Alex's death in the original RoboCop was utterly horrifying, as Clarence Boddicker and his gang of thugs tore Murphy to pieces with their array of weaponry, even blowing his hand off for added measure. What added so much to the scene was the sheer cruelty on display: Alex isn't just killed, he's summarily humiliated by murderers who seem to take joy in his death, making us really look forward to seeing RoboCop take them down later in the movie. For those who enjoy a little symbolism in their movies, RoboCop also served as a Jesus-type metaphor, because he dies and is born again. 2014's take isn't afforded the same luxury, because for one thing, Murphy is never actually pronounced dead. He suffers severe fourth-degree burns over most of his body, but his head, brain, lungs and hands are salvaged by the RoboCop programme, so he never technically dies, but that's not even the problem. The scene itself is the issue: the filmmakers are constrained to a PG-13 rating (something I'll talk more about later), but that shouldn't have prevented them from coming up with something a little more imaginative than a car bomb. Its remote nature means it lacks the visceral impact of the original scene, and though there's no way they could have gotten away with a violent shooting under the PG-13 banner, villain Antoine Vallon should have had a more direct hand in what happened.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
