Robocop (1987)
Year: 1987
Country: USA
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Criterion Spine Number: 23
Reviewed: June 2014
Country: USA
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Criterion Spine Number: 23
Reviewed: June 2014
There’s a certain prejudice against genre in any medium. Anything that features familiar trappings is thought to be inferior to that of more serious ventures. As with all prejudices, this is a huge generalisation which numerous films prove wrong. I, despite being a person who uses genre heavily in my own work (as a struggling novelist), am ashamed to say, that this belief was something I too have become part of. I was mildly shocked the first time I saw that RoboCop was part of the Criterion collection (a series of well-known, influential and well-regarded classics of the cinematic form), surely such a film was not ‘literate’ in the way that other works in the Criterion were. Unsurprisingly, RoboCop proved me very wrong. It uses science fiction as a lens to examine the nature of
policing, the progression of technology and greed in a corporate world, making it a particularly thought-provoking, if somewhat gory, experience. The violence is extreme, but this is part of the film’s message about the degeneration of society. It was an incredibly entertaining film, satirising much of 80s thoughts around money over people, particularly in the news feeds, which provide a fascinating glance at the wider society that RoboCop is part of. The film is also incredibly well-directed, with a highpoint coming early on with a stunning scene taken completely from RoboCop’s point of view. There’s one shot which is particularly fascinating where a scientist turns the camera, suggesting a new view of the world. It’s a clever example of the visuals being used to convey theme and adds so much to the story. It’s dark and gritty and violent but also subversive in the way that it offers a critique of the society in which it was made. Incredibly entertaining, it’s films like this that reveal how narrow-minded and blurry the division between genre and ‘literate’ films is.
policing, the progression of technology and greed in a corporate world, making it a particularly thought-provoking, if somewhat gory, experience. The violence is extreme, but this is part of the film’s message about the degeneration of society. It was an incredibly entertaining film, satirising much of 80s thoughts around money over people, particularly in the news feeds, which provide a fascinating glance at the wider society that RoboCop is part of. The film is also incredibly well-directed, with a highpoint coming early on with a stunning scene taken completely from RoboCop’s point of view. There’s one shot which is particularly fascinating where a scientist turns the camera, suggesting a new view of the world. It’s a clever example of the visuals being used to convey theme and adds so much to the story. It’s dark and gritty and violent but also subversive in the way that it offers a critique of the society in which it was made. Incredibly entertaining, it’s films like this that reveal how narrow-minded and blurry the division between genre and ‘literate’ films is.
Best Scene: Robocop's POV
Overall Verdict: 9
Overall Verdict: 9