Morton's program, RoboCop, is approved. When officer Murphy (Peter Weller) is killed in the line of duty, his body is transformed into a cyborg that retains some of his mental capacity. He proves to be a great cop, to the delight of his mentor Morton.
But Dick Jones vows revenge. He arms the city's leading criminal gang, led by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), and sends them into battle against RoboCop, who is supported by his former partner, Nancy Allen.
How others will see it. I suspected that men enjoy RoboCop more than do women. My assumption was confirmed by imdb.com. Among ages 18 to 29, men give it a 7.6 rating, while women voted it up as 6.9. The differences narrow by age 45+, as maturity affects the way both genders see the film. It's a black comedy, of course, and great fun for the cynically inclined.
Those left out of the joke (or don't believe it's funny) are unlikely to enjoy the movie, and may even be disgusted with it. If you swing with this crowd, I'm sure you'd make a great parent, but you don't understand that film morality is highly complex. The depiction of violence, even in a gruesome manner, does not necessarily praise it. In the case of RoboCop, it demonstrates the evil that lurks within us. And has a good laugh at it.
How I felt about it. Cops are the heroes here. No one else can be trusted, especially top business executives, who care only about their own careers. The general public isn't highly regarded. The top television show is apparently a mindless screwball comedy featuring a sex-crazed middle-aged man whose signature line is, "I'd buy that for a dollar." This depraved punchline invariably provokes laughs among the show's viewers, who identify completely with the lead.
RoboCop is the superhero that the devoted cop would like to be. Society may be so far gone that it isn't worth saving. Less philosophical, and more practical, is the conclusion that crime is so pervasive that it can't be stopped. But the cop has a job to do, even if his or her efforts are the equivalent of aiming a water pistol at a forest fire. RoboCop, then, is the embodiment of cop hope. With him, or it, we can get the bad guys.
What do RoboCop and Starship Troopers have in common? Both films are surprisingly good, as well as violent, cynical, and compelling. The key combination, however, appears to be director Paul Verhoeven and writer Edward Neumeier.