Watch Robocop Online The logical comparisons for this one would arguably be Sony Pictures’ 2012 Total TOT +1.23% Recall remake and 20th Century Fox's President’s Day 2013 release A Good Day To Die Hard. Both films opened with around $25 million and both ended with over/under $60 million domestic. Die Hard 5 ended its domestic run with $67 million while Total Recall ended with $58 million. Whether or not Robocop performs like A Good Day To Die Hard overseas ($300 million worldwide) or Total Recall overseas ($198 million) will determine if the $100 million production ends up remotely profitable.

Watch Robocop Online All three films somewhat bravely went out in 2D only while A Good Day To Die Hard went out as R-rated, which was an arbitrary sop to domestic audiences and a sign that Fox didn’t expect the $92 million sequel to play much beyond the hardcore franchise fans. As for Robocop, it like Total Recall is a PG-13 remake of an infamously R-rated film. The irony is, despite strong marketing, merely mediocre reviews (which is actually better than expected all-things-considered), and a strong cast of known actors, its PG-13 may end up being a domestic handicap.

Watch Robocop Online That PG-13 was all about grabbing the teen boy audience, the ones too young to get into an R-rated film and possibly too young to have seen or care much about the 1987 original. But The LEGO Movie may end up grabbing nearly every major demographic outside the hardcore romantics who have Endless Love, About Last Night, and A Winter’s Tale to choose from. Had Sony just went with an R-rating in the first place, Robocop would function as genuine adult-skewing counter-programming against The LEGO Movie.

Watch Robocop Online But as of now, it’s merely another “all-ages” genre entry in the face of an unexpected tidal wave. To be fair, both The LEGO Movie and Robocop have bounced around the release slate a couple times, so Sony couldn’t have known two years ago that Warner Bros.’ LEGO Movie would be the kind of thunderous and buzzy hit that actually hurts other films in the marketplace by sucking away all the attention and coverage.

Watch Robocop Online But that’s where Sony is right now, in a not-dissimilar place as Warner Bros.’ Dark Shadows and Universal’s Battleship found themselves in after Walt Disney's DIS +0.95% The Avengers turned out to be much bigger (and arguably better) than most expected. The good news is that the film has already earned $28 million overseas and will have an IMAX advantage here and abroad. But it may be a bumpy road for this not-terribly buzzed-about remake, especially with another film with far more brand awareness still firing on all cylinders.

Watch Robocop Online The best idea of director director José Padilha and writer Joshua Zetumer’s Robocop remake is the inversion of its central character arc. While the 1987 Paul Verhoeven original concerned a machine that realizes that it is a man, this update basically concerns a man who comes to terms with being trapped inside a machine. That’s a sadly ironic summation of the film’s core failing as well. There are good ideas, strong actors, and interesting characters are trapped inside a remake thus required to hit certain plot beats to its detriment. It’s not a problem that they went and remade Robocop. But the biggest problem with this Robocop is that it’s a remake.

Watch Robocop Online It’s clear that the filmmakers are trying to reshape the Robocop origin story into a commentary on overseas drone warfare. They have literally invented a character, a right wing talk show host played by Samuel L. Jackson, who stands mostly by himself on a stage and lectures us as to the films themes and morals. They make think it’s clever because said character says the opposite of what we’re supposed to think, but it’s still one of the more egregious examples of book report theater.

Watch Robocop Online Moreover, the film is so sanitized, specifically in its violence (Robocop mostly uses a taser and mostly fights robots), that the film itself becomes an example of itself and thus negates its own politics. It is an example of no-harm, no foul action film making. This is an anti-drone film where you come out thinking drones in America wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world, as long as we trust those making them. The saving grace of the film is the ridiculously good cast.

Watch Robocop Online The film is almost worth seeing purely for the scenes of Michael Keaton (as the head of Omnicorp) and Gary Oldman (as the morally conflicted scientist) together. Gary Oldman is once again terrific, and his initial appearance is one of the film’s best dramatic beats. The film’s best material is the extended sequence of watching Murphy (Joel Kinnaman, who is fine I suppose) come to terms with his fate. The film’s best moment when the not-quite dead policeman discovers what’s inside his robo suit. There is arguably too much of this “explain everything” material (another example of misunderstanding Batman Begins‘s appeal), but at least it’s fresh and interesting.