Robocop Reboot (1 Viewer)

[Michael Elliott]

So, if I'm reading this thread right, people want their remakes to be exactly like the original? Kinda defeats the purpose of a remake if the new film is just going to copy everything about the original.

 

[RobertR]

So, if I'm reading this thread right, people want their remakes to be exactly like the original?

Not really. The point of a remake is to improve on the original. All indications are that this will be an inferior retake.

 

[Carl Johnson]

The point of the remake is to earn a profit. I'm sure there are millions of potential viewers out there such as myself who have heard of Robocop but are not familiar with the original film. Based on the trailer I think that the movie looks like it could be entertaining. Sent from my SPH-M830 using HTF mobile app

 

[DVDvision]

The point of the original was also to earn a profit. The difference is that then, producers were smart enough to understand that it is by shocking people and being transgressive that you get your film noticed in a loaded market. That's how Verhoeven started his Hollywood career. It wouldn't have had the same impact if he directed the film by being essentially interchangeable with any canadian TV director.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I am just hoping this remake will see a new film scan of the original and a new improved release, the current version isn't that good on blu ray, hopefully they will see this as an opportunity to improve on things and re-sell the original again, or they might just try and flog off the old transfer again, i hope not.

 

[Ejanss]

So, if I'm reading this thread right, people want their remakes to be exactly like the original? Kinda defeats the purpose of a remake if the new film is just going to copy everything about the original.

No, we at least like to know they got it RIGHT--
I'm sure the producer worshipped what he thinks the original movie represented, but if he got most of the fundamental concepts wrong, he doesn't deserve to be a fan of it, let alone the one person he believes will "bring it back".
(Every time I see a loyally devoted remake earnestly and enthusiastically get the basic ideas wrong, for some reason I keep being reminded of Steve Carrell's line from "Dinner With Shmucks": "Like John Lennon sang, 'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not.' ")

In this case, the producer went in not with a tribute to Verhoeven, or to Judge Dredd, or to a savage satire 80's Reagan-era conservativism--He went in with the idea that Movies Were Cool in the 80's. (An early concept for the teaser poster, back when it was still in limbo, made Robo look like a neon videogame Tron...It's so 80's!)
It's not the only remake so far to come up with that idea, but unfortunately, the concepts tend to end there: Yes, I miss movies in the 80's, too. Ticket prices were cheaper, actors' salaries were less, there were more studios and fewer parent corporations, and nobody worried about making things generic for female audiences or overseas markets. It was easier to just walk into a theater and see a movie back then, whereas almost nobody does it today. Seems the people who miss the 80's the most are those who weren't alive back then, and hear stories of how their parents used to jaunt to the cineplexes with their high-school dates on Friday nights, to see Back to the Future, and slasher movies, and The Breakfast Club! Gee, why can't we have those days again?...Maybe if there was another Robocop, or another Total Recall!
And, like everything we mythologize about our childhoods or someone else's....we treat it with absolute grave, earnest reverence. (The equally ponderous and humorless Tron Legacy should have been enough evidence of that.)

IOW, the remake producer was more in love with a year and an idea than with a directorial vision. Oh, he tried to earn his bread by pasting on some 10's idea of "Tech surveillance", but most of the remake producers are trying to come up with important "alibis" why their bringing a beloved movie back, and not just because they thought it must've been cool when it came out. And the more important they try to be....the more humorless, preening and ponderous the story gets away from the original's tone, lest anyone accuse them of not being a serious enough fan of it.

 

[Rhett_Y]

Color me interested. I am sucker for this type of film. Total Recall (Reboot) was absolutly horrible, this doesn't look "TOO" bad........

 

[TravisR]

While good actors can make bad decisions, Joel Kinnaman is incredible on The Killing. The guy gives an Emmy worthy performance every week.

 

[SAhmed]

I am just hoping this remake will see a new film scan of the original and a new improved release, the current version isn't that good on blu ray, hopefully they will see this as an opportunity to improve on things and re-sell the original again, or they might just try and flog off the old transfer again, i hope not.

Totally agree!

Regards,

 

[Greg.K]

Totally agree!

Regards,

I'd buy that for a dollar!

 

[Ejanss]

I'd buy that for a dollar!

(Y'know, I'm just willing to bet that they make somebody in the remake say that, just because it "had" to be in the movie?--Despite the fact that it doesn't really make sense without the parody of vacuous T&A/pop-catchphrase driven US TV in the 80's?
Some jokes are just products of their times.)

 

[Michael Elliott]

Not really. The point of a remake is to improve on the original. All indications are that this will be an inferior retake.

I'd agree that profit is the main goal of a film like this. It's certainly not going for an Oscar, the summer blockbuster or even to compare with the original. The point of my post is that people can't have it both ways. I personally think it's quite worthless to make a politically incorrect, mean-spirited and at times brutally violent film. Why? Because we already have that so they might as well try something new. If we want the violent satire then we have the original so if we can get a "good" film out of something different then I'm all for it. If it fails then it can sit beside the two sequels and just be forgotten and the original will get another shot in the spotlight thanks to this. It will probably bring even more people to it, which is certainly a good thing. The strange point here is that a sequel already tried to water down the material and it really didn't work all that well so this remake will not only have to try and do something different from the original but it's also going to have to avoid the same mistakes that the "lesser" sequel did.

 

[mattCR]

Robocop was a film that I thought could have been rebooted to be something almost completely different. I think it was a film that set itself up for that, and could have went in a mode that was wildly different then the original but still fitting. I had originally imagined they would use "Robocop" as a means by which to play it like he was a street drone of sorts, replace ED-209 with wildly different robotic take.
I thought the current advancements in Robotics, AI, Drone technology, the Internet could have made for a truly incredible Robocop reboot that would have been wildly different from the original, but run with the same concept.

Instead, it seems as though they are trying to remake the original, except PG-13 with different effects.. and when you try and do that, you'll be judged against the oriignal.

I didn't necessarily mind the idea behind rebooting Total Recall to change most of the key events.. I just didn't feel it did a very good job of it.

 

[Robert Smith1]

saw the trailer of riddick 3
i guess it was ok

 

[Jari K]

Remake, reboot... I don't really care. But PG-13? This film looks fun - for children. But it sure doesn't look Robocop.

 

[Freddie Z]

The original Robocop was Part Man. Part Machine. All Cop.

The new one looks like a man in an armoured black plastic suit.

Pass.

 

[sleroi]

I don't need a carbon copy, but I would like to see the essence of the original in there somewhere. The original was a unique, humorous, gleefully violent satire. The remake looks like a safe, generic action movie. Is there nothing in society today worthy of satire? I've been listening a lot lately to John Fogerty's latest album, a collection of his classic songs performed as duets. He gave each partner the freedom to arrange the songs as they see fit. Ea h song is an interesting, unique take, but underneath is the same familiar beat that keeps my toe tapping. That's what I want in a remake. As Bob Gale once put it regarding the bttf sequels "the audience wants the same movie, but different." if you're going to call your movie Robocop there are certain rules you have to follow. If you don't, well, look at how horrid the sequels were.

 

[FoxyMulder]

The first sequel to the original wasn't too bad, i missed the music score of the original but it wasn't a bad sequel, the third film was bad.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

I haven't watched the trailer. I actually dig the poster.

 

[Ejanss]

The first sequel to the original wasn't too bad, i missed the music score of the original but it wasn't a bad sequel, the third film was bad.

All I remember from the second movie were the cameos by famous old Gong Show acts.
Oh, lord.