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Right, I’m posting this RoboCop remake article under the Pure Golder tag for two reasons:
1) These images posted by Coming Soon were posted on Saturday and have been all round the ’net in the meantime, so it’s not exactly news
2) More importantly, I want to make it clear that the following comments are my own, personal thoughts, and not representative of the SFX übermind (to be honest, it’s first thing Monday morning, I’m the only one in the office, so I have no idea what the SFX übermind might think).
To put it bluntly – oh dear.
Now, let me point out, I’m not usually one for knee-jerk reactions. There have been enough cases of snapperazzi shots from film sets suggesting that a director has made some crucial error of judgement, only for the final film to turn out magnificently (re: just about every aspect of Dredd ). I usually tend to reserve judgement, because so much can happen between the shoot the final edit. Things that don’t look like they’ll work in the harsh light of day, suddenly make sense when shot correctly, with the right lighting.
Hell, there may even be some script justification. Maybe this is RoboCop Mark I and a proper RoboCop turns up later in the movie.
So I know I’m playing a dangerous game here. I could be jumping the gun. But still: initial reaction – oh dear.
Previously, I haven’t had a downer on this film. I’ve liked what I’ve heard about director Jose Padilha’s plans for the movie (to make it more about the process of becoming a RoboCop would affect a man). I’ve been intrigued by the casting. It sounded like it could be a fresh, edgy, worthwhile makeover.
Some leaked pictures of the costume didn’t look very promising, but I wasn’t too worried. They were only concepts, after all, surely? Then the stories came out about Padhila having problems during preproduction. Stories he denied. Stories I dismissed as the kind of thing sceptics like to big-up on the internet.
Now I’m kinda thinking they may have been true, because I don’t want to think that a director who could come up with such an audacious take on the concept could also want a RoboCop costume that looks like it could have been made for any number of cheap, straight-to-DVD sci-fi potboilers in the past 15 years. The plated-armour motorcycle courier look is such a cliché, it induces groans of derision when it’s used for the villain-of-the-week on shows like Warehouse 13 or the latest Stargate variant.
The original RoboCop costume became iconic because it was bold, eye-catching and unique. This has about as much chance of becoming iconic as the packaging for Sainsbury’s hummus.
This must have been a cost-cutting measure foisted on Padhila by the studio, surely? If not, and this really is his vision for the star of the movie, I’m seriously worried.
Please let this be only RoboCop Mark One. I’m hoping I’m worrying for nothing. I want to be proved wrong.
