Netquix: RoboCop (1987)

Netflix content reviewed in 150 words. Or thereabouts.

RoboCop (1987)

Dir: Paul Verhoeven
102 minutes

Lazer-targeted satire of rampant commercialism? Ultra-violent action pulp? Or a dark sci-fi parable on the nature of autonomy? Appropriately enough, Paul Verhoeven’s brutally savage crime yarn welds the very human grit, sleaze and carnage of 70’s grindhouse to the corporate mechanical sheen of coked-up 80’s excess; a motorised monster of a movie utterly thrilling from start to finish on any level you choose to take it.

No need to buy it for a dollar. Just stream it, ok?

Dick and Ed

A taut tale expediently told, Peter Weller’s transformation from rookie to robot has a breathless quality, drenched in pitch black humour that lifts it above its generic genre brethren. Crucially, the comedy never undercuts the drama – moreover, it adds to the rich tapestry of a film that in the wrong hands, could have easily been a cheesy superhero pastiche. As it stands, RoboCop is a curious and furious mix of debauched hedonism and the faintly fascistic. Verhoven done good. Now give the man a hand.

10/10