Paul Verhoeven
Robocop

And if life, after death, were a new life? Don't worry, this is not an essay on the theory of reincarnation, but rather the idea behind the science fiction "Robocop", a science fiction action film that became a great classic of the genre, right away and in the years to come.

In a futuristic Detroit, dominated by a ruthless company called "O.C.P." (Omni Consumer Products) that has barbarically decided to raze the entire city to the ground to build a skyscraper colossus called Delta City, Alex Murphy (Peter Weller, actor trained on Broadway), a righteous cop and family man, is brutally murdered by a gang of scoundrels led by the slimy Clarence Boddicker, a drug-trafficking serial killer. Part of his face and a portion of his brain are joined with various robotic parts and thus Robocop is born, a robo-cyborg who initially remembers nothing of his past life: once the memories resurface, however, Murphy will start taking revenge, leading up to the legendary final showdown with Clarence.

Considering the year of production (1987, 20 years ago), Verhoeven (then newly arrived in American cinema) managed in just one film to cover, besides various topics dear to him (life after death, the human soul and its nuances, robotics), almost prophetic themes, considering their great relevance today (the power of advertising and mass media in general, and that of large multinationals); the special effects (usually the main attraction of science-fiction films) of this great film, for the time they were conceived (memorable is the hand-crafted animation - frame by frame - of the robo-idiot ED 209), are truly remarkable.

Apart from being a great classic, 'Robocop' will appeal to those who, like myself, are madly in love with the sci-fi/action combo. It is worth highlighting the performance of a Peter Weller in a state of grace (even his co-star Nancy Allen, who plays Murphy’s police friend Anne Lewis, admitted that during filming she often wondered if there was actually someone inside the 20 kg exoskeleton worn by Weller). The two sequels will turn out to be nice pure action films and nothing more.