Sent to me via e-mail. Man, I had forgotten how violent this flick was...
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Wow, I'm kinda surprised my parents let me watch that when I was so young.
Also, Mr. Lif would've been perfect for this.
God, I love this movie. While other '80s action movies were touting the Reagan way, this one was slyly lampooning it by depicting an economically depressed future ravaged by free-market corporatism and militarism run amok.
Also, it's awesome. Love that theme!
The quality of this film only made the sequel that much worse. I had such high hopes for Frank Miller's script. But nooooooooo, he just had to turn out some cheap drivel. I never even bothered with Robocop 3.
Still, the original holds up very, very well. I can remember when "That 70s Show" began that I was unnerved by Kurtwood Smith as Red. All I could do for the first few episodes is wait to see if he was gonna roll in and say something like "Can you flyyyyy, Bobby?" or "Bitches leave." Clarence Bodiker (sic?) was a scary, scary villain. Good stuff, thanks for the reminder!
Paul Verhoeven is a genius of pulp science-fiction.
also responsible for Total Recall & Starship Troopers.
Showgirls and Basic Instinct are best ignored, but Black Book is rather good.
I remember renting this with a GF when we were tasked with watching my kid sister and putting on with her share the couch with us. Oops.
The clips in this video aren't even the ultra-v version. The director's cut was actually given an X-rating because of all the chunks of people getting blown or melted off. If you haven't seen the Criterion edition or the recently released anniversary edition, run, don't walk, to rent that shit right now.
In conclusion, ED-209 FTW.
I'll buy THAT for a dollar.
It's nice to see how much of a badass Kurtwood Smith was back in the day.
I remember when I first saw this--on hotel cable in the Hyatt Regency Columbus back in 1987. I've never enjoyed violent films, but this one was just mesmerizing--the violence was cartoonish, almost laughable, almost lyrical. I was already a Verhoeven fan (having seen "The Fourth Man" in the theatres about 3 times in 2 weeks), and this just cemented it.
It uses its violence well--none of it is wasted. I really love this movie.
Have you ever read the Frank Miller graphic novel adaptation? Sex, drugs and violence galore. The chief engineer is downright creepy. The book was enough to weird me out a bit. I guess Grant Morrison hasn't made me jaded yet.
Oh yes, definitely. This one combines action movie thrills and satire much more successfully than Starship Troopers.
A couple weeks ago I watched Total Recall on cable. I had forgotten how violent a film that was, too. Arnold is never content to just punch a guy, he has to break off a piece of metal and jam it into the guy's neck. My friends and I saw that one the afternoon after taking the SAT Achievement tests.
It may be apocryphal, but I was told that for the first test screenings, the horrific scene where [SPOILER ALERT!] the hero gets blown away was literally three times as long as it ended up being, and that it was so powerful the audience could not focus on anything that happened afterwards: they could barely recall any of the last 2/3rds of the film.
I remember watching it in a theater - I was 14 at the time. I then had a friend tape it off HBO for me, and would watch it along with the first Lethal Weapon as a regular double feature. Now, I would probably be referred to the school psychologist. I agree that even by today's action standards, it was a violent movie.
Not only was it a high quality action film, which holds up well 21 years later, it had a solid character driver storyline.