3) More Focus On The Man Inside The Machine
The movie may be called RoboCop and not ManCop, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’d be a pretty stupid idea for a movie if there wasn’t a man inside the machine. The conflict of the story isn’t OmniCorp versus the crime, it’s the struggle of the humanity within the half-robot half-man. Really, it’s the struggle of the man inside trying to escape the controls of his machine.
The original film did a very good job at examining that struggle, but there were some aspects that were majorly lacking. When I watch the original film, I do so for the great action and sci-fi elements, not for the character study aspect of it. In an interview with a Dutch website a few years ago, director Jose Padilha discussed a bit about how his take on the story would differ from the original.
I love the sharpness and political tone of RoboCop , and I think that such a film is now urgently needed. But I will not repeat what Verhoeven has done so clearly and strongly. Instead I try to make a film that will address topics that Verhoeven untreated. If you are a man changes into a robot, how do you do that? What is the difference between humans and robots developed? What is free will? What does it mean to lose your free will?
It’s what Padilha says about the difference between humans and robots that has me the most excited. That’s obviously a popular theme in sci-fi movies, and it becomes more and more relevant with the evolution of artificial intelligence. There’s going to be a battle between Alex Murphy and the robot around him, and I can’t wait to see how Padilha tackles that conflict.
