DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox, Miguel Ferrer
Release date Out now

Detroit City Cop Murphy is transferred, massacred and turned into a cyborg policeman, all on the same day. Can he overcome his programming to wreak vengeance and uncover a conspiracy?

RoboCop remains a fantastic film, even after 20 years of increasingly over-the-top and hysterical would-be blockbusters (see this summer’s crop, especially Transformers). It’s as visceral now as it was in 1987, slightly more so in the Extended Cut (featuring an extra minute or so of gore) included in this 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition.

The satire (of the media, business, policing) is all rooted in Reagan’s America, but it seems even timelier in the 21st Century as the world looks and feels much more like the one depicted in RoboCop than ever before. The dialogue is as sharp and funny as ever, and Miguel Ferrer’s thrusting OCP executive could easily be the businessman hero of many a contemporary TV show.

Making his US debut, director Paul Verhoeven assembled a brilliant cast of character actors, slotting many of them into roles that were just right (and often different from those they originally auditioned for). Casting was vital in bringing these characters to life: imagine Michael Ironside as Murphy/RoboCop, as was once mooted!

Peter Weller had already played Buckaroo Banzai, yet he willingly accepted a leading man part in which he is killed 25 minutes in and then spends the majority of the rest of the film concealed behind a facemask. His seven months of mime training was nearly wasted when the suit arrived (after shooting had begun) and was found to be almost impossible to move in. Production was shut down for two days while adjustments were made and Weller rapidly revised his approach to the ‘Robo’ part of the role.

There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes information like this in the ‘making of’ features included on this two disc set. As well as both the Theatrical and Extended cuts of the movie, there are 2006 (20 minutes) and 2001 (37 minutes) ‘making of’ docs with most of the principal actors and crew involved, features on the special effects and villains and two original 1987 featurettes.

Some deleted scenes, trailers, an image gallery and a storyboard sequence with stop-motion animator Phil Tippett make up the rest. The original cut of the film has a commentary from Verhoeven, writer Ed Neumeier and producer Jon Davison. Pity there is not something on the music of the film, easily the best score Basil Poledouris ever produced. Can you imagine RoboCop without that iconic theme?

RoboCop is a violent, bloody satire, with as tight a script as you’re ever going to see (there’s no fat on this drama), and it still stands up as a superior piece of popcorn entertainment, with a serious underside. Brian J. Robb

VERDICT: 9/10
A superb film, well served with a good selection of extras. “I’d buy that for a dollar!”