SUPER 8 FILM REVIEW

The following review was printed in the July 1992 edition of Super 8 Film Review.

ROBOCOP 4x600ft 102 minutes colour sound Distributed by Derann

The USA in the not too distant future: the police force is privatised and the precincts of Old Detroit are controlled by a giant conglomerate, Omni Consumer Products. OCP have developed Ed 209 a computerized law-enforcement robotic machine. Its first demonstration culminates in the death of a board member and leads to the Robocop project.

When young patrolman Murphy is brutally shot down at point-blank range by the Clarence Boddicker gang his surviving organs are integrated with microchips and computerized body armour to produce the ultimate law enforcement officer - Robocop. Along the way however, Robocop regains snatches of memory of his brutal killing and when those involved cross his path in the pursuance of his duty, then more than just bullets fly.

Not at first sight a film that would interest this reviewer, in fact, Paul Foster at Derann expressed some surprise when I said I would be buying this review copy: "Bit violent for you isn't it Keith?" Well, maybe. My wife really enjoys it, so do several of my friends so .... here we are! It was, along with 'Predator', something of a hit at the 23rd BFCC where it looked (and sounded!) particularly good. Robocop's encounter with the revamped Ed 209 machine (looking every bit like a refugee from a Ray Harryhausen movie) is spectacular as is the gunning down of Robocop himself by his own police force after instructions by the head of OCP, one slimy Dick Jones!

Robocop is set in an unsympathetic cruel world and Murphy's death is particularly savage. Robocop fights vilence with violence but, as in one sequence when he is about to kill a nasty bit of work, his microchip memory reminds him that he is a cop, so he arrests rather than kills in this particular case. Another OCP directive, the 4th, prevents him from harming any OCP executive; unfortunate as the crook behind Boddicker's gang is the company head, Jones. How Robocop deals with him is cleverly done.

I remarked in the review of the trailer (last issue) that the window replacement business was the one to be in where Robocop is concerned and that opinion is confirmed by seeing the feature! Prospective purchasers should be aware not only of the violence but an excess of four letter words too that might offend those that only get to see dubbed, or cut TV versions. An excellent print with good sound means that nothing is missed! If you're looking for a sort of updated 'High Noon' grafted onto a mixture of science-fiction orientated 'Death Wish' meets 'The Terminator' then go for it! Robocop fans should need no urging. Super special effects.

Print A Sound A Keith Wilton