RoboCop 3

[Drezzy]

The first one is magnificent. Excellent parody of American media (heavy on the violence and capitalist ass-kissing), with RoboCop as a Jesus figure as well (came back from the dead, children followed him around, his best friend was a woman, WALKED ON WATER).

The second one  was equal. While not as big a message as the first, it was an overall better story. Everybody worked their ass off for this movie, and it shows. And the scene with all the prototypes for RoboCop version 2? Hilarity.

But the third one...ugh...

I just watched it again last night after not seeing it since I was 10. That's 6 years without watching it, and only memories of the slightly cool scenes. And in 6 years,  my opinion of the movie being a fun experience has changed to a punch to the gut. They couldn't even get Peter Weller, the man that played Alex Murphy/RoboCop in the first two flicks, to reprise his role. And when you can't get the original actor to reprise his role for a sequel, you know it's bound to be bad (only exception I've ever seen was Phantasm II, as the man that replaced A. Michael Baldwin in the role of "Mike" was better than Michael Baldwin himself).

The movie actually starts off just fine. A commercial for Delta City that states "for our children" and shows an upper-class family from approximately 1956 with a baby in a carriage. Then it's Media Break, as the reporters (new female anchor, same old guy) talk about the REHAB group. They're a group of people, presumably with military training (although Andrew would kill me for saying that), that are hired by OCP to help move Detroit citizens from the slums to a "rehab facility" in order for OCP (Omni Consumer Products) to tear down their old neighborhoods and begin construction of Delta City.  Well, this all looks dandy until Nico and her parents are forced out of their homes at gunpoint by the REHABs. A particularly good line (only about 3 or 4 in this movie, by the way, as opposed to the usual 45 or 50 in the previous 2) happens when an old lady runs up to one of the REHABs as chaos is occurring all around her, caused by the REHABs themselves. This particular REHAB is standing in front of a bus to transport these "unfortunate souls" to a "rehab facility."
Old Lady: "PLEASE help us!"
REHAB: "That's what we're hear for ma'am..." **cocks shotgun** "...now get on the bus."

I'll stop talking about it there, because that's about 3 minutes into the movie, and it all goes downhill from there.

This entire movie is in parallel to World War II, which may just be the ONLY interesting thing about it. The REHABs tell the world they're trying to make Detroit a better place, when in reality they're rounding people up by the hundreds and shipping them off, without their belongings, to a secured facility. The "rehab facilities" are supposed to be concentration camps, as RoboCop, at one point, accesses the files of those imprisoned, and finds Nico's parents: both were shot and killed on the same day while trying to escape.
Hell, even the ALLIES of the REHABs are a World War II parallel. If the REHABs are supposed to be the National Sozialist (Nazi) party, then their allies should be the Japanese, right? Kenimitsu Corporation.

Somewhere in this awful screenplay and piece of crap movie is a high-quality third film trying to break out. You know it's in there, and you will always know it's in there. But the quality is always overshadowed by the bad. The dialogue is something a 4th grader would write, the acting is p**s-poor with a few strong exceptions (McDaggart, the head of the REHABs, is one of the downright COOLEST villains in a long time; Rip Torn does his usual good over-the-top job), and potentially HUGE moments in the series are just displayed as though they're nothing. A scene that could have been played as a huge turning point in the series, where ALL of the Detroit Police in the Metro-West precinct throw down their badges and walk out as OCP's main representative Mr. Smith (the black man with the glasses that served as The Old Man's #2 in the first two) tells them that they can't. If only seen when Smith is yelling at all of them as each of them drop their badges by his feet, this scene is downright great. But if taken as a whole, it's exposed as the dreck it really is. No build-up, nobody saying something along the lines of "this is the final straw," and no hype about it happening. If I were directing this movie, THIS would be the pivotal scene, and I would've had the Captain of the precinct (I forget his name, I believe it's Harris) rip McDaggart and Smith a new one about how he put up with the strike, the decreasing salaries, and has been pushed around by OCP long enough. Woulda, shoulda, coulda...

The main villains in this movie, aside from the REHABs, are the street gangs of Detroit. Are they the FuBu sporting, malt liquor-drinking, drive-by shooting, wear-it-if-it's-comfortable gangs of the real world? f**k NO! The gang members in this movie all dress as if they were the honor students in Class Of Nuke 'Em High and just came back from a Black Flag show. Yep, all the gang members in this movie (made in 1993, by the way) look to be straight out of the 1983 hardcore punk scene, and the 1984 glam rock scene. Mohawks, dyed hair, piercings, bad teeth, leather, feathered mullets, kneepads when they don't need to be worn, spandex, etc.

Overall, *1/2 out of a possible *****. Only needs to be seen to be MST3K'd or for RoboCop completists. If you don't plan on MST3K'ing it, or are not a RoboCop completist, skip this movie and just rent or buy one of the first two. It will be money well-spent.
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Yeah, I just pulled that one out of my butt. But it just occurred to me as I finished this that I could send it in to this site so Andrew could post it whenever. Thoughts? Comments?

[Flangepart]

Hummm....
Not too shabby, my boy.( us old farts can say that)
You give examples of what you like and dislike, and that helps me get a sense of where the film strikes you the most. In this case, right upside the head.
The only line i realy liked, was the line in the doughnut shop. Shop is FULL of cops, this guy tries to rob it. Clerk askes him "Whats it like being a rocket scientest?" When you know things like that have happened in Real Life!....

[Drezzy]

Yeah...everything really goes to hell after the first 5 or so minutes, as what could have been a 2 1/2 hour masterpiece, like the original (not in length, but in sheer quality) was not only butchered by a PG-13 rating, but also by way too many cliché scenes. Koontz and McDaggart really were the only good characters in the entire movie.

[Neville]

Pretty bad. The script had some funny subplots, such as OCP being bankrut and absorbed by a Japanese corporation, but I think that has to be credited to writer Frank Miller. The movie suffers a lot from the lack of action / violence, and the whole thing is pretty silly. But Robocop can get even worse: watch the live action TV series.

[JohnL]

When I saw the first commercial for this, it showed the car dropping onto the street and Robocop asking "Somebody call for backup?", I honestly though it was some kind of parody. I couldn't believe a scene so stupid would be the actual movie. I was wrong. I love the visible wires in the last flight scene in the building.

>But Robocop can get even worse: watch the live action TV series

Compared to Robocop III, I thought the series was great.

[Susan]

I'm too lazy to search myself but does anyone remember what else the guy who played Robocop in the original movie was in? I keep thinking i know him more from something else.

Btw, (thinkin of robot movies at the moment)..I think one thing I like about the older movies is wondering whether or not there was any intentional meaning behind some dialogue or if things back then were perfectly innocent. One scene in "Forbidden planet" has the girl calling for the robot and he comes in late and says "excuse me miss, I was giving myself an oil job"

You know, one has to wonder. If anything it makes watching these films all the more amusing

[Drezzy]

Leviathan and Naked Lunch pop into my head right away as far as non-RoboCop Peter Weller movies, Susan.

[spike]

It sucks, they need to make a new one to pay back for all the lame ideas. This is not the one any fan of the Robocob series should watch.

[Susan]

Finally got unlazy and looked up peter weller movies. ;-)
I think I'm remembering him from leviathon. He's one of those guys who's been around but still nobody would know who he is

[Neville]

A real pity, he is quite good. He was also in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite", in a very small role, and in "Screamers" (1995), one of my favourite B movies.  He also has directed a real nice thriller for TV, "Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast".

[JohnL]

>Finally got unlazy and looked up peter weller movies. ;-)

He also starred on Showtime's Odyssey 5, where the 5 person crew of a space shuttle witness the Earth blowing up and then an alien probe sends their minds back in time 5 years so that they can try and prevent it. I don't know if it'll be back for a second season.

[Ad]

You forgot to mention the CyberNinja - who is pretty good - walks around saying nothing in a long coat - the only problem is, they ruin it by the end of the film - and the robocop kills him off too easily.

MacDagget is easily the best person in this movie. There are parallels to World War II and I'm assuming M'Dagget's personal army is the Gestapo cause M'Dagget sure acts like one.

I don't understand why he brought an A-Bomb back to his office when he wanted to level a different part of town - ah well.

The rest of the film is, as Bart Simpson once said, Craptacular.