Robocop Limited Edition review by Bobby Blakey
Long before my obsession with Star Wars, there were two other sci-fi films that really slapped me in the face with Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop in 1987. There film launched a franchise featuring sequels, a remake and TV series. While there have been numerous releases of the film Arrow Video is bringing the classic original back home in an all-new Limited Edition set.
Robocop follows the crime-ridden city of Detroit in the future and run by a massive company. The company has developed a huge crime-fighting robot, which unfortunately develops a rather dangerous glitch. The company sees a way to get back in favor with the public when policeman Alex Murphy is killed by a street gang. Murphy's body is reconstructed within a steel shell and called RoboCop. RoboCop is very successful against criminals and becomes a target of supervillian Boddicker.
Every time I re-watch this movie I am reminded why I love it so much. This is a film that shouldn’t work with all the strange TV cuts and silliness, but does the exact opposite. All of these elements actually work as not only the narrative in the film, but also society itself. The story is pretty simple, but still delivers a big impact of ethics between the government, society and soul. This is a way more deep film than most really see. Thankfully it’s also wrapped in a hyper violent barrage of bullets and blood to entertain throughout.
For this film to work Robocop himself had to be memorable and his iconic look has become a permanent part of pop culture. Despite his slow moving mime like style and lack of emotions Peter Weller brought the character to life to perfection making it one of my favorite of all-time. The director’s cut is the way this movie needs to be seen to get to see the full scope of violence and Robocop do his thing. This new limited edition release features the director's cut and the original theatrical release, both presented with a 4K restoration approved by Verhoeven himself.
The restoration looks great and as if having both theatrical and director’s cut wasn’t enough of a reason to grab this set it also offers up bonus content including both old and new commentaries, interviews, featurettes and so much more. This jam packed set also includes six collector’s postcards, double sided fold-out poster featuring the original and newly commissioned artwork from Paul Shipper and a limited edition collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Omar Ahmed, Christopher Griffiths and Henry Blyth, a 1987 Fangoria interview with Rob Bottin, and archive publicity materials.
At the same time this new set debuts they will also be releasing a Steelbook Edition of the film that is also loaded with bonus content. Join the future of law enforcement and grab your Robocop Limited Edition or Steelbook when it hits the streets on November 26th from Arrow Video.
