10 Insane Movie Theories You Won't Believe
7. Robocop Is Jesus
Most of these loony readings of popular movies come from film fans with far too much time on their hands. It's rare that you'll find one that's all but confirmed by the director themselves. And yet that is very much the case with the theory that Robocop is actually a hyper-violent, futuristic update of the Passion Of The Christ. Yes. That Robocop. Stick with us. Just look at the basic plot of the film: the heroic police officer Alex Murphy is murdered in cold blood whilst trying to bring peace to the streets of Detroit, only to be resurrected not a week later as Robocop, a new brand of crime fighter who appears to have superhuman abilities that help him wreak terrible vengeance on the wicked souls of his city. There's even a scene where he walks on water. Sort of.
It's a theory that's totally supported by director Paul Verhoeven, who went on to do the likes of Basic Instinct (clearly influenced by the !*$% Of Babylon) and Total Recall (we dunno, Jonah And The Whale?). Along with being a satire on tabloid media, gentrification, corruption and commercialism, he intended the film to be a retelling of the most famous Biblical tale. The point of Robocop, of course, is it is a Christ story, he says. "It is about a guy who gets crucified in the first 50 minutes, and then is resurrected in the next 50 minutes, and then is like the supercop of the world, but is also a Jesus figure as he walks over water at the end." Verhoeven also went on to dub Robocop "the American Jesus." We'd buy that for a dollar.