If you’re still on the fence as to the need for another take on Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi classic Robocop, the newly minted star of the new version, Joel Kinnaman, is trying to convince us all. He sat down with MTV to talk up the film that Jose Padilha is even now gearing up to make, and wants to make it clear that they’re not trying to slavishly replicate what has gone before.
“Robocop is going to be a lot more human," Kinnaman says. "The first movie is one of my favourite movies. I love it. Of course, Verhoeven has that very special tone, and it’s not going to have that tone. It’s a re-imagination of it. There’s a lot of stuff from the original. There are some details and throwbacks, but this version is a much better acting piece, for Alex Murphy and especially when he is Robocop. It's much more challenging."
He’s certainly right that Peter Weller and the men that followed him in the suit didn’t exactly get the chance to deliver much in the way of emotion except during early scenes and flashbacks to the character’s time as Officer Alex Murphy. But from the sounds of it, Padilha and go are looking to change that for the new film, starting with the look of the half-man half-machine cop. "It's not going to be jaw action. They’re still working on the suit and how it’s going to look, but the visor is going to be see-through. You’re going to see his eyes." Could be sensational. Could be sacrilege… What say you lot?