Anghus Houvouras comes to the defense of the new look RoboCop…
The Internet is a funny place. Because people claim it’s a place where people can go online and talk about things they like. In reality, it’s a place where people converge to scream bloody murder like neglected children over the most useless of topics.
The rebooted RoboCop has been getting a lot of press lately. First there was Drew McWeeny from Hitfix who tweeted a series of opinions after reading the script. The one line that gained traction was a snarky little shot:
“Oh dear God… RoboCop is a Transformer”
And the Internet was set ablaze with angry fans who ranted and raged that Hollywood was going to ruin another classic franchise. Then on Friday some behind-the-scenes set pics showed up online revealing the new costume which looked like the bastard child of Iron Man and Christopher Nolan’s Batman. Once again the Internet declared a flame war on new RoboCop and the angry masses have been declaring the movie to be an unmitigated disaster based on the tweeted opinions of one entertainment writer and two screenshots.
I realize that asking for perspective on the Internet is like requesting table manners from a pack of zombies, however I do believe we need to take a moment and do a little soul searching.
First off, it’s RoboCop. It’s not like we’re talking about a property that has been treated with dignity. The first RoboCop is a fantastically fun piece of cinema. I was a huge fan when I was a kid. I remember having to buy tickets to the PG-13 Dirty Dancing so that I could sneak into the R-rated RoboCop. It was action packed, violent as hell, and had subversive layers that I didn’t even understand until subsequent viewings years later. I spent the rest of that year screaming “I LIKE IT!” anytime the opportunity presented itself.
Then we got a half assed sequel with RoboCop 2. And the third RoboCop film is so God-awful that I don’t think I could even accuse it of having half an ass. Then there was the completely terrible RoboCop TV series in the mid-1990s. And of course how could I forget the kid friendly RoboCop animated series. In Asia, he was even used to sell fried chicken:
My point is this. RoboCop has been as molested as any geek franchise in the history of entertainment. So why is everyone so surprised? Where is this shock and indignation coming from. You have a character with one good movie and a decade of poorly produced products trying to wring every last dollar from the concept. And now, a decade later you’re flipping out because they’re trying to reboot the property and are distancing themselves from the original and doing something different with the character?
This is the atypical reaction from the lunatic fringe. That loud, post happy group of so-called ‘fans’ who are willing to declare everything to be a complete disaster from the moment they see
something that doesn’t fall in line with their expectations of the property. You know, the fanboys. They do it all the time, and they have a pretty miserable track record.
Last year when the first Dredd images hit the web the whining started almost immediately. Here’s some gems from fan forums:
“The suit “in action” just looks ridiculous.”
“The more I look at it, the weirder the helmet looks.”
“He looks like a cosplaying kid with a helmet too big for his head.”
“The characters in the pictures look ridiculous.”
Now, a year later, you have fantastic reviews and what could potentially be one of the coolest geek films released in 2012.
When the first set pics of The Dark Knight came out revealing Heath Ledger as The Joker, the comments were equally negative.
“He looks like he belongs in The Crow… not Batman.”
“That’s for the “Joker” character? I thought that was for the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert sequel.”
“Some people had speculated that Nolan’s Joker would be darker, with less colorful hair and make-up. But so far, that appears to be untrue. Too bad, I was actually hoping for a darker look.” (actual quote from a SlashFilm article).
To a degree, I get it. First impressions are important. And in this online age pictures get leaked and people are going to talk. The thing is, so many of these websites haven’t learned anything. You can’t judge a film from a couple of behind the scene pics. Maybe the new RoboCop is going to be atrocious. Maybe the new outfit is going to look idiotic. We won’t know until we see the finished product. So many film sites seem almost pathetically desperate to see themselves as the taste-makers. When a singular image is released they jump on it and declare their incredulity. I’ll judge the finished RoboCop when it’s released next year.
And for me, as a fan of the original RoboCop film, I hope they do something completely different. I’ve already seen Paul Verhoven’s RoboCop. I don’t need to see Jose Padilha’s version of Paul Verhoven’s RoboCop. I want to see Padilha’s version. Deviate from the formula. Take the basic ideas and do something completely different with them. I’m not the biggest fan of reboots, re-imaginings, or retreads, but if they’re going to happen lets hope that they fall into the hands of someone willing to flip the script. I don’t need a fresh coat of polish on an old idea. And I don’t need every film site online trying to decide the success of a movie based on two set pics and a half dozen tweets.
Anghus Houvouras
Originally published September 16, 2012. Updated December 6, 2019.
