RoboCop throughout this remake is a miserable, self-pitying emo-bot. Granted, hes got a lot to be annoyed about it cant be too pleasant to survive a car bombing and find out that you are nothing more than a face, brain, lungs and an unloved hand. But after half an hour of watching Murphy coming to terms with his situation, I was internally screaming that enough is enough and that he should accept it like a man, fourth-degree burns be damned, As a full human, Murphy starts the film angry and annoyed at an investigation going wrong. He is then annoyed and angry at being turned into RoboCop. That follows an extended sequence where he is angry and annoyed while he solves his own murder. He is then angry and annoyed at the police sergeant for setting him up. And after he is switched off by Maddox, he awakens very angry and annoyed as he takes on Omnicorp directly. I fully accept that he has a lot to be unhappy about but watching him drive around on his motorbike like a teenager throwing a tantrum only brought it home how petulant his behaviour was and how ungrateful he was at being given a second chance at life. The fact that the film gives very little reason to actually feel sorry for him doesnt help. In the original RoboCop, Murphy dies a slow and horrible death that involves his hand and arm being blown off. He then awakes as a machine and has lost all his humanity. Hes encased in a metal shell that gives him superhuman strength, a CPU in the brain and invulnerability to bullets but given the choice, its not desirable. Hes a Frankensteins monster. At no point do you think that hes better as RoboCop than Alex Murphy. And to top it off, he's lost his family. Compared to the new RoboCop who awakens with all his memories intact, the ability to jump enormous distances, run really fast and indulge in feats of cat-like agility; he's more of a superhero than a tragic victim. Physically he is better in every way than when he was a mere human. Once hes got over the shock, what exactly does he have to be upset about? Considering the state he was left in after the explosion, he should have been on his knees thanking Dr Norton for the body he woke up in. But instead we get scene after scene of him running or riding away from his problems and with the same look on his face that you see on any toddler who hasnt received the Christmas present they wanted. He can still have a family life, and sure, it might not be how it was but its better than being dead. His wife hasn't rejected him, his son still calls him dad. The suit and the powers it gives him are awesome. He's not confined to a wheelchair or facing years of rehabilitation that other people who have limbs blown off. So what's his problem? Jose Padilha wanted to focus of Murphy's transformation while the public wanted to see RoboCop take down bad guys. The 1987 movie got the balance right between the two but this RoboCop is obsessed with Murphy's internal issues and that doesn't make the most interesting RoboCop movie. A lot of the blame has to go to the script and Joel Kinnerman who is instantly forgettable as Alex Murphy and only tolerable as RoboCop. The only time you get a rest bite from having to experience his facial acting is when the visor comes down, unfortunately that is not as often as you like.
