Dead or alive, you're coming with me!
My little world of cinema was blown wide open in 1987 when, slipping a
certain R-Rated VHS tape into my mother's pile of cartoons and drama, the saga
of Robocop helped change my life. As I was criminally underage, I failed
to see the original film when it first destroyed the box-office upon its release
(or at least that's how I felt), and you can bet your life that I found a way to
sneak into the OK sequel and even terrible third. I largely skipped out on
the sub-par television series and played a few of the videogames (loved Robocop
vs. Terminator, by the way), but there's little doubt that the original film, as
directed by maverick madman Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Starship Troopers)
would remain one of my all-time favorite film experiences.
Darren Aronofsky, the critically acclaimed director of such varied fare as
Pi and Requiem for a Dream, is set to bring our metallic law
enforcement officer back to the forefront in a big-budget renewal of the
franchise. Rumors have put the filmmaker at odds to helm the reboot, which
has been pegged as more a sequel than official restart (similar to Bryan
Singer's Superman), and to help bring the dream back to life he's getting help
from screenwriter David Self, who adapted the Tom Hanks drama Road to
Perdition and upcoming Wolfman redux. The film's budget is
said to be upwards of $100 million, and the studio is hedging for a 2010
release. Revisiting the Robocop brand is part of MGM Studios attempt to
rebuild and remake several classic films, with remakes of Red Dawn," "Fame,"
"Poltergeist" and "Death Wish" all on the list.
Eminently quotable, destructively and malevolently violent, the original
Robocop is the product of an era and time that didn't cringe quite so easily and
wasn't afraid to tell a good science-fiction story in the process.
Although we've seen glimpses of that nerve and style crop up every now and
again, the trend seems more likely for Hard-R films to go the PG-13 route to
collect easy money in the short term (Live Free or Die Hard, upcoming Terminator
films) then go for the jugular. Sylvester Stallone's recent foray into his
Rambo universe may have gathered the excitement and respect of fans,
but the film itself barely managed to earn its domestic budget back. I'm
crossing every digit that the upcoming Robocop, which the studio
promises to be similar in tone to the original, follows suit.
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