A tribute to the classics, what do you think of "RoboCop"?

Like his compatriot Fernando Merrills, Brazilian Padilha became famous in the world of film circles through two "Elite Force" films. He won the Golden Bear Award in Berlin and was a box office hit in Brazil. It was a hit, and in time it entered Hollywood, the top of the pyramid of the film industry. Compared to Merrills' collaboration with Ralph Fiennes, which was a bit more artistic, "The Immortal Gardener", outsider Padilla seemed to have better luck. Sony Pictures placed high hopes on it and directly received a US$100 million investment. Reboot Paul Verhoeven's 1987 science fiction classic - "RoboCop".

What is certain is that regardless of gains or losses, the new version of "RoboCop" has completely washed away the imprint of Verhoeven's version. This is not only reflected in the "RoboCop" shape that is more in line with modern aesthetics, As well as adding the background of the US war on terror as appropriate. What's even more worth mentioning is that Padilla has also implanted some of his own elements in "Elite Force" into it, striving for a realistic expression style, greatly increasing the emotions and inner drama, portraying the "corrupt police", and portraying the "corrupt police". The reflection on the concept of "fighting violence with violence" and even the powerful talk show host who is almost copied from "Elite Force 2" have given the new version of "RoboCop" a full Pax label.

It must be said that as Padiliya’s masterpiece, the production level and vision of "Elite Force" are impressive. Regardless of the image style, character portrayal, story arrangement or critical strength, it can be called Superior. This time with "RoboCop", Padilla also tried to transplant his own realistic-critical perspective. To a certain extent, the down-and-out industrial city of Detroit can be equated with the slums of Rio de Janeiro. They are both hotbeds of corruption and crime that have been abandoned by society and the times and alienated by poverty. The "RoboCop", which is a mixture of machines and human emotions, is actually a heavily armed "elite force" with super combat power. It emphasizes absolute obedience to orders, ruthlessly exterminates crimes, and relies heavily on force. Eliminate violence and maintain order. It can be said that the "elite troops" are a group of law enforcement machines instilled with cold ideas; while RoboCop is a police officer wearing steel armor. Their police and opponents are not criminals who violently resist the law, but their police colleagues around them, as well as the institutional undercurrents behind the scenes that are difficult to grasp. Even they are suffering from the exact same moral criticism - is the highly efficient but inhumane law enforcement needed by society and the system? And the people's blind worship of so-called righteous violence has elevated them to the altar of heroes.

It must be pointed out that the same realism, placed in the almost realistic story environment of "Elite Force", with the notorious Rio de Janeiro slums as the background, fighting drug dealers and eradicating corruption, is far better than "RoboCop" Fighting against arms dealers and treacherous businessmen is more convincing and affecting. The story of "RoboCop" itself is fictional, and what it sells to the audience in the guise of a science fiction classic is obviously not in-depth thinking and criticism of reality. These elements can only be a buy-one-get-one-free surprise after realistic special effects and exciting actions. , should never be the main course. But Padilla obviously didn't think through this logic, or was too confident that he could perfectly integrate the two. So we see Padilla's Brazilian realism and a certain discomfort reflected in the framework of Hollywood blockbusters. Compared with the almost cold emotions of Verhoeven's original version, the deliberately retained family lines in the new version have obviously greatly affected the overall style of the film. We can certainly understand that this design is the key to the protagonist Murphy getting rid of the constraints of the machine and ultimately retaining his humanity. . However, too much emotional drama makes the protagonist seem too struggling and entangled on the one hand, and slows down the pace of the movie on the other, making the movie seem very tame in the middle. What's more, the emotional scenes in the film are very flat and difficult to move people's hearts. In addition, Padilla's very good tracking shots and hand-held photography obviously cannot satisfy the audience who want to see exciting action scenes. The several action scenes in the film are basically gunfights. They are smooth and sharp, but exciting. It is lacking, and the new ideas are even more lacking. In the end, there was a rematch against several re-equipped ED-209s. It was relatively popular, but the result turned out to be that the protagonist was almost beaten to death. He only managed to escape due to his old partner using a robot program bug to save his life. The protagonist is not omnipotent. This is perfectly reasonable and is the so-called "strive for truth" logical thinking. However, when placed in a science fiction action movie, it immediately reduces the excitement of the movie. It is also worth mentioning that the weak villains are actually a problem that has always existed in the old version. The real criminal was too weak and was eliminated by Murphy in a few moments. In the end, the BOSS was not so evil or even subjectively malicious. He just followed the realistic profit-seeking logic. From the beginning to the end, he is dressed casually and behaves casually like a new Internet IT rich man. It is difficult for people to hate him. However, ED-209 has strong firepower but no ability to think. It is just an eye-catching prop. It's not even a "character". Therefore, the movie did not build enough dramatic tension on the opposition between good and evil, and left all the conflicts to the self-defense of man or machine.

The final showdown also lacked emotional accumulation. It forced the boss, who had always been relatively calm, to point a gun at Murphy's Canadians unnecessarily. I shook my head when I saw this. Is this clearly a rhythm that wants people to die? ?

In short, as a revised work, the new version of RoboCop completely presents a different angle and style from the original version, and takes a new approach in the form of expression. Compared with other special effects science fiction films or heroic action films, the new version of RoboCop has The characters have less facial expressions, their behaviors are more realistic and reasonable, and the new version's appearance and movements are more pleasing to the eye (of course, the old version of the sluggish movements of the troopers feels more robotic and realistic). In particular, the director can continue his fine style of paying attention to reality and emphasizing speculation in the elite unit, giving depth and connotation to a very popcorn-friendly movie, especially once again addressing the classic issue of "man or machine" Asking questions can be regarded as improving the level and standard of the movie.

However, Xiao He succeeds and Xiao He loses. The advantages of the movie are also obvious disadvantages. As a quasi-high-concept movie with a large investment from Hollywood, the action scenes are lackluster, the special effects are mediocre, and there is too much emotion. The drama weakens the excitement of the movie, but the thinking and criticism of the theme is only superficial, and it becomes a bit inconsistent. The most obvious example is that although the director's "Elite" and "RoboCop" show some homogeneity in form, the director's stance in the two movies is completely different. In "Elite Force", in order to train a successor, the captain used the sacrifice of his colleagues to erase the last trace of human weakness in the newcomer, making him finally become a qualified law enforcement machine; in "RoboCop", it is about the final victory of human nature. The machine emphasizes the importance of human law enforcement and the majesty of morality. One has to lament that Hollywood's political correctness cannot be changed by one or two character directors.

Obviously, with reference to "Elite Force 2", the movie also left many subtle clues, including the conservative forces that oppose robots, the media that manipulates public opinion, corrupt politicians who do anything for votes, profit-seeking businessmen, and these The community of interests formed by people may be the biggest enemy of RoboCop. The director obviously wanted to save this for the sequel. However, the box office in North America in three weeks was only over 40 million US dollars, making the prospects of this movie with an investment of over 100 million dollars not looking so good. An aerial shot of Capitol Hill similar to the one at the end of "Elite Force 2" may not be so easy to appear in front of the audience.

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