Short Take: RoboCop (1987)

Director Paul Verhoeven's dystopian action thriller RoboCop is a terrific adventure movie. It may also be the definitive satirical treatment of the 1980s on film. The setting is a near-future Detroit that's a right-wing nightmare of urban lawlessness, albeit without the racism. After a police officer (Peter Weller) is murdered by a crime boss (Kurtwood Smith) and his gang, the officer's remains are appropriated for an experimental cybernetics program. He is resurrected as RoboCop, the first in a proposed line of armored cyborg policemen. His memory was supposed to be erased, but it comes back to him in bits and pieces. He eventually remembers enough to pursue the gang members who ended his previous life. That runs him afoul of a corporate conspiracy to exacerbate crime levels for profit. At every turn, the film pillories corporate greed, keeping-up-with-the-Jones consumerism, and the cultural need to commodify everything. Verhoeven's gleefully transgressive tone makes the satire both vivid and hilarious. Even the film's violence, which would seem shockingly depraved in most contexts, is in keeping with the overall vision. Verhoeven keeps the picture thrillingly paced, and he's also put together a fine cast. Peter Weller is quite affecting as the police officer who becomes RoboCop. The character's eyes, once the armor's helmet is removed, eloquently carry the misery of not knowing the life he has lost. His voice, despite its monotone, carries the ache. Ronny Cox, Miguel Ferrer, and Dan O'Herlihy are sleazy perfection as the slick, sociopathic executives whose company both creates RoboCop and proves his ultimate antagonist. Best of all is Kurtwood Smith as the crime boss. Cackling homicidal maniacs have been a mainstay of crime-centered adventure stories since at least the 1940s, when the Batman comic books introduced the Joker. Several fine actors, including Richard Widmark, Frank Gorshin, and Heath Ledger, have done their most celebrated work in these roles. Smith's performance balances the sniggering viciousness with an air of ruthless determination, and he tops every one of them. The screenplay is credited to Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Jost Vacano provided the cinematography, and Frank J. Urioste delivered the top-notch editing. The picture was followed by two vastly inferior sequels and an insipid 2014 remake.