If there was a worldwide poll on the single weakest aspect of the RoboCop reboot, you would get a resounding answer criticizing the lack of violence, in a remake of what is still considered one of the most violent films ever made. For some perspective, Paul Verhoeven had to resubmit the film to the MPAA 13 times to receive an R rating, as originally he kept receiving a rating of X, which was the equivalent of NC-17 at the time. Getting into specifics, Murphy's actual death death wasn't dialed back or tame. In the original he was shot repeatedly with shotguns and handguns, limbs blown off, blood and gore depicted everywhere, and finally a bullet to the brain in what has gone on to become one of the most revered and legendary scenes in all of cinema. That wasn't the only scene drenched in blood though, as every shootout RoboCop got in was filled with blood oozing from every fatal bullet wound. There's also a scene were a criminal falls in a pool of toxic waste and reemergex as total mush, only to get hit by a car separating just about every part of his body. The showdown that sees Clarence Boddicker getting stabbed in the throat with blood squirting everywhere was also gruesome. And in the remake he just gets blown up. Maybe it was more practical for the villains, but it assuredly didn't give them a sense of personality or actually make audiences despise them. Jose Padiha also tosses away a perfect opportunity to have Murphy's left hand - which is also his only remaining aspect of human resemblance beside his face - severed amidst a heroic act. Instead, there is a scene where the right arm gets trapped and lopped off, but it's replaceable metal. Who cares? Nothing of human value was lost. It's simply stupid and disrespectful to shift the legacy of Robocop into PG-13 territory, and as evident from this entire article, dramatically affected the film for the worse. Do you agree that this is how a RoboCop film should be crafted? Comment below!
