The first trailer for the RoboCop movie looks awesome. People are going to dump on it because they love the original, but José Padilha explained how his version will hit on the same political and moral notes.
José Padilha is best known for the amazing movie Elite Squad, which was everything you want out of an intelligent action movie. I love mindless big budget bonanzas as much as the next guy, but sometimes I need a little more than just blowing stuff up. That’s where Padilha shines. Unfortunately this trailer doesn’t do well to spotlight the bigger issues at stake in the movie; it just introduces the character. You should relaly read what Padilha had to say in an interview with Hero Complex before passing judgement to get a real sense of the world of the new RoboCop.
[The premise is] we’re in the future, and drones have been replaced by robots and are being used all over the world for foreign policy and war. Kind of like instead of sending soldiers to Iraq, you send robots to Tehran. This is how we open the movie, with American robots in Tehran, because Iran has been invaded. The idea is, now soldiers don’t die in wars, so there’s no political pressure at home to end wars. Because the reason why the Vietnam War ended is because soldiers were dying. When you take the soldiers away and you have robots, that opens a can of worms. The premise of the movie is everywhere in the world, robots are allowed, except in America, because Americans won’t accept that a robot can pull the trigger, that the robot can decide to take or not to take a person’s life in law enforcement. So this company is losing lots of money because it can’t sell robots in North America, so the solution is, “Let’s put a man in the machine and sell that.”
Just another action movie? I think not. I highly recommend you read the whole interview. Padilha is able to give a great sense of how the movie ties to the original as well as what makes it so relevant today. I know you hate reading, but trust me on this one. You can also check out the new technology on the OmniCorp website. I’ll trade any of you my liquor collection for the C-1 motorcycle.
If you’re a sucker for casting, RoboCop is packed with power. Joel Kinnaman, who plays Alex Murphy/Robot cop may be new to you, but you’ve probably heard of Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Abbie Cornish, and Jay Baruchel, Unfortunately they don’t make their way to the big screen until 2014.