One fear I do have is Padilha won't capture the attachment the audience has with Murphy the way Verhoeven did.  This is a pitfall for some fanboy directors who try to pick up where a better storyteller left off but leave us not really caring about the main character. (Think Terminator 3 or the Star Wars prequels.). Just because you're a fan it doesn't mean you can make a good movie.

[eabrace]

Wow, so much hate over a trailer.

If the ED-209 is the worst part of the movie, I'll get over it.

[Thunder Glove]

I think making the attack a car bomb is already a big mistake.  In the original, that was a very PERSONAL death. Murphy was isolated, beaten down, and tortured, the leering faces of his attackers all around him, laughing at him as he screamed in agony.  We felt for Murphy.  When he was finally shot in the head to end it, it was almost a mercy-killing.  In this, he opens his car door, and boom, it's all over.   Removing that personal element is a big factor.

Imagine if, for example, they made a Batman origin movie where Bruce's parents weren't shot by a mugger, but were instead killed when a bank robber, fleeing the police in his getaway vehicle, sideswiped a truck that hit a building that knocked some masonry loose, which then fell on Bruce's parents.   Sure, a criminal still killed Bruce's parents, but not in the same personal way. THAT'S what this feels like.

And that's just one tiny aspect.  The new Robocop appears to still be alive, rather than dead, so he's not OCP's (or whatever they're calling it) "property".  He's still Alex J. Murphy, only with fancy life support armor (a la Darth Vader). And with his family knowing that he's Robocop, that whole angle of him losing them is gone, too.

Finally, the armor looks very flimsy and weightless.  The original movie made his new body as much of a curse as a blessing (as it was very strong, accurate, and durable, but also very heavy, bulky, slow, and obviously inhuman), while this one shows RoboCop running right from the start.

(ED-209 I can forgive.  It's impracticably designed, but that's always been the point.  Heck, in the original film it was a robotic security guard that couldn't climb stairs, or get up after it had fallen.  That's not a practical design)

I know it's just an early trailer, but even from that I can see that the changes aren't minor.  It just feels like they wanted to make an entirely different movie, but then the studio slapped the Robocop name onto it because they saw some superficial similarities.

[FatherXmas]

First is looks as if they are shooting for PG-13 rather than a hard R like the original (which was cut to be an R).

Instead of it being entirely involuntary,  Murphy "died" and was reanimated as a cyborg in the original with his wife and son thinkings he's dead, here he is just tragically maimed and his wife OKs turning him into a cyborg.  Still not his choice but a loved one was in the loop.

OCP didn't buy Detroit here but is looking to sell their line of droids to supplement police forces.  But there's push back because they're ... well droids, people are uncomfortable so they want to put a human face on them.  Likely the reason his face is normally exposed (besides actor ego) and right hand (to shake) is intact.

Don't know how "evil" OCP is.  Is it like the original where a rogue executive is behind the bulk of the bad things going on or does it go to the top.  Is the control a safety measure or simply a way to turn him into just another android?  Don't know.

Interesting big name cast.

:(  They gender bent Lewis.  Now his black, male former partner.  I guess with his wife aware in this picture they only needed one woman to talk him straight.

I don't think this will have the same biting social commentary, black humor and ultra violence of the original.  Just actiony bang bang BOOM.

Edit: The ED-209 is a battle field weapon.  What was the old phrase, Daleks don't climb stairs they destroy buildings.  I think they have humanoid droids to do interior work.

[Eoraptor]

PG13.. so what you're saying is they didn't learn their lesson from Die Hard 4.

lord save me from fools and studio execs.

so far, it looks like the only movie coming out next year I want to see is Cap 2...

[CoyoteSeven]

ED-209 looks stupid.
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.superrobotmayhem.com%2Fimages%2Fcomic-book-movies%2Frobocop%2F2013-ed-209%2Ffirst-picture-of-2013-robocop-ed-209_1257.jpg
Reminds me of the Bayformers :(

Looks more like a Cylon to me.

[Magus Prime]

I don't think this will have the same biting social commentary, black humor and ultra violence of the original.  Just actiony bang bang BOOM.

Agreed.  In the same vein as the new Total Recall.  It was "okay" but lacked the heart of the original.

[beveri8469]

im gonna wait for the next trailer to really make up my mind. but on a good note, the guy playing murphy also played Holder on the Killing and very much enjoyed his acting and character on that show.
i think he will do a good job in this movie

[JaguarX]

Another remake huh. And of course they go the most epic the most unique route ever done in the history of film...made the main character clad in black.

And what's with ED-209? In the original one it looked functional like something how it would have actually been built. This one looks like a rip off of transformer movie. Transformers get a pass because they are alien, they supposed to look bit different than man made designs. But this is man made and looks silly in functionality. Although the original one looked like a chopper with legs and was terrible on stairs. But it looked like how something with that purpose would have been built for real.

But tell you the truth I was unimpressed by the Dredd trailer but it turned out a decent remake. Maybe this is the case that the trailer is doing it no justice but wish they would of came up with their own idea for costume and ED-209 if they were going to stray from the original concept. Guess film makers haven't got the memo that not every hero have to wear black to look cool. There are thousands of other colors. Basically as far as costume design they took two clichés one the usual avenging hero in black vs a robot that of course now means it must look like a transformer. Michael Moore and crew better be should get a cut of profits.

[Night-Hawk07]

What you all said. What gets me is the conspiracy theory angle. "we've secretly replaced his free will with folger's coffee, let's see if he notices"

is there a point to this? was the story not served well enough by the original's idea of a for-profit police force in the ultimate excess of reaganomics run amok and "do not harm an OCP executive"? It just exemplifies why the movie didn't NEED to be remade. It stood just fine on its own with story and effects (well some of the stop motion was weak, but still)  All this added stuff is just grimdark for the sake of grimdark.

Some of the CGI in that trailer looked pretty weak as well.

That trailer did nothing for me. It might be a good pew-pew movie, but don't expect much beyond that. Not really surprising, though. The original movie was an intelligent movie with a lot of pew-pew. Unfortunately, today's audience only wants pew-pew, no intelligence.

[JaguarX]

Some of the CGI in that trailer looked pretty weak as well.

That trailer did nothing for me. It might be a good pew-pew movie, but don't expect much beyond that. Not really surprising, though. The original movie was an intelligent movie with a lot of pew-pew. Unfortunately, today's audience only wants pew-pew, no intelligence.

seems so. There were a lot of real underlying world issues pointed out and explored in the original WITH action.

Now that is considered boring. Nah, that is not fair. Actions movies been like only pew pew for a while even in Robocop days. Arnold make an entire career out of it (of course Terminator helped, another movie that had action and underlying real world issue statements (technology)).