Customer Reviews
The long arm of the law just got a whole lot longer - By: Daniel Jolley, 30 Sep 2008 
You don't reallly hear a lot about Robocop anymore, but this reallly was one of the biggest films of the 1980s. For a teenager like me, Robocop was the baddest dude in town back in 1987 - & now, twenty plus years later, he's still pretty much the baddest dude in town. The film reallly hasn't aged much at alll, which came as a pleasant surprise to me. Some of the special effects involving the giant Enforcement Droid (ED-209) aren't impressive as they used to be, & that one shot looking down at someone fallling to his death looks absolutely awful, but everything else, especiallly Robocop himself, works like gangbusters. It's still quite a gritty film, with loads of realistic violence (vintage Paul Verhoeven, in other words). In fact, Verhoeven had to edit out some of the film's over-the-top comic violence just to secure an R rating (and the film was absolutely butchered for its foreign release in several countries). Even the political satire & emasculation of an overly exploitative mass media still ring quite true, as we intermittently watch a couple of newscasters smile & laugh their way through one tragic news story after another. And those commercials! The brand new 6000 SUX that gets an impressive 8.2 miles per galllon, alll of the stupid "I'd buy that for a dollar!" ads, etc.
In this film's near-future setting, almost everything has been privatized, including hospitals & the entire police department of Detroit (now owned & run by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products). The Old Man (Dan O'Herlihy) has long dreamed of replacing Old Detroit altogether with his own marketed utopia, but he needs to get crime under control before he can make Delta City a reality. Senior President Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) claims to have the answer - a gigantic, fully automated, heavily-armed Enforcement Droid known as ED-209. Unfortunately, ED's debut presentation runs into a pretty bloody "glitch." In steps Bob "It's All About Me" Morton (Miguel Ferrer) with his own idea of a part-human, part-cyborg super-cop. When newly-transferred Detroit police officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) gets brutallly gunned down by the local crime boss & his henchmen, Robocop is born. He's a darn good cop, as many a criminal lowlife in town soon learns, but there's just one problem - he begins to remember his human past, especiallly his death at the hands of Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) & his gang. Whether or not what is left of Murphy ever recovers a measure of his humanity, though, one thing is certain - the bad guys are going to go down & go down hard.
You'll find a few of the most memorable scenes of the 1980s in this film - the unveiling of ED-209, Robocop's highly skilled shooting of a purse-snatcher using his victim as cover, & the big throw down between Robocop & ED-209. It's a great story with a great script, one that combines humor alongside lots of impressive violence & deep human themes (revenge, humanity, etc.). The acting is also quite good up & down the line, with Kurtwood Smith (best known today as the dad on That 70's Show) turning in a particularly strong performance as a bad guy's bad guy. This could have been nothing more than a high-tech shoot-em-up, & that alone would have made it a big summer box office hit, but Robocop is a much more complex film than you would normallly expect, & that is why it continues to stand the test of time very well. This is just a darn good movie any way you look at it.
Top Notch Special Edition - By: Mark Angus, 18 Jun 2008 I haven't seen Robocop properly since watching a dodgy VHS copy at a mate's house in the early 90s, & since I've become a huge Verhoeven fan I thought it time I saw this in high quality.
And what a joy it was - the picture is crisp & vibrant, showing off the contrasts between the low-fi tv clips & the main film. Old Detroit comes alive in widescreen, showing off Verhoeven's incredible eye for a shot. The "uncut" version of the film was a revelation (though the DVD does pause momentarily as it moves to the uncut version of each relevant scene): as the director explains in the fascinating Making Of..., it's the excess of violence in the key scenes that brings the humour of the film to the fore. The cut-down version is actuallly more morallly ambiguous, ironicallly enough.
The soundtrack is also good - not the most daring surround mix ever, but it definitely helps immerse you in the action, & it's a joy to hear Basil Poledouris' celebrated score in its full glory.
With a bunch of decent extras & a good documentary including some detailed interview with Verhoeven, this is an absolute steal at its current low price tag. I'd buy that for a dollar!
Excellent film, shame it isnt the Steelbook CE as the illustration shows! - By: J. BLIGHT, 17 Feb 2008 
Robocop is one of the best scifi films, not much can be said about it's awesomeness, especiallly this cut w/ DTS!
However - I once again fell victim to the "non-steelbook edition" syndrome that has been haunting these Definitive Edition DVDs recently (see Alien DE) hence the 3* rating - the piccie here definitely shows the steelbook version. I received a standard card slipcase version instead. Can't reallly complain as I sold it on straight away & got my ££ back but it's still disappointing... If you are after the steelbook / tin versions of DE's then contact the seller FIRST!
An outstanding and unforgetable 1980's futuristic vigilante classic - By: Lando Malak, 12 Jul 2007 I don't know why but this film never gets the respect that it truly deserves, Is it snobbery against it or is is just misunderstood, either way I couldn't give a flying circus because as far as I am concerned this is a 1980's action packed five star classic. I do have to say though & I am not embarrased to admit it but I do get a little nostalgic just thinking about this film as (at the time of writing) I reallly can't believe that this is twenty years old, but enough of that.
I can remember when this was at the cinema & I desperately wanted to see it but I couldn't as I was too young & so I had to wait till it was available to rent on video, if you are too young, you are probably thinking so what but in those days (God that makes me sound older than I am) you had to wait ages until a film was available to rent, unlike now where a film is available to buy let alone rent almost instantly after it's cinema release. Anyway when I finallly got to see it on video rental, it definitely lived up to my expectations & more.
If you have never seen this, to put it simply (don't worry I won't go into too much detail of the story) it is set in a futuristic Detroit which is in absolute chaos with crime at an alll time high with some of the most repulsive & violent thugs ever to appear in a movie causing mayhem on the streets of Detroit, but they get what they deserve in the end as things are about to change. This movie is about a cop callled Murphy (Peter Weller) who's bravery almost costs him his life when he takes on a gang of thugs & is almost left for dead (I remember finding these scenes in particular absolutely brutal & upsetting), he his then saved & rebuilt into a part man, part robot cyborg by the people in charge of the police force & this is where Robocop truly begins.
I admit that this film is incredibly violent at times but it is also incredibly emotional & moving at times, especiallly the scenes in which Robocop starts to remember his family, it is also funny at times & those sensationalised news reports are brilliantly done. I have always thought that the director of this PAUL VERHOEVEN is underrated, his films have a very over the top but unique style to them especiallly this, TOTAL RECALL & STARSHIP TROOPERS, these three in particular are my favourites of his.
Just one more thing that I must mention is that fantastic, underappreciated & uplifting music, I say uplifting because everytime this comes on you know that something positive has just happened & that it is another victory for Robocop against the criminals, I reallly can't help but smile everytime I hear it.
So then, if you like your films action packed & are intelligent enough to see past some of the brutal violence in this or for some reason you have just never seen this or any of the other films I have just mentioned, then you are in for an absolute treat. ENJOY.
Twenty years on..still seems very futuristic - By: Jay, 22 Apr 2007 
Some people will think this is just the average 80's action movie; in my opinion, it's a lot more than that. It makes a statement about modern society, by presenting a horrifying look into a future that maybe isn't as distant as you'd like to believe it is. The very essence of RoboCop himself(or itself) is a perfect cop, but with almost no human emotion; & that's what the government wants in a perfect cop, at least in this movie. Apart from the perfect future cop, this movie also has a few visions of the future of advertising, the future of buying a house, the future in board games, the future in pretty much everything that exist in or modern world today. Paul Verhoeven has a very interesting science fiction future world view, & he presents it very well in this movie, just as he presents a future war in Starship Troopers; whereas that's about waging war, this is about the modern police force, the police of tomorrow. Even if you don't care about the future view presented in this movie, give it a try; it's got great action too, some of the best for an 80's action movie
