My impressions after watching Robocop 3

KidGoesWild · L-L3

Its not even that he was useless, as that he was completely characterless which was the script's fault and Dekker's direction. That was and still is my biggest gripe with R3, the complete lack of emotions and humanity in robo in R3

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RoboPimp · PIMPY SUPREME

KidGoesWild · L-L3

Well pimp, youre theory is good and quite frankly, its the only theory that makes sense of the whole situation and in universe explains why in R3 Murphys no more. As far as R2, I see him more as cold and full of boiling anger, along with depression (most of the movie he speaks very softly and quietly), which novelization makes clearer, rather than being less human, but most people see it the other way from what I read

Im gearing up to watch R3 again, I havent seen it in at least two years. Its just everytime I do see it, it leaves such a bad taste in my mouth, its so childish I literally feel embarrassed Im watching it as an adult, Im not trying to be mean, thats the truth. I really did try to like it many times, but...

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TODD-209 · Sgt-L1

I've been contemplating the devolution of the character of RoboCop, as it were, over the course of the two film sequels, and it just occurred to me how meta the scene is in RoboCop 2 where OCP is meeting with the panel of state and local representatives and what-have-you, and they start discussing how RoboCop can be more family-oriented or kid-friendly and not so violent...in retrospect it's like watching a studio think-tank discussing how to proceed with a PG-version of the next RoboCop sequel...which is what we actually got with RoboCop 3. I had never considered how self-fulfilling or predictive that scene was until just now...

Edd 209 · C-L1

NOF · O-L1

It's not the worst film in the world, but it could have been much more.

I've always really liked the story of Robocop 3 (Murphy becomes a freedom fighter against the corporation that created him) and I think that, if the script had been more carefully written and the direction more specific, it would have been the perfect way to end the trilogy. It would have been (to me) a natural progression for Murphy:

R1 - Comes into being.
R2 - Struggles to adjust to his self
R3 - Accepts who he is and uses it to fight for good

The one scene that should have tied these strands together is the shootout at the church. With him looking back and forth between the rebels and McDaggatt while his prime directives are going crazy, it could have been a moment where he realises that this was his chance to finally take on OCP. Instead, the final film portrays it in a rather simplistic fashion.

Admittedly, this doesn't quite tie in with the previously mentioned notion of him losing his humanity, which is something that could have been explored in another film, where his detective skills are focused on to make up for the lack of internal wrangling.

RoboDemise · What's all this then?

What is your problem sucka?! Uhhh, I mean officer...

RoboBabylonAD · The Kid Goes Wild

There actually isn't a devolution to RoboCop's character over the course of the trilogy at all.

The thing to understand is that when Murphy becomes RoboCop, he becomes an entity unto himself. He's no longer a man but he's not just a machine either. He's something more. He's unique.

And this struggle between the two manifests itself in quite a few fascinating ways throughout the trilogy.

This is how I break it down, personally:

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"RoboCop"

In the first film, Alex Murphy is human, certainly. Once he's gunned down and integrated into the RoboCop program by Security Concepts, the intention is to create an automated police officer under corporate control...but unlike ED-209, RoboCop utilizes a police officer's skill set, sense of judgment and commitment to duty.

So naturally, this combination begins to work with RoboCop, cleaning up Old Detroit to make way for Delta City's construction.

But over the course of the film, remnants of Murphy's previous life interfere as he breaks through the programming and eventually by the end of the film, Murphy has reemerged...albeit he still abides by the Prime Directives, meaning he's still bound to the programming.

"RoboCop 2"

While Murphy's humanity has been reclaimed to some extent, RoboCop is still the dominant personality.

This is where we begin to see the reality of the spine of this trilogy: The conflict between man and machine internalized in the same being.

While OCP has made efforts to force the Police to strike in order to step up the timetable on Delta City, RoboCop's still operating under the Prime Directives and that combined with Murphy's sense of duty keeps him on the streets. He has no choice where the strike is concerned and has to proceed accordingly, while others like Lewis continue to work out of responsibility.

In reclaiming his humanity from the first film, this leads Murphy to stalk his family...a yearning to reconnect with them and try and get them back. But he's convinced and coerced into thinking it's for the best that they be left to move on with their lives so RoboCop severs any attachment to Murphy's wife.

But this isn't enough for OCP, who sees Murphy's situation as a liability they can't afford. First, it's him spying on his family...but then who knows what he's prone to do, including standing in the way of their own plans should he find out their involvement in the strike and the resulting spike in crime. So that begins the RoboCop 2 program to find a suitable replacement that can be more easily controlled than Murphy...and that control obviously manifests in the form of Cain and his drug addiction.

With RoboCop's attempt to kill Cain thwarted and his disassembly, OCP recognizes that with RoboCop out of the way, their chances of Detroit defaulting on their payments so they can seize the city uncontested through foreclosure are better.

Dr. Faxx is then tasked with inhibiting Murphy's humanity by feeding him so many directives that he becomes little more than an ineffective PR slave for OCP.

So this is an example of OCP recognizing Murphy's humanity and his willingness for that humanity to compel his actions as something to suppress. We get that great scene where Faxx questions RoboCop as to what he thinks he is...and like the scene with his wife, he's once again manipulated into disavowing his humanity...disavowing Murphy...in favor of being RoboCop.

"RoboCop 2" is the story of Murphy being constantly buried in favor of RoboCop...but despite all of OCP's efforts, they fail...with his assurance to Lewis at the end that "we're only human."

One element of the story that I feel could've been made clearer is that when RoboCop fries himself to wipe out Faxx's Directives, he wipes out EVERYTHING...meaning that from that point on when he convinces the cops to go after Cain, Murphy is in 100% control.

Because that's the thru-line of the trilogy is how much of this being is the RoboCop programming and how much of it is Alex Murphy...and the films go back and forth as to which is the case.

But this brings us to a realization in the final film.

"RoboCop 3"

As the film opens, RoboCop's Prime Directives have been reestablished along with Directive 4. Even so, Murphy is very much still present as RoboCop is shown making judgment calls such as abandoning the pursuit of Bertha and the Rebels to save Lewis.

Again, this is an issue for OCP. They have a product created by them that's meant to suit their needs and yet Murphy's humanity is a factor inhibiting that from happening.

When the CEO determines he wants RoboCop to be implemented into the Rehabs, Mr. Fleck takes the extreme measure of demanding Murphy's humanity be erased once and for all so that RoboCop can be utilized accordingly to eliminate the rebel threat, clear Cadillac Heights for demolition and save OCP from bankruptcy...which the buy out by Kanemitsu hasn't managed to do...by allowing Delta City to be constructed.

Of course Dr. Lazarus doesn't carry this out and Murphy's allowed to retain his humanity...and this leads OCP to perpetuate a smear campaign once Murphy sides with the Rebels given Lewis's death at the hands of the Rehabs.

The one scene that to me really hits home the idea that RoboCop actually grows as a character is the scene between he and Nikko once Lazarus has fixed his heart and repaired him.

From the very first film and in distinct flashbacks, we're shown that Murphy can recall his family...his pain, his loss, his suffering.

We're shown in scenes that he mourns what was taken from him and the fact that he can never go back. So he differentiates between Murphy and RoboCop. In the first film when he takes his helmet off, he refers to Murphy in the third person...in the second film, he's asked if he's Alex Murphy and is coerced on tape to admit that he's not...and in the third film, Nikko asks RoboCop if Murphy is his name, to which he replies "it was before."

But in this scene between him and Nikko, he discovers in his files that her parents are dead. Then we get this exchange:

"Your parents. You miss them?"
"Yeah."
"But you remember them. Because...if you remember them...they're never really gone."

This is the moment where Murphy learns from his own recollections of his family...and uses that idea of remembering NOT to pity himself or for HIS sake...but to comfort ANOTHER...to recognize someone ELSE's pain and loss and empathize with them, connect with them.

Now this next part is somewhat lost in translation but can be seen more clearly in the Avatar Comics adaptation of Frank Miller's screenplay:

At a certain turning point, RoboCop is disassembled and it's explained to him by the spirit or whatever of Dr. Marie Lacasse this very important epiphany...

That he is neither Alex Murphy OR RoboCop...but that he is BOTH simultaneously. He is no longer a man but not simply a machine.

This entire trilogy has been about Murphy either mourning what he's lost (Man) or being burdened and consumed by what OCP thinks he is (Machine).

In the comic, as this is laid out, RoboCop is rebuilt and given the ability to fly, hence the flight pack in the film version.

It's truncated in the movie, but it becomes this great symbol in the comics of evolution. Of the caterpillar becoming the butterfly.

Over the course of the trilogy, RoboCop transcends his lost human side and his oppressive machine side by embracing BOTH sides. No longer plagued with internal conflict over his own existence, he finds peace in assuming his rightful mantle as both man AND machine.

That, to me, is why the final line in "RoboCop 3" is "My friends call me Murphy. You call me RoboCop."

He's no longer tortured by what he's lost and he's no longer conflicted about what he's become.

This is a declaration to both his friends and allies AND to his enemies and anyone who would stand up to challenge him.

It's a way of saying "I'll never forget who I was, but this is who I am now" and it behaves like a cathartic, psychological reckoning.

----

So the spine of the series is really this back and forth between man and machine and ultimately realizing it's for naught because RoboCop is both...and the trilogy is about him coming to terms with that.

This is also interestingly paralleled in his main villains from movie to movie.

While ED-209 is still an antagonist, it's little more than a tool...so that said, the first film has main villains that are purely human (Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones).

"RoboCop 2" has a main villain that starts as a man (Cain) who then becomes a machine (RoboCop 2).

"RoboCop 3" has a main villain that's a machine but bears the appearance of a man (Otomo).

So the entire trilogy is populated with characters that are either men or machines or men who become machines or machines disguised as men and these two sides of the coin all culminate in one character...the title character...and his journey to becoming one with those two sides.

That's how I see it personally.

RoboJOF · Sgt-L4

RoboBabylonAD · The Kid Goes Wild

OcpCommunications · R-L1

My impressions after watching RoboCop 3? Well that was fucking lame. Short and succint but to the point and true to how I feel about the film. I know there are people who like it. And to each their own, but to me it is a mistake. Just like the PG-13 rating. Instead of putting the franchise on life support, they should have pulled the plug or started work on The Series a year early.

Because to me personally, RoboCop: The Series is the family friendly RoboCop that RoboCop 3 tried to be and failed. It takes the lack of ultra violence and uses creativity to lessen the blow of its absence dramatically something that R3 sorely lacked. Plus Richard Eden was genuinely great in the role as Murphy/RoboCop and the scripts allowed Murphy to have more character development than ever before as the series would unfold.

That jet pack scene is still pretty cool though. And I like Basil's score.

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