Robocop (Blu-ray) (1987)

"Sharp, slick, slam-bang action...  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Fast, furious and entertaining.  Los Angeles Daily News
"The best action movie of the year.  Los Angeles Times
"...fiercely paced action film.  Screen International
"...sleek, high-powered drive.  Time Magazine

Editor's Note Peter Weller stars in this urban sci-fi Western as Murphy, a good cop who literally gets shot to pieces while on duty and winds up reborn as a crime-fighting machine. An ambitious executive (Miguel Ferrer) at OCP, the corporation running the futuristic city of Detroit, fuses Murphy's torso with bulletproof steel limbs and rewires his brain with computer chips so he will have no will of his own. Murphy's former partner (Nancy Allen) tries to help RoboCop remember his human past, but his circuitry blocks whatever dim memories remain. Luckily, a chance encounter with one of his killers wakes up the human essence in RoboCop, causing him to rebel against his programming and commence on a one-cyborg mission of vengeance that leads all the way to the top of OCP. This second English-language film by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is unremittingly brutal, darkly comic, and filled with bits of clever satire and pathos. A special highlight is the hilariously incompetent ED-209, RoboCop's main rival in the department of automated law enforcement. Considered by many critics to be one of the best films of its genre, ROBOCOP was followed by several sequels and a 1994 TV series.

	Dan O'Herlihy
	Nancy Allen
	Peter Weller
	Ronny Cox
	Basil Poledouris - Original Music By
	Edward Neumeier - Writer
	Edward Neumeier - Producer
	Frank J. Urioste - Editor
	Gayle Simon - Art Director
	Jon Davison - Executive Producer
	Jost Vacano - Cinematographer
	Michael Miner - Writer
	Paul Verhoeven - Director
	Sol Negrin - Cinematographer
	William Sandell - Production Designer

Paul Verhoeven's ROBOCOP is an ultraviolent but extremely clever sci-fi action film set in a burnt-out, crime-infested Detroit of the future. When a cop is almost killed in the line of duty, the corrupt corporation that runs the police department decides to use his near-dead body as the basis for a specially constructed cyborg--the first in what they intend to be a line of highly efficient, crime-fighting machines. But the corporate execs didn't take into account the vestiges of human nature still lurking beneath all that state-of-the-art hardware. It turns out RoboCop has a mind of his own and sets out to take bloody revenge on the vicious gang members who tried to kill him.

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"----Phrase from a popular future gameshow

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."----RoboCop (Peter Weller) to a thug

"It's just a glitch."----OCP executive Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) to his superior (Dan O'Herlihy) after Jones's ED--209 robotic crimefighter prototype blows away a young employee during a botched product demonstration

Premiere
"...Chilling, at times hilarious..." - Recommended 05/01/1995 p.136

Sight and Sound
"...ROBOCOP is a shrewdly enjoyable movie..." 12/01/1987 p.66-7

Variety
"...Gut-level humor and technical wizardry....Robocop himself is a fascinating character..." 07/01/1987

Los Angeles Times
"...This movie has a motor humming inside. It's been assembled with ferocious, gleeful expertise, crammed with humor, cynicism and jolts of energy..." 07/17/1987 p.C1

USA Today
"This sicko futuristic satire of corporate Detroit is the movie that got director Paul Verhoeven out of Holland and ultimately into even beefier Hollywood megahits like TOTAL RECALL and BASIC INSTINCT..." 06/02/1995 p.3D

Total Film
"Paul Verhoeven's finest film isn't quite science-fact, but its corporation-driven, fat-cat future is our reality." 04/01/2004 p.137

Entertainment Weekly
"Weller is excellent, giving his metal man a very human heart....ROBOCOP turned out to be an extremely smart film." -- Grade: A 08/24/2007 p.119

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t remains a fearlessly over the top, endlessly enjoyable action flick." 11/23/2007 p.107

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
There is a moment early in "RoboCop" when a robot runs amok. It has been programmed to warn a criminal to drop his gun, and then to shoot him if he does not comply. The robot, an ugly and ungainly machine, is wheeled into a board meeting of the company that hopes to make millions by retailing it...Considering that he spends much of the movie hidden behind one kind of makeup device or another, Weller does an impressive job of creating sympathy for his character. He is more "human," indeed, when he is a robocop than earlier in the movie, when he's an ordinary human being. His plight is appealing, and Nancy Allen is effective as the determined partner who wants to find out what really happened to him...Most thriller and special-effects movies come right off the assembly line. You can call out every development in advance, and usually be right. "RoboCop" is a thriller with a difference. - Roger Ebert

Qwipster's Movie Reviews 8 of 10
A fantastic science fiction film, subversively posing as a cheesy b-movie, RoboCop is one of the smartest, funniest, and gutsiest movies of its era. Filled to the brim with cheeky social commentary, this is one of those rare action films that hits you heavy with satire, while also engaging you on the surface level with an intriguing story and a strong visceral dynamic. Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Hollow Man) introduces himself to American audiences, crafting the first of several of his engaging, ultra-violent films that would also rank among the best genre films of their era...RoboCop succeeds on many levels, but the one I'm most impressed with is in making us actually feel something for the cyborg at the heart of the film, with moments of surprising emotion at the core of what could have been a throwaway Terminator knock-off. For a film so excessive in nearly every department, the subtle moments remain the most powerful. - Vince Leo