I have come to the realisation that I love 80s action films. There is a good chance that I will swallow those words as I dive deeper into the catalogue of 80s action films, but from the short collection I have seen I have pretty much only positive things to say. Granted, I have only seen classics and so would expect to at least like them, but I have so much fun watching them. They are a blast with a good level of self awareness which just adds to the fun nature of them. RoboCop (1987) continues the trend of stupidly fun 80s action films. This was great. I had an absolute blast with this film and can see it being one I go back to pretty frequently. The film is set in Detroit in a not to distant, dystopian future. Crime is around every corner and the police, who are now owned and run by a corporation called OCP (Omni Consumer Products), are the victims on the end of the violence. One police officer, Officer Alex J. Murphy (Peter Weller), is brutalised and murdered, while out on patrol, by crime boss Clarence J. Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith). His body is then used by OCP to become the first in the RoboCop initiative, an initiative to create super, cyborg police officers. Murphy, now RoboCop, becomes a force against crime in the city, but when memories of his past life come flooding back he breaks his protocol and attempts to hunt down the men who killed him.
This film is a riot. It is super entertaining and is at a level of ridiculousness that just makes it stupid fun. It knows it is ridiculous as well and so will heighten these moments of ridiculousness. But, despite this, it is also quite a smart film. It isn't just an 80s action flick with nothing to say, it has some commentary and it makes this commentary in fun and entertaining ways. The main thing the film makes comment on is the commercialism of violence. In the world that the film inhabits violence has become fully desensitised. There is a moment in the film where an innocent man is mowed down in front of his work colleagues and no one bats an eye. This desensitisation has led to the commercialism of violence and the police force becoming a commercial commodity. RoboCop himself is frequently referred to as a commodity of OCP, and there are several adverts throughout the film which put this point across as well. The best of these adverts is one for a board game called 'NUKE EM', where players attempt to wipe out their opponents through nuclear warfare. It isn't very subtle commentary, but it is put across in a really fun way, and the adverts are really funny. That's another thing this film gets spot on. The comedy in this film is not a laugh a minute, but when it attempts to be funny it fully succeeds. There were several moments in the film where I had a proper laugh. I was half expecting this, but I was expecting the laughs to come more from how ridiculous the film is and not from legitimate comedic moments. Although I would be lying if I said I didn't laugh at some of the more over the top and ridiculous moments because, come on, there are stupid funny moments in the film.
Not everything about this film is stellar though. I would say that none of the acting is especially good. Is it fun? Abso-fucking-lutely. Everyone is giving it there all and several actors are camping it up, but the over the top style fits in with the rest of the films style, despite not being all that great. Also, Peter Weller's performance as RoboCop is pretty robotic (haha). The main thing I can say about the film which is not good, and I think is objectively not good, are some of the effects, specifically the stop motion effects. The stop motion effects on one of the robots, ED-209, has not aged very well at all. The stop motion itself is not terrible, but when it is meshed into the scene it never looks real. It may have looked okay on release but by today's standards it is very poor. One moment that wouldn't have even been considered good on the films release comes towards the end of the film. I can't get into it because it would spoil the moment in the film (even though this film is more than 30 years old) but if you know, you know. I'll just say that it looks absolutely terrible to a comedic level, and involves super long arms. Not all the special effects in the film are bad though. The explosions are all done really well and look really cool and the gore effects are also really good. It is a good thing that these gore effects are good as well because they are all over this film. This film is super violent and I loved it. You do not get this level of violence in action films these days and it is so refreshing to see some super fun and gory violence in an all guns blazing action film. Does the fact I enjoyed the excessive violence and gore say something negative about me? Maybe. But that doesn't take away from the fact that the violence in the film is one of the aspects which makes it super entertaining.
RoboCop is considered a classic of the 1980s and the action genre and after seeing it it is really easy to see why. It may be a really stupid idea (and you can argue that with me but it is a stupid premise) but it takes the ridiculousness of the idea and runs with it. It is just so much fun to watch. I am all in on the blood, guts and viscera and the action is super fun, which it should be in an action film. Some of the special effects don't hold up particularly well, but a lot of them still do which is a credit to the special effects department. The acting is campy enough to match the tone of the film, and not to over the top that it becomes distracting, and the commentary within the film is put across in a fun and entertaining way while also being clear about what it wants to say. Basically, I had a really good time watching this film and if that isn't the film doing its job right then I don't know what is. It is an obvious recommendation from me. I think even if you are not a huge fan of action films this one is just enough fun that you can't really dislike it that much. It is on Netflix (the UK version, I am not sure about overseas) and so if you have an account get watching it. It will be an hour and forty minutes you will not regret.