While it is fair to compare it to the 1987 original, each of them is able to stand on their own because they have different angles and way of approaching the core concepts. The story has stayed basically the same. Alex Murphy is a cop who is nearly killed, but is brought back as a human/cyborg hybrid. Whereas the original dealt with issues of corporate corruption in an over-the-top satirical way, this "remix" (as I'll call it) raises more philosophical and ethical questions than it does at trying to shock the viewer with graphic violence. Granted, there is violence, but it's mostly clean and tactical. Director Jose Padilha, famous in his native Brazil for ELITE SQUAD and its sequel, has dealt with issues like urban warfare before and he brings that sensibility to this film as well. This particular approach lends a sort-of authenticity and realism to what was presented in a cartoonish (but still sophisticated) fashion in the original. Each of them have their strengths, and the advantage that this one has over the previous installments is this heightened reality which has become the fashion with today's action pictures, post-DARK KNIGHT. There are also vastly improved special effects. Still, the narrative has issues and these include a protracted third act which over-complicates things by trying to use misdirection as to who the real villains are. In the original, there is no question as to who the "bad guys" are intended to be. And while having things in black and white isn't necessarily a good thing, the way in which they reveal things through twists isn't handled as good as it could have been. Still, I got almost as much as enjoyment out of this new version as I did the old one, just for different reasons. Another area that definitely improved was the caliber of acting involved. Joel Kinnaman is serviceable as the title character, but it's Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton who stand out from the rest, as a scientist and the CEO of Omnicorp, respectively. Overall, I think this was a decent movie, and somewhat unfairly maligned by people who desperately cling to the past. Even if you hold the Verhoeven original close to your heart, it wouldn't hurt to give this a shot. And just as a side, there are nods to the original peppered throughout.
Review of RoboCop
