RoboCop: Why Fans Still Call The 1987 Movie “A Masterpiece of Sci-Fi Cinema”
Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop is way smarter than what people think. Many call it a masterpiece of Sci-Fi cinema because its explosive action and social commentary still hold up today. The premise of the 1987 released film revolves around a robotic police officer who thrives to clean a futuristic Detroit. While this film by Paul Verhoeven looks more like a mindless action movie from the 80s that’d vanish into bins, it actually showed up as a lot smarter than what the audience thought. Well, thanks to its satirical theme.
With that being said, not every RoboCop film could be great. However, these are the top 5 reasons that made the 1987’s RoboCop a masterpiece of sci-fi cinema –
Peter Weller’s Performance
Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop would have become shallow if it was not backed up by Peter Weller’s spectacular performance as the titular character. He played a good cop who apparently got killed while being on duty and soon, resurrected as a cyborg. With that being said, the actor nailed his part by playing a complicated antihero. While in the beginning, he was portraying a likable character, Murphy, later he got to portray the emotionless killing machine, RoboCop.
The Impeccable Action
RoboCop wasn’t the same as a regular cop after all. When he catches a baddie, he doesn’t cuff them up or tackle them normally. Instead, RoboCop kills them in the most theatrically and extravagantly possible. Some scenes were so breathtaking that they remained memorable for decades. For example – after handling a gas station robbery, RoboCop put an end to the scene by blowing up the entire station.
The Perfectly Aligned Humor
Most of Paul Verhoeven’s films are filled with some great sense of humor. RoboCop was not any different in this regard. The tongue-in-check and offbeat humor deliberately contrasted the graphic violence. With that being said, Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop depicted some of the greatest blood-soaked slapstick scenes ever. After all, it was Kurtwood Smith who really hammed up the role of Clarence Boddicker, a sadistic crime lord.
The Fast-Paced Story
To make an action film turn into a massive success, the makers have to make its story fast-paced. In this regard, Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop has kept jumping from one action sequence to another and ran across all the plot points. Precisely, RoboCop has kept moving at a breakneck pace, and perhaps that is why the story never bored anyone. In fact, within the few minutes of the film’s beginning, viewers saw Murphy getting murdered by the local gangsters and turning into a cyborg.
The OTT Violence
The foundation of Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop is all about offering the police significant power to deal with the bad people around the street and city. With that being said, the titular character is an unstoppable killing machine who received free rein by the state’s police department. As a result, he was offered the power to kill anybody he found committing a crime. Thus, the film included violence that was perhaps over-the-top and sometimes beyond as well.
