Forget Paul Verhoeven's excellent 1987 original, many characters and story emphasis have been changed but for fans OCP is mentioned briefly and there's some dialogue nods to the original to name a few. Director Jose Padilha's incarnation is pleasantly different enough to avoid comparison and he certainly puts his own stamp on the subject material although there are unavoidably elements reminiscent of The Vindicator (1986) and The Wraith (1986).
All in all the special effects are impressive, the shooting style is what you'd expect from a modern action. This version is more a cop story than robotics. What's on display delves into corporate corruption (less 'Wall Street' than the 1987 version) and (saldy) skims the street crime underbelly.
Samuel L. Jackson is Pat Novak, his segments (a show with theme tune of the original film's theme music) replaces and updates the commercial satire adverts and news reels, he's more of a political presenter /analyst, needless to say Jackson is on his usual top form.
Both Gary Oldman as Doctor Norton with a heart and Michael Keaton as OmniCorp's head Sellars are outstanding and are what you'd expect for their caliber. Joel Kinnaman is a fitting Robocop/Alex Murphy and carries the emotion, as here it's about his relationship with his wife (Abbie Cornish) making it more focal, which was only touched on in Robocop and part 2. The supporting cast are all high calibre including the likes of Jackie Earle, Aimee Garcia, Jay Baruchel and Jennifer Ehle.
The action is frantic, and gritty with plenty of graphic scenes and violence, for example Robocop's innards out on display and the shoot outs even though on occasion use thermal imagery to possibly avoid censorship. But a film shouldn't be about a rating, Padilha's offering is about heart with it ending on a high and a hark back to the original Robocop design.
It will be interesting to see where a sequel will take Alex Murphy - part remake, part cop story, all new Robocop, surprisingly recommend.
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