Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: a sci-fi classic revisited with some success.
In 1988, Paul Verhoeven caused a sensation with Robocop, a little SF marvel telling the story of an infallible weapon. This weapon is an electronic police officer of flesh and steel, half-man, half-robot, whose mission is to safeguard the tranquility of the city of Detroit, prey to crime and corruption. A cyborg who also has a soul…
About a quarter of a century later, José Padilha (Tropa de Elite, the Narcos series) takes up the challenge of making a remake of this classic. His 2014 version of Robocop, which sees Joel Kinnaman succeed Peter Weller in the role of the famous cop, is not free of flaws but proves to be completely honest as it is difficult to move on from such a prestigious film.
José Padilha was clear about the direction taken for his Robocop: it completely moves away from that of Paul Verhoeven, renowned for his reflection on the paranoid security of a country and its visual ultra-violence.
In his version, the Brazilian filmmaker questions the way in which a human being must try to remain himself, faced with his new condition as a machine.
“Making this film is a big responsibility. Especially in a world where there are many remakes made for cynical economic reasons”declares Joel Kinnaman, the interpreter of the cyborg-cop. “But having José Padilha as director removed those fears.”
“The biggest tribute we can pay to Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop is to recognize that it’s a very intelligent film, and to try to do something intelligent behind it, not just reproduce old formulas”continues the actor.
“So we kept a couple of things from the original as a wink for the fans, but we tried not to do a remake.”
If you’re a fan of Robocop’s eighties design, forget it! The 2014 look of the half-man, half-robot cop is indeed significantly different. Exit the silver armor and make way here for a darker costume, which is reminiscent of that of Christopher Nolan’s Batman.
Tonight on 6ter at 9:05 p.m.
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