Old Detroit in the future is in a post-apocalyptic mood of endless crime. A brave officer is killed and transformed into Robocop, an experimental cyborg. Paul Verhoeven's classic is questionable at points but being what it is - a subversive anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-fascist parody that is also so packed with action and violence it's hard to know who ISN'T being wasted, targeted, or destroyed in this romping story - it has few peers (unless one counts Michael Moore's also quesitonable "documentaries").
Sadly, this satire is indeed still in a class of its own because it takes itself just seriously enough as Murphy struggles to, initially, embrace his hero status then reject it and then embrace it again. Usually this decline and fall and rise again narrative comes off as too mechanical. Here, it is gut-wrenchingly authentic. It's taken for granted that Robo deserves all credit. I disagree, although Clarence Boddicker is no doubt still a fan-favorite, the film and plot really depend on Ronny Cox's Dick Jones, an OCP exec whose loyalties are prone to shifting at a moment's notice.
It can't be called a perfect film. The cops-turning-on-Robocop twist is so stupid and unbelievable. But the amazing thing is the cohension that the plot and character have even today.
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