RoboCop 3 Reviews

RoboCop 3 feels like a RoboCop movie created by a filmmaking team who do not understand what made the brand so appealing in the first place. A PG-13 instalment without lead actor Peter Weller, this second sequel to 1987's RoboCop is a completely generic, dull action flick devoid of the sharp societal commentary and deliriously entertaining ultraviolence that characterised its predecessors. Although the bones of an interesting story idea are present, the execution is downright disastrous, with new writer-director Fred Dekker disposing of the RoboCop franchise's trademark identity but never carving out a distinct or interesting identity in its place. RoboCop 3 is heartbreakingly bland and bloodless, but it is still too dark and violent for children, begging the question of who the target audience is supposed to be. Despite production taking place in 1991, the movie languished in post-production for two years due to Orion Pictures filing for bankruptcy before RoboCop 3 finally snuck into theatres with minimal fanfare in 1993. Frankly, Orion should have cancelled the film instead.

The unscrupulous conglomerate Omni Consumer Products, or OCP, plan to demolish the slums of Detroit and build the utopian Delta City. To finance the plan, the Japanese Kanemitsu Corporation buys a controlling stake in OCP and begins pushing ahead. However, demolishing Old Detroit involves evicting the city's poverty-stricken residents who have no desire to leave their homes, prompting an underground resistance movement to stand up and fight. With the Detroit Police Department unwilling to enforce mass eviction, OCP commissions a heavily armed private security force known as the Urban Rehabilitators to forcibly and violently remove the residents of condemned Detroit neighbourhoods. Alex Murphy/RoboCop (Robert Burke) and his partner, Anne Lewis (Nany Allen), try to defend civilians against the Urban Rehabilitators, but Anne is mortally wounded in the ensuing gunfight, and RoboCop is severely damaged. However, resistance soldiers save RoboCop, and the robotic law enforcement officer joins the fight against OCP. Meanwhile, the Kanemitsu Corporation have ninja androids at their disposal.

Dekker is undeniably talented, with Night of the Creeps and The Monster Squad to his name, but he is hopelessly out of his element with RoboCop 3, particularly with the studio's creative demands (neutered violence, less satire, more kid-friendly) hindering the endeavour from the get-go. Worse, despite comic-book luminary Frank Miller receiving a writing credit, not many of his ideas made it to the finished film after Dekker's rewrites. RoboCop 3 retains some of the franchise's recognisable elements, including news reports, but it comes off as mimicry instead of an organic continuation of director Paul Verhoeven's iconic original film. Additionally, Dekker himself acknowledges that Murphy's story was effectively wrapped up in the previous movies, leaving little for RoboCop 3 to explore. As a result, RoboCop feels like an incidental character here, with the film focusing more on OCP and the Urban Rehabilitators, and with no heart or emotion to elevate the material above the superficial. Dekker tries to create an emotional anchor with Lewis's death, but her demise feels surprisingly hollow, and she is quickly forgotten about. Plus, the dialogue is tin-eared and dreary, there is no dark humour, and the movie horrendously drags between the infrequent action beats.

With a PG-13 rating in place, RoboCop 3 comes up short in terms of action, with only a few set pieces scattered throughout, none of which make any lasting impact. For the most part, RoboCop 3 is often stuck in dialogue and exposition mode, making it an exceedingly dreary bore. To Dekker's credit, a few of the on-screen deaths make use of blood squibs, making it more violent than any PG-13 movie to see the light of day in the 21st Century. However, deaths frequently happen off-screen during the big set pieces, and the blood squibs are noticeably tame. (One character appears to simply have a tomato sauce stain on his shirt instead of a gushing chest wound.) The toned-down violence looks even worse compared to the first two RoboCop movies, which were rigorously trimmed to avoid an NC-17 rating. With RoboCop 3's studio-mandated content taming, Detroit no longer looks like an amoral hellhole populated by dangerous murderers and criminals, and the city lacks a grimy, sinister personality. There is also no visceral punch to the action sequences, making everything feel vanilla and boring. It is a fundamental flaw from which RoboCop 3 never recovers. Furthermore, RoboCop 3 betrays the characters and the established lore, from Lewis walking away during a discussion about erasing Murphy's memory, to a little girl reprogramming the iconic ED-209 in mere seconds.

After Orion Pictures was bought out, the new releasing studio did not allocate enough money to properly finish and polish the special effects. Combined with the limited shooting budget resulting in cheap-looking sets and basic production design, a noticeable cheapness plagues RoboCop 3. The unfinished special effects are particularly apparent during the climax. Although RoboCop's flight suit is an intriguing and fun idea, the execution is incredibly ropey, with slipshod compositing that never looks convincing for a single frame. Likewise, the ninja androids are a fun-as-hell idea, but the ensuing fights are short and underwhelming. Dekker wanted to punch up these scenes by bringing in an Asian stunt team, but the restricted budget prevented this. At the very least, RoboCop composer Basil Poledouris returns here and bestows the production with the franchise's memorable music cues and themes. Additionally, cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe (They Live, Prince of Darkness) does what he can, but the production design and the script fail to serve him, with too many daylight scenes and with eccentric punk rockers now inhabiting the streets of Detroit.

With Peter Weller unable to return due to scheduling conflicts with David Lynch's Naked Lunch, Robert Burke takes over the titular character here, having been selected mainly for his body measurements that allowed him to wear the existing RoboCop suits (the production could not afford to create new suits). Even though Burke gives it his all, he is a subpar substitute for Weller, feeling more like an unmemorable placeholder. Burke is not our RoboCop - he lacks the authoritative voice and the strong jawline that made his predecessor a perfect fit for the role. A few original cast members return here, including Nancy Allen, but she does not achieve much beyond being killed by the leader of the Urban Rehabilitators, played by British performer John Castle. Rip Torn also joins the cast as OCP's CEO, and he is perfectly serviceable playing a ruthless corporate type. There are other intriguing additions to the ensemble, including CCH Pounder and Stephen Root who play resistance fighters, but they are not enough to enliven the uninspired screenplay.

With uninteresting new characters, some woeful special effects, and dull action scenes, RoboCop 3 is a toothless sequel that is not worthy of the iconic masterpiece that spawned it. In short, RoboCop 3 is not fun enough to be considered a guilty pleasure, nor is it smart or skilful enough to be considered anything substantive. Despite the commercially-friendly PG-13 rating, RoboCop 3 underperformed at the box office and, ironically, was the least profitable film in the franchise. The RoboCop franchise continued with games, TV shows and a 2014 remake, but nothing comes close to the quality of the original 1987 movie.