re: #163 Dr Lizardo

Look at the recent reboot of RoboCop, the 2014 version. It’s OK….but it doesn’t hold a candle to the 1987 original, which was one of the most visceral films I’d ever seen at that time. Of course, it helped that the original RoboCop had some truly amazing actors all the way up and down the line, from the main cast to supporting actors, and that Paul Verhoeven expertly walked that very fine line between action/sci-fi/bodyhorror and a ruthlessly satirical indictment of corporate America.

Yeah…..hard to imagine something like that today. The 2014 remake was all right - and it was also entirely unnecessary.

IMO, the only thing the remake has going for it is the 20+ years in advances made in practical effects and CGI. The biting satire has been replaced with a “corrupt cops on the corporate take” script, the actors seem to be there just for a paycheck, and (again) the need to keep it to a PG-13 rating means the over-the-top violence of the original is patched over with various attempts at humor. I’d also say that the attempt really suffers from one big problem: Various films (including two sequels to the original) have followed the same formula so much that what once was original and groundbreaking today is just another cookie-cutter film.