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Daring Dark Satire: Live Like A Machine, Die Like A Machine

08/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In contrast to many other reviewers, I happen to think R2 has an astonishingly inventive script brimming with daring, dark satire. The satire is so dark however, that it challenges a viewer not to be merely "entertained", but enter into a dialogue with the film. I contend that R2 is in the tradition of such apocpalyptic satirical art as CLOCKWORK ORANGE and NAKED LUNCH which serve to warn humankind just where in hell its crazed heart may lead. Unlike most mainstream Hollywood films, R2 is deeply critical of humanity and its resulting civilization -- starting with the harsh market-driven economy of winners and losers (it is no coincidence that both the drug trade and OCP bow to the same economic models). By depicting a world of such dire human/social affliction coupled with all the high-tech tools required to increase its profit (and anguish), R2 challenges the viewer to separate from this "humanity". Like the best satire, R2 exists to crack our rose-colored glasses, bloody our noses, and tell us what's wrong, so there is precious little "good" to root for in either old or new Detroit. What's at stake in R2 is simply keeping the flood of evil from drowning everything all at once. The film's sharp satirical touches include: expanding the Reagan-era "privatizing" mania to that of OCP "owning" Detroit as a merciless send-up of free market philosophy; the 12-year old drug kingpin just a few tweaks from today's gun-toting teenaged gangbangers as a potent symbol for a suicidal civilization's nihilistic future; the telethon to "save" Detroit as a chilling parody of the fiscal/civil tensions between Democracy and Capitalism (in which, tellingly, the 12-year old drug dealer purchases Detroit's "freedom"); the designer drug, Nuke, as the corrupted escape-valve for society's traumatized, post-Ritalin citizens (and just wait until human genome research trickles down to the greed of the street); the domestication of Robocop into a platitude-whining ninny as a ridicule of pie-in-the-sky suburban values failing in a battlezone of urban realities (which the suburbanites' defection from the inner-city helped to create); and the Robocop 2 cyborg who sports a criminal mind determined as the best fit for our high-tech future. These and other barbs all serve to criticize society's faith that higher and higher technology will save us from human folly instead of high-tech being correctly seen as just the latest edition of that same human folly.Yes, the script may superficially suffer from its demanding ambitions with perhaps one-too-many a sub-plot (screenwriter Frank Miller's graphic novel background pushes the envelope here), but R2's postcards-from-hell humor and prescient social criticism are the diamonds wrought from such risk. R2 is a wake-up call for a society increasingly divorced from nature: he who lives like a machine will die like a machine."

What Went Wrong?

J. Victor | Long Island NY | 05/01/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"RoboCop 2 is a serious dissapointment. Director Irvin Kershner who directed an excellent sequel (The Empire Stikes Back), does his best here but is just saddled with a script that is pretty much a disaster. Writer Frank Miller had the right idea but went about it in the wrong way.The story about a drug lord who is later created as a bigger and more dangerous robot that feeds on it's own drug supply has a great Frankenstein quality to it. The biggest problem with the film ..The mind numbing violence and a sadistic and scheming 12 year old boy is ugly and in poor taste. The biting sense of humor is scattershot but there a couple of real zingers.Tom Noonan as the drug lord is all but wasted, he could have been an interesting and scary character, but just walks around looking stoned out. Belinda Bauer as the scheming and zealous OCP scientist, fares a bit better. Willard Pugh as the mayor of Detroit is a painful to listen stereotype. Gabriel Damon is the infamous 12 year old criminal. Really poor taste there. Peter Weller is back as the heroic Cyborg, showing a funny side as well, after he's been reprogrammed to be more "human friendly"The music of Basil Poledoris is sorely missing here. The Special Effects are the saving grace of the film. The design of the RobCop 2 machine is a frightening entity, and Phil Tippett creates an epic battle between the two RoboCops. RoboCop 2 could have been a pretty good film. The story idea itself was good but too many ugly and unneccessary ideas were added to the story. Reserved viewing at best."

Not bad for a movie sequel

retrowens | Alabama, USA | 01/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most sequels to great movies aren't very good, but "Robocop 2" is an exception. Robocop (Peter Weller) returns to rid the city of criminals. In this sequel, he's ultimately after the drug lord of the city, Cain (Tom Noonan). But the road to finding Cain won't come easy, especially not after Robocop gets torn to pieces by some of Cain's people. However, Robocop does finally meet Cain face to face, except that Cain isn't human anymore, he's a cyborg just like Robocop himself, and an evil one at that.I don't see how anybody could give "Robocop 2" a bad rating because it's a great sequel. It has a little bit of dark humor such as a commercial where a woman puts on blue suntan lotion that has a caution reading: "Using this too much can cause cancer." And best of all it has spectacular action sequences, especially after Robocop and Cain finally meet and start fighting each other. The special effects are great, and Robocop 2 (Cain as a robot) is especially well done with all his weapons and the computer that acts as Cain's brain. If you like great action movies or if you liked the first "Robocop," I recommend getting "Robocop 2" without thinking twice."

"I really like this gun man"

Jerry Fry | Freeman, MO USA | 08/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My advice is: watch #1 first and don't waste your money on #3. All the bad guys from Robo 1 have been killed off, Peter Weller and Nancy Allen (remember her from "Carrie"?) have survived and now we have a new evil, sinister bad guy (Cain) who is drug lord supreme. He is distributing the highly addictive drug "nuke" and people are willing to steal and even kill for it ("nuke me baby"). A kid of about 10 going on 30 is one of his accomplices and is very handy with an automatic weapon. Detroit owes OCP something like 50 million and they're demanding payment. The mayor is incensed over this but can't even come close to raising the money with a talent telethon. Guess who comes to the rescue? Not Cain, his life support system has been pulled and he's been transformed into RoboCop 2. The kid has the money and the mayor is more than happy to accept such a generous offer. By the way, Cain was in a little automobile accident. Don't play chicken on a motorcycle going up against an armor plated van, not unless you're RoboCop. That's a basic outline of the movie. And don't tell me you liked #1 but the violence in this one was too much. I admit, there is more gratuitous violence, but what do you expect? This is Detroit, not Rocky Top, Tennessee. But what I still don't get about this movie is how does Robo know his car is going to get blown to smithereens when he goes to find Cain at the River Rouge plant? And why isn't he detected getting out of the car? And another thing, when the bad cop (Duffy) ends up in the operating room I think you should "Have the kid leave"."