RoboCop

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Movie
German title RoboCop
Original title RoboCop
Robocop-logo.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1987
length 102 or 103 (unrated Director's Cut ) minutes
Age rating FSK 18/16
Rod
Director Paul Verhoeven
script Michael Miner
Edward Neumeier
production Jon Davison
Stephen Lim
music Basil Poledouris
camera Jost Vacano
Sol Negrin
cut Frank J. Urioste
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
RoboCop 2

RoboCop is an American science fiction film from 1987. The police officer Alex Murphy is brutally murdered during an operation and comes to life in the body of a robot. As a practically indestructible "RoboCop", he performs the police service before he discovers his former identity and searches for his murderer. The victory over his tormentor also exposes corruption within the corporation that built RoboCop.

The dystopia is the first work as a director Paul Verhoeven in the US. The depictions of violence met with resistance from the censorship authorities. After the success of the production at the box office, two sequels were made, as well as two cartoon series (1988/1998), a television series (1994) and a mini-series.

The film opened in German cinemas on January 7, 1988. José Padilha's remake RoboCop was released in February 2014 .

action

In Detroit in the near future, the police have been privatized and, like the entire city, are controlled by the powerful OCP (Omni Consumer Products). In order to be able to act efficiently against criminals during the planned redevelopment of the city (project name: "Delta City"), OCP is developing the ED-209 police robot under the leadership of Richard "Dick" Jones. When it is presented, however, a fatal malfunction occurs, whereupon the concept of the ambitious Robert Morton is preferred: a cyborg police officer is supposed to combine the advantages of man and technology.

When police officer Alex J. Murphy is tortured to death during an operation by Clarence Boddicker, the sadistic leader of a group of criminals, and resuscitation measures fail, Morton seizes his corpse to make a prototype of his program. Murphy's brain, face and other parts of his body are built into a robot. Without conscious memories of his past, without personality and with a "computer-aided memory", Murphy awakens to new life as a machine man. This so-called “RoboCop” soon established itself as a practically invincible and popular universal weapon against the city's criminals.

Only Murphy's former colleague Anne Lewis is skeptical and recognizes in the impersonal police robot the colleague who was killed in front of her eyes. In RoboCop itself, memory fragments are stimulated from his previous life. He begins to research his identity and eventually tracks down Murphy's murderer. During his brutal arrest, Boddicker reveals his connection to Richard Jones, and in fact Boddicker is soon released again with his help. RoboCop seeks out Richard Jones to arrest him. However, it turns out that in addition to the three directives as law enforcement officers (1. Serve the common good, 2. Protect the innocent, 3. Uphold the law), RoboCop has secretly programmed another directive (4. Do not oppose a board member of OCP ) so that he is powerless against Jones. He uses his combat robot ED-209 on Robocop, whereupon it has to flee with the help of Lewis. Meanwhile, Boddicker is hired by Jones to eliminate RoboCop for good.

In an abandoned steel factory where Murphy / RoboCop is hiding, a dramatic showdown takes place in which Boddicker and his gang try to take out RoboCop with heavy military weapons. RoboCop can only defeat the criminals who are all killed with great difficulty and with the help of Lewis. He then drives to OCP and is able to prove the murder of Morton by Boddicker, commissioned by Jones. Jones takes the company boss hostage and protective shield. In order to circumvent Directive 4, the company boss pronounces Jones' dismissal. RoboCop can then shoot Jones unhindered. The boss thanks him and asks RoboCop for his name, to which he replies with "Murphy".

Production history

Script and preproduction

The concept for RoboCop was created by merging two concepts that Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner developed separately: Neumeier, dissatisfied with his work at Universal Pictures , was working on a script about a police officer robot, while the screenwriter Miner thought of a police officer, which is connected to machines after an accident and thus develops superpowers. Orion Pictures , who had had a huge hit with Terminator , bought the fabric immediately. Only the search for a director turned out to be difficult: everyone who was approached by the producer Jon Davison refused to realize RoboCop . “Everyone struck at the title, which was admittedly silly.” Dutch director Paul Verhoeven , who had just shot Flesh and Blood for Orion, also turned down the project. According to his own statement, he immediately threw it in the trash after reading the title. Only when his wife found it in the garbage can, read it and made him aware of the complexity of the script, did he change his mind. The excessive violence scenes are said to have irritated the director, who was known for his portrayals of violence. Verhoeven had turned his back on the Netherlands at this point after it became difficult to promote his films under the new left government. Although he had no affinity for the science fiction genre, he took the chance to make his first film in the USA.

After an intensive search for a suitable leading actor who had to be slim enough to fit into the tight costume of the robot, the choice fell on Peter Weller. He had attracted attention in the film Buckaroo Banzai and was also suitable for the physically demanding role because of his martial arts training. Verhoeven liked to cast actors against their established role type. Ronny Cox , who was mostly seen as a family man, took on the role of the unscrupulous Vice President Richard Jones. Nancy Allen , who was mostly cast as a superficial teenager, plays the hardened colleague Murphys in RoboCop .

Rob Bottin created the design of the RoboCop, which went through many design phases. His favorite design, which was closely based on the human machine from Fritz Lang's Metropolis , met with resistance: Verhoeven wanted a more progressive design. Ultimately, Bottin's design prevailed as the best solution, but as a result of the dispute, Bottin refused to have any direct contact with Verhoeven for the duration of the production.

Filming

The film's budget was relatively low at around $ 10 million. The shooting took place from August to October 1986 mainly in Dallas . Detroit, the location of the film, didn't seem futuristic enough to the team. The abandoned factory site where police officer Murphy chases the criminals at the beginning of the film and where the final battle takes place was in Pittsburgh . Studio recordings were largely avoided. Instead, the production team used some empty office buildings in Dallas. The only exceptions were the sets from Dick Jones' office and the company toilet, which were set up on a studio site in Dallas. The film was shot on 35 mm, with the exception of the television sequences: video cameras were used for the news and satirical commercials that are woven into the film plot.

Many ideas and texts were created during the shooting. Ed Neumeier said that he was inspired, among other things, by the props supplied. Dialogues that he captured on the nearest typewriter were filmed that same day. Murphy's resuscitation sequence, filmed in a Dallas hospital, did not require a script: all actors except Peter Wellers were part of the hospital staff, who re-enacted their work processes in front of the cameras. In other scenes, the actors, especially Kurtwood Smith, contributed their own lines of text through improvisation, which were taken over. The idea of ​​dropping scrap steel from a crane onto RoboCop at the end of the film was also not in the script and was developed from the location.

The delays in the design of the RoboCop costume meant that it didn't reach the set until the first scheduled day of shooting. It consisted of a plastic armor made of treated latex and weighed about 15 kilograms. Only the mask was made of metal. The first fitting took 11 hours. Peter Weller was frustrated to find that he could not move as he had practiced. Despite the time pressure, the production team had to interrupt work for a few days so that Weller could develop and rehearse RoboCop's body language with a trainer. The shooting remained grueling and exhausting: Peter Weller sweated several liters a day in the costume, and the rest of the team also suffered from the seasonal heat. The shooting schedule was delayed, the pressure from the production company increased, and on the set, according to the stories of those involved, an aggressive, nervous mood spread. According to Verhoeven, the realization of the key scene showing Murphy's murder was postponed far back: So the studio had no choice but to extend the shooting time. The film's spent budget ended up being $ 13.1 million. Producer Davison summed up the exhausting filming time for everyone involved: “After filming you felt like the victim of a violent crime. [...] I swore I would never make a film again. "

Special effects

The lower part of the office building of the OCP headquarters consists of the Dallas City Hall. Only the upper part was replaced by a drawing by Rocco Gioffre using the matte painting process .

ED-209, designed by Craig Hayes as a crude counterpart to RoboCop , was built in two sizes: A full-size prop was used when filming with the actors, but could not be moved. For the trick shots, a mobile model about 20 cm in size was made. Phil Tippett animated the model with the stop-motion process. Because for costly Blue Screen -Kameraarbeit lacked the money, while filming were projected with the actors on a small screen behind the ED-209 model in frames to trick to combine with movie recording. To make the ED-209 fall down a flight of stairs, the staircase was replicated to scale.

The RoboCops service weapon used in the film is a heavily modified Beretta 93R , a fully automatic version of the Beretta 92 .

post processing

Basil Poledouris was already involved as a composer for Verhoevens Flesh and Blood . For RoboCop he developed the “RoboCop March” as the theme for the main character. In his compositions he differentiated between the RoboCop machine and the human Murphy and accordingly resorted to synthesizers and orchestras .

The censorship authorities clashed with Verhoeven's excessive, sometimes deliberately exaggerated, depiction of violence; Scenes like Murphy's execution by Boddicker or when the ED-209 shoots an employee to pieces after a malfunction had to be cut. In the director's opinion, the grotesque exaggeration of violence disappeared, destroying punch lines and increasing the effect of brutality.

Awards (selection)

The film was nominated for an Oscar in 1988 in the categories of Best Editing and Best Visual Effects . Stephen Hunter Flick and John Pospisil also received a Special Achievement Award for sound editing.

In 1988, the film received a Saturn Award in each of the categories of Best Science Fiction Film , Best Director , Best Make-up , Best Screenplay and Best Special Effects .

Composer Basil Poledouris also received the BMI Film Music Award in 1988 .

Reviews

"Optically excellently designed thriller, which places the ' Frankenstein ' and ' Mabuse ' themes entirely at the service of a pleasurably exhausted representation of violence and brutality."

- Lexicon of international film

“Paul Verhoeven's view of the future is damn uncomfortable. Non-stop action, innovative special effects and sheer violence: a nightmare that became a genre classic, resulted in a number of lousy sequels, games and series - and was unfortunately brutally cut. Conclusion: Great action, great effects, clever story. "

- Cinema

“'RoboCop' is first and foremost a brilliantly entertaining mix of action, deep black humor and caustic satire. But it is also a vision of the future that has developed terrifying parallels to reality. And in the cyborg RoboCop alias Alex Murphy [...] he has a tragic hero who has much more depth than most of the other action heroes of the 80s combined. "

- movie starts

Topics and film analysis

RoboCop works thematically on several levels: While the film runs on the surface as a straightforward action / science fiction story, on closer inspection it can also be seen as a satirical examination of the socio-economic conditions and the media landscape of the time it was made - the United States of America 1980s - and as dystopia - as a blueprint for a future that must be prevented.

The topics of reflection on the present and criticism of the future are dealt with primarily in a series of insertions: The film action is interrupted by short messages and commercials that are largely disconnected from it, in which the world is presented in which RoboCop is located. In the comments on the 2007 anniversary edition, Verhoeven emphasized that in these sequences he had tried to process his impressions of American television, the style and aesthetics of which, as a European who recently emigrated to the USA, were completely unfamiliar and confusing for him at the time.

With critical undertones, economic and social developments in the United States of the 1980s are shifted into the future and taken to extremes in a satirical way: This is how the tendency towards the ever-advancing privatization of tasks previously carried out by the state, which the government of Ronald, is becoming Reagan was programmatically forced at the time RoboCop was created and increased even further in Verhoeven's future scenario, in that the city of Detroit is practically completely controlled by the multinational OCP: OCP produces everything from breakfast cereals to war equipment; the corporation controls the media, dictates politics to the Detroit mayor and even “buys” the police from the insolvent city, which means that as a private organization it has actually advanced to become a sovereign. With this view of the extreme power of business corporations, topics such as globalization , mergers and monopoly are touched upon, which only came into the focus of a wider public in the late 1990s.

The parallels between the story arc of RoboCop and the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament have also been pointed out frequently. The shooting of the policeman Murphy is accordingly staged as a crucifixion-like martyrdom , which is immediately followed by the "resurrection" as a superhuman (machine) being. In addition, the film is interspersed with numerous small allusions to the story of Jesus: The discovery of Murphy's corpse by his partner, who holds him dead in her arms, is a visual reference to the Mater Dolorosa of Christian art. After his resurrection as a man-machine, Murphy alias RoboCop walks through the criminal Moloch Detroit as if in a lost paradise, a cinematic processing of the biblical theme. In the final fight with Boddicker, he tries to impale RoboCop with a metal pipe, similar to the holy lance that the Roman legionnaire Longinus pushed into the body of the dead Jesus. And in the same scene, when RoboCop walks through a shallow puddle, it appears as if he could walk over water.

Finally, it is noteworthy that RoboCop lacks the optimism of the future of most SciFi productions of the 1980s and, with its sarcastic portrayal of the future, strikes a rather critical tone. For example, the futuristic missile defense project Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) , which was run by the US government at the time and supported by broad sections of the American public in the belief in the progress and security of technology, is being "torn to pieces" in a news clip in which the satellite-based ones SDI laser systems go off on their own, killing several former US presidents.

RoboCop and violence

Like many directorial works by Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop is characterized by an explicit and extreme depiction of violence. In order to be allowed to be shown in American cinemas with a youth release, it had to be cut eleven times. The original Director's Cut was first released on Laserdisc ; This differs from the theatrical version, especially in the failed presentation of ED-209 (the victim is riddled with bullets for several seconds) and in the execution of Murphy (hand and later the arm are shot with a shotgun). This uncut version is now also available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc . Their indexing in Germany was lifted early in December 2013 and released uncut from the age of 18 after a re-examination of the FSK.

When asked about the accusation of unnecessary cruelty and violence in his imagery in RoboCop, Verhoeven justified this by saying that it was not an end in itself, but had an actual dramaturgical function: For example, the scene served Murphy's murder by the Boddicker gang, which was due to the sadistic brutality , with which the deed is carried out and shown on-screen, was a particularly frequent point of criticism in order to create an emotional bond between the audience and Murphy / RoboCop. Since viewers only knew the character for a few minutes at the time of his murder and would hardly know anything about him, Verhoeven was faced with the problem of finding a way to compensate for this and otherwise establish strong audience sympathies for him: The bestiality of The murder scene made the audience inevitably place themselves behind Murphy and his vengeance campaign.

In the sequels, the level of violence decreased more and more. The animated series published in 1988 and the real series (FSK 12) from 1994 showed hardly any violence. It was not until the TV miniseries that the level of violence was increased again without reaching the level in Verhoeven's film.

Successor works

movie theater

Two sequels were made for the cinema. RoboCop 2 , shot in 1990, was directed by Irvin Kershner , with Peter Weller and Nancy Allen again starring.

Three years later, RoboCop 3 was the second sequel. The direction was taken over by Fred Dekker , who wrote the script together with Frank Miller . This time the American Robert John Burke took on the role of Robocop . Nancy Allen was only seen in a minor supporting role.

watch TV

Several projects were created for television in connection with RoboCop.

In 1988, an animated series was broadcast under the title RoboCop . From 1998 to 1999, RoboCop: Alpha Commando started a second series of this kind.

In 1994, the pilot film RoboCop 4 Law and Order and the associated television series RoboCop were produced in Canada , which comprised 21 episodes. In terms of content, it is located about two years after the first RoboCop movie.

In 2000, a four-part mini-series was created for television under the title RoboCop: Prime Directives , which includes the following films:

  • RoboCop - Prime Directives 1: Dark Justice
  • RoboCop - Prime Directives 2: Meltdown
  • RoboCop - Prime Directives 3: Resurrection
  • RoboCop - Prime Directives 4: Crash & Burn

Page Fletcher took on the role of the eponymous hero.

New start of the film series

Director Darren Aronofsky was commissioned by MGM and Phoenix Pictures in 2008 to make a new RoboCop film that will serve as the starting point for another series of films. On January 5, 2010, the website "Moviehole" reported that the remake planned for 2011 has been stopped for the time being. After the immense success of James Cameron's film Avatar , MGM decided to shoot the new RoboCop film in 3D. However, due to MGM's financial situation and the disagreement with Aronofsky, the project was initially on hold.

On February 18, 2011, MGM announced that it still had plans for a RoboCop remake. On March 2, 2011 it was announced that the Brazilian director José Padilha would be involved instead of Darren Aronofsky , especially due to his success with Tropa de Elite and its sequel.

In 2012, MGM announced that the screenplay would be written by Gran Torino screenwriter Nick Schenk. José Padilha takes over the direction . Recently Michael Fassbender, Russell Crowe and Chris Pine were in conversation. After everyone canceled, the Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman is supposed to take over the role. Gary Oldman was hired to play the role of Dr. To take over Norton; the scientist who creates RoboCop. Samuel L. Jackson is supposed to play a powerful television mogul by the name of Pat Novak and Hugh Laurie was supposed to be hired for the role of the villain, but left the project again. His role was taken over by Michael Keaton . MGM released the remake under the name RoboCop in February 2014.

Another continuation of the film series

On July 11th, 2018 it was announced that Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner had written a script for a direct sequel to the original film, which will go into production under the title RoboCop Returns . Neill Blomkamp , director of District 9 and Elysium , will direct. The film sees itself as a direct continuation of the first part from 1987 and will ignore all previous successors in terms of content.

Computer games

There was also a computer game of the same name for the Commodore 64 and CPC6128 , as well as a pinball machine from Data East based on this film, and RoboCop I to III from Ocean Software for the Amiga , PC and Atari ST . In addition, another game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox , which was released in Japan in mid-2003 and in Europe at the end of 2003, as well as a version for the PC. RoboCop also appeared in several parts as a video game for consoles and handhelds from Nintendo and Sega .

Another game called RoboCop vs. Terminator , based on a four-part comic series, combines the scenarios of RoboCop and Terminator . This game was released for Super Nintendo , Game Boy , Sega Master System , Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Approval certificate for RoboCop . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, January 2014 (PDF; Robocop - long version).
  2. ↑ Approval certificate for RoboCop . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, September 2004 (PDF; Robocop - abridged version).
  3. ^ Jon Davison in: Flesh & Steel: The Making of RoboCop. about 0:04:40.
  4. ↑ "The SciFiStory", broadcast July 30, 2015
  5. ↑ a b c d See the documentation Flesh & Steel: The Making of RoboCop .
  6. ↑ a b c The precision mechanics of the steel cop. In: Secret. Cinema-Filmbuch, Kino Verlag, 1990, p. 81.
  7. ↑ See audio commentary on the film's special edition DVD, MGM Home Entertainment 2002.
  8. ↑ The Precision Mechanics of the Steel Cop. In: Secret. Cinema-Filmbuch, Kino Verlag, 1990, p. 79.
  9. ^ Jon Davison in: Flesh & Steel: The Making of RoboCop. about 0:18:30.
  10. ↑ RoboCop. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  11. ^ RoboCop in Cinema
  12. ↑ RoboCop in Movie Starts
  13. ↑ Paul Verhoeven - Master of Provocation ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Documentary by Elisabeth van Zijll Langhout, 2016, 55 min. (Interpretation by the director from minute 30:18). Produced by Kuiv Productions (Paris), in collaboration with arte France @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  14. ↑ Paul Verhoeven - Master of Provocation ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Documentary by Elisabeth van Zijll Langhout, 2016, 55 min. (Interpretation from minute 30:34). Produced by Kuiv Productions (Paris), in collaboration with arte France @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  15. ↑ Marko Kregel: Jost Vacano, the camera as the eye of the viewer. 2005, p. 115.
  16. ↑ Steven Best: Robocop - In the Ditritus of Hi-Technology. In: Jump Cut. No. 34, March 1989, pp. 19-26; Steven Best: Robocop. The Recuperation of the Subject. In: Canadian Journal of Political and Social Philosophy. No. 13, 1989, pp. 44-54; David Denby : The Soul of a New Machine. In: New York Magazine. July 27, 1987, pp. 58 and 64; Comments on the DVD re-release for the 20th anniversary of the film.
  17. ↑ Report on "RoboCop"
  18. ↑ Darren Aronofsky about the "RoboCop" reboot http://www.fictionbox.de/index.php/content/view/7003/2/
  19. ↑ IMDB page for the "RoboCop" reboot http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234721/
  20. ↑ Robocop Frozen ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Moviehole, January 5, 2010, accessed March 26, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.moviehole.net
  21. ↑ MGM Remaking Poltergeist, Mr. Mom, Robocop , IMDB, February 18, 2011, accessed April 3, 2011
  22. ↑ Jose Padilha in Talks to Direct Robocop Remake , IMDB, March 2, 2011, accessed April 3, 2011
  23. ↑ New Writer Takes Aim at RoboCop Remake , Dread Central, February 1, 2012
  24. ↑ Michael Fassbender talks RoboCop | TotalFilm.com , TotalFilm, February 1, 2012
  25. ^ Hugh Laurie signs on for juicy 'Robocop' role
  26. ↑ Michael Keaton cast as "RoboCop" CEO in remake
  27. ↑ Markus Haage: Neill Blomkamp is shooting a new RoboCop film! Direct continuation of the first part! In: Neon-Zombie.net. Markus Haage Medien, July 11, 2018, accessed on July 12, 2018 .