10 Movie Re-Castings That Ruined Iconic Characters

Original - Peter Weller

Recast - Joel Kinnaman

In the original Robocop, a cop called Alex Murphy is shot dead and resurrected as a police cyborg. Although Robocop was meant to be devoid of personality, Alex's memories resurfaced, forcing him to wrestle with his humanity while bringing the men who murdered him to justice. Peter Weller gave a powerful but subtle performance as the titular hero despite the fact you could only see his lower jaw for most of the movie.

Although the fanbase collectively groaned when the reboot was announced, it looked like it had potential. This time around, Alex Murphy wasn't a reanimated corpse. Instead, he was a critically injured cop who was kept alive with machinery. Because of this, Alex's personality and memories were intact, giving the actor, Joel Kinnaman, a perfect opportunity to make Robocop more humane and sympathetic.

Sadly, Kinnaman was a dull choice for the role. When he says, "Dead or alive, you're coming with me." it sounds like he's doing an impression of Robocop rather than being Robocop himself. Ironically, Weller portrayed the character with more emotion despite the fact he was supposed to be unemotional!