Robocop 3

Back for all audiences.

Hello fellow connoisseurs who still read. Previously I had promised a review for "Aliens" and guess what? I didn't keep my word, bad dog, bad dog. Anyways, let's just say such review will be here sooner than later due to some unexpected infatuation: Robocop! My favorite childhood cop. A few weeks ago my wife asked "hey, why don't we watch Robocop again?" so, what started as only watching the original film, ended up in revisiting the whole trilogy plus the infamous TV series from 1994 & 2001. The final installment in the trilogy came three years after Robocop 2 & the tone producers had us used to (you know, good old bloody gory violence) in the first two films was gone forever. Which, in my case was an excellent thing as I could finally go to the theater and be a part of Robocop 3 premiere (I was still an underage kid, and boy, I went on my own to watch it!) 

Robocop 3 (1993) picks an unknown number of years after the events of part 2, Cain's gang and his Nuke Drug has been obliterated and Robocain has been defeated by our hero. The Old Man from the previous two films is gone (either died or resigned after the events of Robocop 2; the movie doesn't say) and is replaced by the "CEO" (Rip Torn). The Delta City Project inaugurated in the previous film is falling behind schedule and OCP incurs in debt, leading to its takeover by the Japanese corp. of Kanemitsu. Meanwhile, they adopt increasingly forceful methods to get back on track by hiring mercenaries called "the Rehabs" led by Robert McDagget (John Castle) to evacuate areas for demolition and send the locals to "correctional facilities". A band of freedom fighters spring up, Robocop and Anne Lewis track them down after seeing a little girl joining them in an abandoned church. Unbeknownst to them, the Rehabs have tracked them down, and orders them to leave the building to them. Robocop and Anne Lewis refuse, but when Anne gets seriously injured (and dies a few minutes later), he quits the force and joins the rebellion, while undergoing structural repairs in his programme.

The Detroit riot.

Why is it whenever they add a kid in a film, the story sucks?

Robocop 2 may have shocked some viewers for its excessive violence, but it is better than this one. The storyline is more coherent than the last film in the sense that all main ideas make it to the end but it's too simplistic. While Part 2 was ultra-violent and gloomy, this one went into the opposite direction. Sure the absence of the first two films' graphic violence would make it more appealing for kids, but this movie just has little to make up for it; it starts off very promising but it gets sillier as the it progresses, culminating in a ridiculous fight between Robocop and the Samurai, which is a far cry from the excellent finale between Robocop and Robocain in the the second movie, giving the impression that the filmmakers have run out of money by that point.

However, Robocop 3 still has some worthwhile moments to spare it from becoming a candidate for MST3K. Most of the action sequences save the aforementioned fight are well-staged and creative, and the film has some creative use of CGI. Robocop's new gadgets-- the jet-pack and his cannon-- are worthy additions, and our hero still knows how to make an entrance (diving from the highest level of a parking lot and dropping down 10 storeys below).

Peter Weller, however, did not reprise the role, most likely because he has grown tired of having to walk into that baggy costume for hours and hours on end and sweating buckets in the process, and he's replaced by Robert John Burke. Burke is a worthy successor to Weller, mimicking his movements down to the smallest details, but it just doesn't feel the same without him.

Can you fly bobby?

I've been upgraded to Windows 3.1!

Now I won't say that Robocop 3 is the mega disaster that a lot of reviewers call it. I mean Robocop 3 lost the benefit of being an eighties action film so granted the violence and foul language would be toned down because suddenly the political correctness of the 90's was in full swing. So that meant making Robocop more family friendly. They also lost Peter Weller from the lead which I didn't realize how great he was as Robocop until he wasn't him anymore. I have to wonder if screenplay writer Frank Miller was angry at the creators of Robocop so he spun this tale as a cruel prank because Miller is no slouch at writing, he is a legendary comic writer (Batman,300, Sin City, X-Men, etc.) and the story for Robocop 3 borders on ridiculous. All of the dark gritty atmosphere is pretty much gone from the original film, the tongue in cheek political humor is gone as well despite some off attempts to do exactly that. And it is true what reviewers have said that Robocop has suddenly become a complete weakling. He spends so much of the film repeatedly falling on his robo butt and trying to get back up. He's lost all of his cool factor, all of his heavy hitting super hero instincts.

So here is why Robocop 3 is NOT the disastrously horrendous film that some make it out to be. First of all it ends the trilogy with a final big battle between OCP and the Detroit Police Department which essentially brings OCP down. It also brings back some of the familiar faces from the series and gives closure to the story on Lewis although her and Burke just don't have the chemistry that her and Weller had as partners. The story is decent enough and simple enough to follow but it just doesn't hold up to the previous two films. The entire aspect of Robocop flying is so ridiculous and they surely had to know that it was ridiculous. If it ain't broke don't fix it and they do fix the unbroken recipe which essentially ruins the series. It is true that Robocop 3 was a fall from grace and this film felt like the quality of a TV Movie which is maybe why all future Robocop installments hit Television. A rather bland disappointment.  

Robocop 3 (Super Nintendo)

Robocop 3 (NES)

All in all, a sequel for the fans of  Robocop only. Casual Sci-Fi fans skip this unless you've already watched the first two films that built our robo hero character with far greater justice than the final piece in the trilogy. Still, we can't be that hard on it, many things were going on during the creation of the sequel. This film was wrapped in 1991 (only a year after the sequel) but due to Orion (the production company) having some substantial financial issues that eventually led them to bankruptcy, the film was on hold for a couple of years. 

The PG-13 is not a random choice. it was deliberate as the film producers wanted to establish Robocop in a kids friendly world (beyond "Robocop Ultra Police" the awful cartoon which spawned the very first wave of Robocop action figures) so that they could ask their parents for the cool Robocop 3 merchandise (mostly action figures, weapon accesories and vehicles) In addition, Peter Weller grown tired of the character and didn't give a shit about reprising his role anymore. Also, Nancy Allen felt the exact same way about her character, and the only way she would reprise it was under the condition that she died in the first half hour of the film (she got away with it)

Here's the movie trailer:

Here the Robocop action figure TV ad: