10 Awesome Movies With Disappointing Sequels

As much a satire as an action movie, Robocop owes a great deal to the verve of Paul Verhoeven, a Dutch director making his second Hollywood movie, who brings an outsider’s eye to what could have been a by the numbers sci-fi movie. Anyone who saw the 2014 remake knows what I’m talking about.

Verhoeven didn’t return for the sequels and it shows: the first one was mean-spirited and humourless, the other bland and unmemorable. Neither was particularly exciting and their attempts at satire seemed to have been filtered through a focus group.

According to Frank Miller, who co-wrote both sequels, that’s pretty much how it was. He’d turn in a draft and producers Orion would automatically demand rewrites until it no longer resembled his original story, which is perhaps why Robocop’s Directive #262 reads “Avoid Orion Meetings.”

One person who actively hated the script was Peter Weller, who claimed it lacked the spine of the original. For Robocop 3, he was replaced by Robert John Burke, which tells you all you need to know.