The Script to the ‘ROBOCOP’ Remake Leaks Out and Shows the Direction the Film Will Take

You would think that after the enormous bomb that was Total Recall ($44 mil. so far on a rumored $200 mil. budget) that Hollywood might think twice before remaking any classic 80’s genre films.  Hopefully that means that we won’t end up seeing the planned remakes of Highlander, An American Werewolf in London, and Point Break.  One remake of an 80’s classic that we will be seeing though is Jose Padilha’s (Elite Squad) RoboCop.  Fans of the original might recall that when Paul Verhoeven constructed the 1987 metal crime-fighting machine, he incorporated a healthy amount of dark humor and a subtle commentary on ethics and culture in Ronald Reagan led America.  When Andy and I saw Elite Squad II: The Enemy Within at last year’s Fantastic Fest, Padilha spoke of how he felt that the concept of RoboCop “is now more relevant than ever” and how we now live in a society where “large corporations do run everything including people.”   Outside of some cast announcements and the photo of the new ED-209 (seen above) not much has been seen or said about the remake . . . until now.  Drew McWeeny from Hitfix has landed his paws on the script for the remake by Joshua Zetumer and Nick Schenk, and he has quite a few things to say about it.  McWeeny spent most of Sunday (August 12th) discussing lines of dialogue and specific scenes to great length on Twitter.  Suffice it to say, he wasn’t a big fan of the over-the-top social commentary that saturates the script.  Although it may work for some of you, it sounds like this RoboCop may be too aware of the political subtext its force feeding to viewers.

You can read all of McWeeny’s comments by clicking HERE.  I have included below some of his Twitter rant pieced together (via SlashFilm).  Keep in mind this should be considered a spoiler so consider this your …

SPOILER WARNING! 

I’ll share this one detail. In the film, when Murphy is turned into Robocop 1.0, it’s described “a high-tech version of the ’80s suit.” Then they show a focus group scene where criminals laugh at the design. “He looks like a toy from the ’80s!” So they redesign him to look “meaner” as Robocop 2.0, who passes focus group approval. So they not only make sure to include the original design, they also point out it’s dated and stupid. *facepalm*

 

Hold onto your sides for more hilarious “Robocop” details. They outsource his construction to China. #seriously

 

And we meet the ED-209s in the field in Iran, where they’re used to subdue suicide bombers. #ineedallthedrinksnow

 

Ahhh… now they just dropped Robocop 3.0 onto an Al Queda training camp to see what he does.

 

By page 54, they are already onto Robocop 4.0, who looks like a “cop on steroids painted metallic blue.

 

Oh, god… oh dear god… Robocop is a Transformer. He goes from “social mode” to “combat mode” and back. Full transformation.

 

Good god… it just keeps topping itself. It’s like someone wrote a script scientifically fine-tuned to destroy me. Someone shows Pope, head of the OCP project, some mock-ups for Robocop action figures. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t buy that for a dollar!” Yeah, that just happened. NOT SO FUNNY NOW, IS IT?!

 

I’ll say this: once the script stops all the winky-winky crap and just starts telling a story, it’s not terrible. But it’s way too late. If you can get past Robocop The Transformer, there are some interesting action beats. And I’m sure Padilla will direct the hell out of it. But overall? Ouch. Ouch. Ohpleasedon’t. Ouch. And a big side order of ouch.

 

As you can see, McWeeny wasn’t a big fan of the script.  Keep in mind that a lot of this could change during filming or in post production.  I’m of the mind set that it does seem a little too gimmicky and self-aware, but I also like to judge films as a final product.  I was a huge fan of Tarantino’s recent script for Django Unchained but that’s not to say I’m going to love the movie as much.  I’ve always been of the mindset that films are officially made in the editing room.  Editing is truly everything.  Regardless of what the script says, you can always tinker with things in the editing if something isn’t entirely working.  Maybe Padilha will also agree that maybe the film is a little too over-the-top when he goes to edit his film.

RoboCop is scheduled to come out August 9, 2013.