Robocop Turns P.C.
I am a big fan of the original "Robocop" as whilst violent it was also witty with a comical aspect which made it great. Now director Irvin Kershner who replaces Paul Verhoeven tries to recapture the same spirit of the first movie with the same darkly funny adverts and the mix which one minute gives us bloody violence and the next something comical but something about the sequel isn't quite right. Don't get me wrong because as a bit of comical action "Robocop 2" still works but it doesn't quite compare to the original.
With the Detroit police out on strike over OCP cutting their pay and pensions things are bad as the place is in bedlam with even criminal robbing criminal. Matters are not helped by gang leader Cain (Tom Noonan) who along with his girlfriend Angie (Galyn Görg) and violent teenager Hob (Gabriel Damon) are behind a new drug called Nuke sweeping the streets. Meanwhile OCP with an eye on take over Detroit when the city fails to pay its debts are looking to develop Robocop 2 but with little success as every cyborg they create ends up suicidal. That is when Dr. Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer) comes up with a plan to use Cain as the body inside Robocop 2 a dangerous proposition.
The trouble with "Robocop 2" is that it ends up all over the place. The opening manages to capture the dark humour of the original as we have a violent infomercial featuring a car jacker coming a cropper to a cruel security system and then we see Detroit in bedlam as robbers get robbed by other robbers. But this whole intro whilst setting up the drug Nuke causing mass addiction it then seems to fill some time with Robocop stalking Ellen Murphy and a lawsuit being brought against OCP for his behaviour. It seems to be going down the route of whether Robocop is human or not but then switches track. And it keeps on doing this through out the entire movie setting up a story element and then switching track and not always returning to finish a storyline off.
It makes "Robocop 2" seem ambitious as it sets up several story ideas but incomplete because it doesn't follow them all through. Despite this it still manages to recapture much of the spirit of the original movie with that dark mix of wit and violence. Although again some of these elements don't work this time around feeling like it has included some ideas because they are expected but not up to the humorous standard of the first movie such as a misfiring OCP advert for communications where a harassed man commits suicide because he chose the wrong answer machine, it just fails.
But the worst thing about "Robocop 2" is that because it tries to do so much none of the characters establish themselves. Peter Weller hardly makes any impact this time around neither does Nancy Allen who returns as Lewis. As for Tom Noonan as the evil Cain, well unfortunately he doesn't come across as large than life which is what this movie needs in a bad guy.
What this all boils down to is that "Robocop 2" is still an entertaining mix of action and comedy but feels like its trying to do too much.
