Thursday, September 5, 2013

B.O.T.T.-- Robocop (2014)


          We’re going to start a new section on the Cine-Men blog.  A trailer review called B.O.T.T. (Based On The Trailer).  Where we will look at new trailers for up-coming movies and give our take on what we’re shown.
 

The first trailer is for “Robocop”, the remake of the 1987 Paul Verhoeven classic.  When it was announced that this was going to be the next in a long line of remakes there was an internet wide groan.  Now that this trailer has been released, the groans are confirmed, this looks terrible.  Okay, maybe a little harsh, it looks more ‘meh’.  I mean they have the cast, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jackie Earle Haley.  And it’s still a good story that can be retold.  But nothing here shows that they are using any of those strengths.  Also missing, is hints at the ultra-violent feel of the original, and the off-kilter humor that Verhoeven did so well.  The only x-factor, is director Jose Padilha a Brazilian director with a few critical hits under his belt.  But if Hollywood history has shown us anything, it’s that sometimes a good foreign director can have their creativity gutted by studios, ‘cough’ John Woo ‘cough’.  Now the final film may be different, but if the next trailer shows us more of the same, we may be in-store for a lame version of a great film.

So based on the trailer, I say:  If you’re not gonna use what made the original work, why bother.

Speaking of the original, now this is a trailer.

 

 
--Robert L. Castillo

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