In the 1987 movie, we got a slight glimpse of Alex Murphys family in the heart breaking sequence when he goes back home to find an empty house and flashbacks. As he remembers his wife and son, you feel for him. Murphy, due to no fault of his own, has had everything taken from him. It motivates him to go after Clarence Boddicker even more. The 2014 film puts his family in a more prominent role. They are at the centre of Murphys struggle and he has far more interaction with them. Its just a shame that any chemistry between Joel Kinnerman and Abbie Cornish is non-existent and the scenes with his son are pure cheese to the point you are not sure if you are watching a scene from Bicentennial Man. Having his family involved so closely robbed RoboCop of one of the big reasons why his situation is so tragic. In this new film, apart from being encased in a new body, there is little reason why he couldnt continue to be a father and husband in some capacity. In RoboCop 2, we find out that Murphy has been stalking his ex-wife and child. This prompts OCP to humiliate him into rejecting his wife so she can move on. That feels like a real consequence. There is more emotional impact in that one scene than there is in the whole RoboCop remake. In the new RoboCop, his family also have a habit of being shoehorned into scenes and disrupting the flow of the film. In one ludicrous moment, RoboCop is on another angst bike ride and is confronted by his wife in the middle of the street. Not only did she manage to fight through a police cordon, she also somehow knew the route RoboCop was taking in order to talk to him so she can tell him to go see their son. It was so silly. The same goes for the ending where they happen to get themselves held hostage on the roof of Omnicorp towers. Some folk just can't catch a break, so they need to stay in the goddamned house. To explore the family dynamic, the film needed to be longer to do it properly. Unfortunately his family become nothing more than a nuisance in the film because they are a couple of characters you dont care about.
