Robocop 3 (1993) - A Movie Review

Review Summary

The reviewer explains that this is a redo: he had previously filmed a review of RoboCop 3, but lost the original file after a problem with the music. After rewatching the film, he gives it a furious verdict, calling it a weak, heavily watered-down sequel that falls well short of RoboCop 2.

Main Criticisms

The reviewer argues that the film’s PG-13 tone strips away the harder-edged violence, satire, and action that distinguished the earlier movies. The story about residents being forced from their homes feels, to him, more like a generic TV movie, and the final scene seems to set up a weekly television series.

He misses Peter Weller, saying Robert John Burke makes less of an impression as RoboCop, though he acknowledges that the script gives the replacement little to work with. He also criticizes:

• A young computer whiz who can hack an ED-209 and make it behave “like a puppy”—a plot device the film quickly abandons.
• The ninja robots, the brief jetpack sequence, and the limited action.
• Nancy Allen’s return and death, as well as what he considers the overly heavy-handed church scene.
• The finale, which he finds far less memorable than RoboCop’s fight with RoboCain in RoboCop 2.

The review’s sharper jokes include treating RoboCop’s fall into the sewer as a fitting symbol for the movie, calling one villain “evil Steve Martin,” and mocking RoboCop’s need to chase that villain in a “pimpmobile.”

What He Praises

The reviewer finds little to praise in the supporting cast or story. He gives some credit to the RoboCop suit and Basil Poledouris’s music, but considers these only modest advantages over the remake.

Personalities

The reviewer speaks solo; no other on-camera personalities appear in the subtitles.