RoboCop 3 Review

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It’s time for the end of an era with RoboCop 3. The films have a strong continuity which I do like. We have seen OCP run the city of Detroit into the ground and by the 3rd film things are worse than ever. At this point the city seems beyond saving which leads into the current circumstances. We’ve now got another company in the running and the technology is finally catching up to RoboCop. It could be the end of the road for him.

The movie starts with OCP pretty much going out of business so they are forced to jump in with a Japanese company Kanemitsu who begins to take over really quickly. Together they create a more aggressive police unit that will strive to uphold the peace without robot members. Of course what they are really doing is pushing everyone out of their homes to try and earn more bucks by upgrading the places. Anyone who doesn’t want to move is taken away by force or destroyed. This leads to a little girl named Nikko losing her parents. Fortunately she is a computer genius so she is able to join the resistance and help them steals guns and other equipment.

One day, the army comes after her and the resistance so RoboCop defends them but of course he is easily dispatched and barely escapes with his life. He will need Lazarus to reprogram him so he can fight back against OCP agents but will even that be enough? He will have to get past Otomo, a Japanese android of unimaginable power who seems to be much faster than RoboCop. One thing’s for sure, he can’t afford to let his guard down.

Like with the last film we have a kid as a main focus here but this time it’s as one of the heroes. Nikko’s scenes are always rather cheesy though as she is somehow able to hack the greatest robots in the world with a few clicks of the button. She knows about Robocop’s specs and can even take out Otomo’s. There is nothing that she cannot do with her laptop which is supposed to be cool and all but it doesn’t seem likely. She really could have been cut out of the film entirely and that wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

The rest of the resistance members are around but the only big one is Keiko who serves as the main leader. She does well in rallying the troops. Without RoboCop around you get the sense that they would have been wiped off the map but it is hard to oppose the OCP so that makes sense. As it is, she kept them around for quite a while which is impressive. RoboCop’s partner Anne is around as well but her role is even smaller than in the second film. I doubt fans will appreciate how she looks here. It’s not a great appearance to be honest and even if her limited screen time is rather important to the film this time.

Otomo was very impressive, I think it’s about time we had a true robotic opponent for RoboCop. This guy was easily the most powerful opponent that RoboCop had faced thus far but there was definitely a big issue here. RoboCop is just too weak. It hurts the battle because it’s so lopsided that you know the only way for RoboCop to win is with significant plot armor. Look, a little plot armor can be fine but when you see how RoboCop isn’t even in the same league, it just makes you worry for how the fight will go. Sure enough, the ending isn’t very satisfying. Otomo was a great concept but in the end the execution was not on point.

McDaggett is one of the new villains and he’s fun enough. Definitely a step up over the last film. he’s one of those guys who certainly relishes being a villain and likes to do whatever he can to make everyone else’s lives worse. It’s hard to even say if he believes in his cause or if he’s just having fun with it on a power trip. Either way the guy is quite straight forward in how he acts around his goals and I prefer that over pretending to have some kind of high ground.

As for Lazarus, she’s a good scientist and it’s nice that Robo has at least one person in his corner. Ultimately she puts her career on the line to help him out and it shows that she is a loyal person who can be trusted. The fact that she is familiar with how his suit operates is really helpful since he now has someone who can run repairs on him consistently outside of OCP. Finally with RoboCop himself, well I still find the guy way too weak for his own good. He still walks into every fight as if he’s Superman. RoboCop doesn’t even try to dodge enemy attacks so he sits there and takes it every time. I would much rather he fights more tactically considering that he isn’t even all that durable.

He’s a good character but one who is way too overconfident. If you take away his battle performance, at least his intent is correct. Like when he decided to protect the civilians in the church. Yes he got wrecked in that fight but it was absolutely the correct move to save the there. Then you have the scene at the end which is something straight out of the DBS Broly film where he says that his friends call him Murphy but the villains can call him RoboCop. I thought that was a very epic way to end the film because he’s saying once and for all that he will oppose the OCP. You could do a lot of interesting sequels and such with this so it’s a shame that the films had to end now. I’m not sure if I would trust the mayor of Detroit if he is put back into power but surely he has to be better than the OCP right?

Overall, RoboCop 3 got back some of the shine it had been lacking in the second film. Not all of it mind you but this is a good start. It can be the cheesiest film though with the kid and even the media scene where one of the reporters finally has enough of this. That said, we get some fun fights and RoboCop’s jet pack was fun. The police going back on strike feels almost like a running gag at this point but at least this time they all walked out to oppose the villains which is good. In the final fight it felt like there was quite a body count though so hopefully they all went in with no regrets. None of the sequels may have caught up to the original but it was fun seeing all of these adventures. I’m glad that RoboCop was able to achieve a full trilogy since that is not an easy feat.

Overall 6/10

RoboCop 2 Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

RoboCop 2 is the weakest film in the series. It still has its fun moments and memorable scenes but starts to show a lot of weaknesses that the first film just didn’t have. A lot of this you can trace back to the new main villain but it’s really a group effort in the end. He was only part of the problem, but I will say the film has a very solid group of opening scenes here which start the film off on the right note.

With RoboCop as the hot new item, OCP is pretty happy with how things have gone. Now Detroit is nearly penniless and they are ready to own the entire city. Still, RoboCop has been acting a little too much like an individual as opposed to a machine so it’s time to brainwash him again. (This guy seriously cannot catch a break!) After RoboCop is encouraged to break off ties with his old family for good, he’s beat up by the new gang in town led by Cain and a kid named Hob. If even RoboCop can’t stop these villains…who can?

First off, having a kid be one of the main villains is not a good idea. I can’t take Hob seriously at all. The fact that he is able to talk tough to the traitorous cop Duffy and some of the other villains just makes you shake your head. He acts like a big shot but he’s young enough where anyone could just slap him to the side. Of course RoboCop can’t do much against him due to the system blocking him from messing with a kid but it’s just an annoying way to go about it. At least have RoboCop grab him or something.

Of course, in this film RoboCop can only move with the speed of molasses so good luck with that. He walks into every trap imaginable and just doesn’t look impressive. Nobody should be scared of him if this is the extent of his abilities. Not only is he slow but he can take serious damage from even basic attacks. The villains just pull out some fancy guns and they have RoboCop on the defensive. That’s not a good look for the crime fighter at all and just takes away any hype he had built up before now.

The scene where the villains quite literally rip RoboCop to pieces is just annoying. Sure, I can buy into how RoboCop wasn’t able to break away since the magnet makes sense, but the scenes leading up to that are really something. It’s depressing to see his parts just thrown onto the street where the officers are on strike again. You want RoboCop to be treated with far more dignity than he is awarded there. The villains end up doing something similar to the traitor cop which is definitely a more graphic scene although mainly off screen so you just hear the buzz saw getting closer.

Can’t say Duffy was very sympathetic though considering how awful he was. Even RoboCop wasn’t really showing him any mercy during their fight like when he kept throwing the guy through walls over and over again. I guess he can at least flex against normal human opponents since they can’t really fight back. Anne doesn’t get a big role in this one. She tries to remind RoboCop of his humanity a bit but that’s all.

Meanwhile corporate has a new villain in Juliette since the old ones were bumped off. She is willing to do whatever it takes to get higher in the company whether it means having affairs, hiring thugs, or doing anything like that. She’s an effective villain even if she isn’t nearly as entertaining as the first ones. The corporate angle also appears a little less than in the first film but you still have the fun commercials and OCP just generally showing that they will cross any line to achieve their objective. That’s the kind of dedication among the villains that you need to see.

Cain is the main gangster even if I would argue the kid has a bigger role. There isn’t a lot to him though beyond just being a mean gangster. He makes the guy from film 1 look like a mastermind. Therein lies the problem here, every single part of this film is a downgrade from the first around the board. It even reuses some ideas like having RoboCop brainwashed again. Lets just say it won’t be the last time either. It’s why I would never want to be a robot since there are so many ways things can go sideways. It’s also bad when the company that created you is an evil one.

The kid is annoying as the villain and I would have liked the film to have moved forward and tried something different instead of just having the same kind of plot and nerfing RoboCop to make it work. A normal gang should not pose any kind of threat to RoboCop but of course it does since he is so slow and has no battle experience. It seems like he lost a lot of intelligence between films as well given how he falls for every trap. I would expect him to be able to carry himself way better than he does here.

The worst thing you can say about the film is that some scenes can almost be boring by the end. RoboCop gets to finally look decent by the end which is all well and good but it’s more of a consolation prize by that point. He’s looked so bad throughout the film that it’s just too late. Even the fact that he gets traumatized by the villains is odd. I know he can still feel things but getting traumatized by the shocks is a bit much. OCP’s local representative (Now he’s a fun character) isn’t exactly very helpful with this but the heroes shouldn’t need OCP for this. The first thing the heroes need to do is deactivate RoboCop’s pain sensors for next time unless OCP stops them.

Overall, RoboCop 2 is a big downgrade from the first film. It can still be fun at times and have good action scenes but for the most part it’s all about showing you how annoying it would be to become RoboCop. You have no control over yourself and would get crushed in every fight. Having the kid as a villain was really the last straw for the film. It’s bad enough for RoboCop to keep losing but it feels like he learns nothing from each encounter. Needless to say, things continue to happen to him in the third film which just shows that there was no lesson learned here. Lets not get ahead of ourselves though, that review will be next. I’d say you can safely skip this film but if you liked the first one a whole lot then you may as well check it out.

Overall 5/10

RoboCop (1987) Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Robocop is a very famous character to be sure. Even if you haven’t seen the film you have likely heard of it in some way or another. It’s a movie that has aged rather well and I do agree with many that it beats the reboot. I enjoyed both the serious scenes of the movie as well as the moments that parody the media to an extent. Now those were some pretty fun commercials in there. All in all, it’s not a title you are likely to forget.

The movie starts off with corporate trying to find a way to cut costs. In this world they own the police force in Detroit but naturally they don’t want to pay them a whole lot. The police have even started organizing a strike. Their chief doesn’t like this but there isn’t a whole lot that he can do about it now that the union is on board. Unfortunately for Jones, his project doesn’t work so well and his robot murders someone. This allows Bob to get in and suggest his RoboCop project.

RoboCop is the process of basically turning the remains of a dead cop into this robotic police officer who will enforce the law. The timing couldn’t be better as officer Murphy was just gunned down by a group of gang members. While his memory should be wiped, RoboCop seems to remember his days as Murphy and his police partner Anne recognizes him as well. Will RoboCop be able to get past his sense of confusion to take down the gang and make the world a better place or is this game over for him? Additionally, with the OCP owning him and the cops, will he really be able to enact true justice?

I would really call this an action comedy because of how well the film executes on both genres. For starters you have the opening scene where the robot murders one of the board members. It’s a rough fate for the guy but I would say it’s still played for laughs and it works. These dark comedic moments are perfect in RoboCop and show how merciless the corporate world is. This scene doesn’t deter any of the workers there which is saying something.

I rather liked Bob quite a bit as an antagonist. He saw an opening and immediately jumped right in. He wasn’t afraid of Jones and talked tough right to his face. That’s the kind of resolve I want to see out of the up and coming villain. Things don’t turn out very well for him in the end but there wasn’t a lot he could have done. While I thought Jones would be a rather forgettable villain by the end, he impressed me with how he got his revenge later on. I’m telling you, this company does not play around and you don’t want to make an enemy out of anyone there. They all play for keeps.

The Chairman is also really good. He was extremely quick on the take during the climax which is ultimately how he kept his life. Otherwise that would have gone sideways for him very quickly and he would only be a memory. The actual main villain Clarence wasn’t as memorable though. He’s a rather unhinged guy who deeply enjoys his job but there still isn’t much more to him other than being a mobster. He’s like a C grade Joker. The guy does well in fights but he’s just not super interesting.

As for RoboCop, well he’s a fun character. I liked him quite a lot as Murphy so it was rather sad to see him go. The way Murphy dies in the intro was really effective. In large part because this is how you picture a lot of these encounters ending without any plot armor for the main character. You can’t just attack a whole gang on your own and expect to win. Murphy was just too hot headed in this case and it really ended up backfiring on him. It just felt very realistic, but definitely a painful way to go out.

In his transformed state, Murphy isn’t quite as hot headed as he used to be. He does keep some parts of his personality like twirling the gun but for the most part he is quite different now. He also has the disadvantage of being a robot owned by OCP so they can brainwash him at any point. Still, RoboCop does his best to dish out some peace to the villains and he does well. From the 3 films this is easily his best portrayal. He takes out a lot of thugs and is quite durable without being way too slow. He also thinks of good ways to get around his programming weaknesses. As for his partner Anne, she’s a good cop. Ultimately she wasn’t quite fast enough to help Murphy out but I would say she is solid. She just doesn’t get quite as big a role as you might be expecting. She provides moral support but that’s about it.

The effects are on point here and the movie has definitely aged well in that respect. If you’ve seen Judge Dredd, you’ll probably be thinking of that film a lot during this movie because of how similar they are. RoboCop is just a fun film all around. As mentioned earlier, the media parts are great too. If you focus on the news headlines behind the reporters you see a lot of interesting items and of course they report on quite a few stories. It shows how hopeless the world is with constant bad things happening. The movie really depicts a rather bleak world where corporate is running the Earth into the ground. Then you have the parody commercials as well which will give you some laughs.

Overall, RoboCop succeeds not just because it’s a fun action film but also because the writing is incredibly clever. It can give you a very powerful moment and then immediately hit you with a really funny moment. I like seeing corporate as the villains since they can be entertaining and this film adapts them well. We even get the full board meetings and the rushed version of RoboCop that isn’t quite so effective. I felt bad for the clunky robot by the end because he meant well but just wasn’t built for success. It even throws a bit of a tantrum on the stairs when trying to follow RoboCop. This just wasn’t his day. If you haven’t seen this film yet then you should definitely change that.

Overall 7/10

Dune (2021) Review

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I really did not like the first Dune film so I certainly went into this one with a lot of reservations. Fortunately it is an improvement in every area. When you watch this version you can see how people could have the franchise up to be the next Star Wars. While I don’t think anything will be the next Star Wars, this one has a solid story and builds up a good universe. Throw in the fact that we should be getting the sequel pretty soon and this title has a whole lot of momentum. Ultimately if you like Sci-Fi then you should like this film.

The movie starts by introducing us to the setup of the world. The Emperor rules just about all of the solar systems and there are houses that are under him. Each house has its own ruler, army, and population. The main character Paul is the prince of the Atreides house and they’ve done rather well for themselves. Unfortunately they are suddenly given a mission by the Emperor to go and take control of Arrakis as the Baron will be pulling his people out. The kingdom isn’t thrilled about this since Arrakis is a desert wasteland that is hard to survive in. Additionally their house has never gotten along with the Baron’s house so this seems to be a trap.

Meanwhile, Paul is not sure if he even wants to be king. Making this more complicated is the fact that he has been having a lot of dreams about Arrakis and a girl on that planet. The dreams range from her staring at him to seemingly stabbing him. He is also involved in some shady prophecy from his mother’s side of the family that he will be the chosen one. This will likely put him under an even greater spotlight which could make the emperor go against him. It’s going to be a difficult journey for Paul.

There’s a ton of world building here so that’s really just scratching the surface. I will say, the quicker you learn the names for each of the planets and houses, the quicker you will be able to not only understand the plot but really get into it. Memorizing the names is crucial here. The effects are pretty solid and definitely help for the fight scenes. It’s cool to see the barriers that the suit emits as they are quite unique. You can stop most projectiles but close range attacks get more dangerous.

The training fights Paul has to go through really show this effectively. Now I wouldn’t say the film is super action packed as I would call it more of an adventure but you do have the occasional battle. Duncan easily gets the best battle near the end of the film. He really shows off his skills and proves himself to be the best fighter in the army without a doubt. I wouldn’t say any of the musical themes stuck with me but as you go through the scenes there aren’t any distracting moments either.

As a main character Paul is decent. He can definitely panic a bit with the burden that he is given but for the most part he takes things well. He’s not as tough as he acts at times but his skills should keep on improving so that by the sequel he will be ready to engage anyone in combat. As it stands he is already powerful enough to beat many fighters in a 1 on 1 situation.

As for his mother Jessica, she was quite impressive here. She has mastered “the voice” which is an ability that lets you mind control someone just by talking. It’s very handy to have and she can also fight hand to hand as well. The scene where she and Paul take on some fighters near the end was a really good showing there. Her pact involving the prophecy could certainly end up being troublesome so we’ll see what choices she makes going forward.

Paul’s father Leto is also solid here. I thought he did well at leading his kingdom and it’s hard to blame him for how things turned out. I don’t feel like he had a realistic option of turning down the Emperor’s order. It was going to happen whether he made it easy or not. Then for the invasion, well every factor was against him and it’s hard to win like that. Leto seemed like a good man and at the end of the day that’s all you can really ask for.

Duncan’s the best character in the film by far though. He is a true adventurer through and through. He keeps up a fun attitude throughout the story and takes a lot of the risks. Duncan doesn’t back down from a fight and serves as a great role model for Paul. Gurney is another good character here. He’s tough like Duncan and is always willing to speak his mind. I’d have liked to have seen some more action from him since I bet this guy can fight at a high level as well.

If the film has a main weak point it’s that none of the villains are particularly interesting. We don’t really see the Emperor yet and the guy Arrakis really exists to get wrecked by Paul. The Baron is someone who will have a big role but he just isn’t my kind of character. The guy doesn’t participate in the action unless his opponent can’t move. Baron needs to have the absolute advantage in every encounter which doesn’t speak well to his confidence. His son Glossu could be a fun enforcer but he hasn’t gotten to do a whole lot yet.

As for the main heroine Chani, she doesn’t even get to appear outside of dreams until the end so there isn’t much to say about her yet. Based on the dreams Paul has been having, he should definitely be careful around her. I could do without the constant dreams though. That’s one area where I feel the film could have shown the dreams once and we’d be good. It’s not like you will forget the dreams over the course of the movie so there’s no reason to show it again.

Some aspects of surviving on this desert planet can also be a bit gross like the whole recycled water bit. It reminds me why I prefer to be in more city type environments. That said, even in the film none of the characters want to be here so that tracks. Since the emperor seemingly set them up to fail, you wish that the heroes would have fought back instead of simply complying. They were likely doomed either way but better to turn and fight while you can then to slowly die out right? Ultimately the villains had really good execution on their plan though so it was definitely going to be tough to thwart them.

Overall, Dune sets the stage pretty well. In a lot of ways it does feel like the whole movie was the opening act so all of the events were set up well. The characters are interesting and the plot moves at a good pace. Both things that you would have a hard time saying about the first film. I can safely say this was a lot better than I had been expecting and of course you will get to see the sand worms with the updated graphics here so they look quite impressive. Once Paul masters all of his abilities we should be in for some more fun fights coming up.

Overall 7/10

Gao Mikado vs Lightning

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Suggested by Sonic Gao Mikado has a ton of cards and he’s had good fights with many challengers over the years. He has no individual card that can defeat Lightning so the question is whether he can win with sheer numbers. I can see him making this a close fight but ultimately Lightning should win. She has shown the stamina needed to fight armies in the past and does have a variety of summons at the ready as well which will aid her in combat. Ultimately Gao will be on the back foot here. Lightning wins.

Frieza vs Ryu

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Suggested by Sonic Ryu got a good boost thanks to Asura’s Wrath but I don’t think that will be enough to take down Frieza here. Frieza got his golden form which massively boosted his stats to the point where there are very few who can reasonably hope to take him down. Ryu has the edge in actual combat skill but it just doesn’t make a difference when your opponent is that much stronger than you. They aren’t in the same league and Frieza could end the universe on a whim. Frieza wins.

Yusuke vs Zero

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Suggested by Sonic Zero has his Z saber and multiple lifetimes worth of experience. That said, he isn’t going to be ready to duke it out with someone like Yusuke here. Yusuke has the massive edge in power and speed. As good as Zero is, his durability also isn’t quite up to par with Yusuke’s. When a robotic part is destroyed there is no coming back from that and Yusuke hits with the best of them. Ultimately this fight will become worse for Zero as it goes on. Yusuke wins.

Megaman SF vs Tsuna

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Suggested by Sonic Megaman SF has a lot of forms and may be the strongest Megaman version next to EXE. That said, Tsuna is one of the highest tier Shonen Jump leads and his speed by the end of the series was insane. SF may have more raw attack power but I see Tsuna overwhelming him in an aerial battle and ultimately SF won’t have the reserves needed to win. This should be an intense battle all the way to the end. Tsuna wins.

Rukia vs Asta

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Suggested by Sonic Rukia and Asta are both fighters who grew massively stronger as their series went on. Rukia certainly was captain level by the end of her adventure and Asta achieved that status in his verse as well. Ultimately I would give Asta the edge because he can keep up with Rukia’s speed and his anti magic should have a good effect against her ice. I would trust his ability a lot in that matchup and should have the edge in close quarters. Asta wins.

Shadow Cat vs Gamora

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Suggested by Destroyer Shadow Cat’s ability to move through objects and even other fighters is a handy one. That said, it won’t be enough to stop Gamora, known as the deadliest woman alive. Gamora has super strength and a whole host of excellent close combat skills. She would have the advantage the instant they both began fighting and then some. Shadow Cat would be on the defensive right from the jump. Ultimately she doesn’t have a way to bring Gamora down without getting sliced away. Gamora wins.