While it's best to avoid getting all indignant, I'm still consistently puzzled by remakes of perfect movies. Paul Verhoeven's 1987 RoboCop is an insane balance of screaming satire, outlandish comedy, revenge thriller, violent B-movie, and well-executed science fiction. The movie doesn't just hold up, it has actually aged well, as its vacuous talking heads and conspicuous consumption reflect even more of our current distractions. As such, a remake has always been a head-scratcher, but since Alex Murphy was dragged through the mud with the RoboCop sequels, let's just accept that this new RoboCop is happening and is a separate entity..
Still, how weird is it that Total Recall, RoboCop, and Starship Troopers, three movies defined by Verhoeven's subversive and audacious wit, are getting remakes? Let's hope that RoboCop in particular isn't a de-clawed version.
Ahem, back on topic, the video below is from the Omnicorp site, a reasonable facsimile of a faceless conglomerate that will presumably hold more viral goodies in the future.
Omnicorp is, of course, an updated take on the original movie's Omni-Consumer Products, and the RC-2000 is our new RoboCop. I do like the company tagline saying that the program is, "Where human resources meets robotic engineering." Seems catchy and vague enough, but when you consider that they're talking about utterly dehumanizing a human being who was already violently murdered, it takes on a sinister tone.
Joel Kinnaman of AMC's The Killing is playing Alex Murphy and RoboCop for director Jose Padilha, the Brazilian director behind Elite Squad and its sequel, released Stateside as Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. Padilha's put together a very interesting cast for the remake, with Abbie Cornish and Samuel L. Jackson joining Gary Oldman as the elad scientist behind RoboCop's creation and Hugh Laurie as the CEO of Omnicorp.
The Verhoeven-less RoboCop remake is currently scheduled to hit theaters on August 9, 2013.
Oh, and here's a nice behind the scenes featurette about the creation of the original ED-209, with appearances from Verhoeven and Phil Tippett:
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