I’m very excited to see next year’s reboot of RoboCop. At first, Jose Padilha’s remake sounded like an unquestionably terrible idea (remember 2012’s relentlessly bland Total Recall retread?), but early promotional material for the sci-fi actioner has done a great job of highlighting the human side of cyborg Alex Murphy (played by Joel Kinnaman this time around) without skimping on the gritty action sequences.
A new batch of photos from RoboCop (which you can check out at the bottom of this article) show off Murphy’s sleek new suit while also turning the spotlight on a promising cast of supporting actors.
In addition to Kinnaman, RoboCop stars Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Jackie Earle Haley, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish. Out of the latest crop of images, only Jackson is AWOL.
My personal favorite from the photos would have to be the homecoming shot of Kinnaman and Cornish. A bright, peppy ‘Welcome home, Dad!’ banner looms in the background as an uncomfortable moment between the two characters unfolds. The devastation that the RoboCop armor wreaks on Murphy’s home life will be front-and-center in the remake, and Kinnaman (so compelling on AMC’s The Killing) is likely to bring sizable dramatic pathos to his role. A thoughtful sci-fi action thriller is a rare thing indeed, but RoboCop looks like it has a lot more on its mind than high-tech badasses fighting crime.
The official plot synopsis for the film reads as follows:
In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years – and it’s meant billions for OmniCorp’s bottom line. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine pursuing justice.
Are you excited for this remake? Sound off in the comments section!
RoboCop opens on February 12th, 2014.
