5 Star

Welcome to the Twenty-First Century.

Arrow Video brings us the classic Sci-fi vision of the future of law enforcement, all in crispy 4k. From director Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, Black Book) who had his big break with this Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner (The Robocop franchise) dystopian look at corporate ownership of the police force in the future of North America. The streets are mean, but the boardroom is a lot deadlier. This Limited Edition comes with two disks, containing the Director’s cut and the theatrical release, plus other features.

Still in the near future, Detroit, industry is failing and so is the social structure, as violence and crime rise and the police force is stretched to its limits. The city grants the mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) control over the Detroit police force. OCP’s Senior President Dick Jones’ (Ronny Cox, Deliverance, Stargate SG-1 (TV Series)) designs for the future are the droid ED-209. But on its inaugural demonstration things do not go to plan, which gives young exec Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer, Twin Peaks (TV Series), Hot Shots! Part Deux) the chance to pitch his idea to the ‘old man’ (Dan O’Herlihy, The Last Starfighter, RoboCop 2), his idea is Robocop.

Elsewhere in Detroit, officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Naked Lunch, The Sin Eater) is transferred to the city’s Metro West precinct, where he meets his new partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen, Dressed to Kill, Poltergeist III). They are tasked with bringing in the notorious Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Rambo III) and his gang (Emil Antonowsky (Paul McCrane, The Blob), Leon Nash (Ray Wise, Batman: The Killing Joke), Joe Cox (Jesse D. Goins, WarGames) and Steve Minh (Calvin Jung, Lethal Weapon 4)).

Lewis and Murphy head out to where they think Boddicker is holed up, but needless to say, this story needs a plot and unfortunately Murphy’s experience at his hands and his Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun gives OCP’s Bob Morton to realize his dream of the future of law enforcement. Murphy will become Robocop.

Robocop 1987 is a true Sci-fi classic, and with this 4k release it’s sure to keep its appeal well into the future. A must own for the fan of those bums on cinema seats back in the day, and for the newcomers who are into their over-the-top Sci-fi action films.