RoboCop

Last night I was watching the 1987 film RoboCop, directed by Paul Verhoeven, on TV. The film is set in Detroit, Michigan, sometime in the near future. The city has degenerated into a crime-ridden nightmare, with the beleagured police force unable to cope. The city contracts a vast corporation, OCP (Omni Consumer Products) to finance and run the police department, but OCP are more interested in creating their own city, which they call Delta City, where Detroit now stands. They decide to use new methods of policing, but when the first of the law-enforcement robots, ED-209, goes violently wrong, they decide to use organic material and machinery to create a kind of cyborg. Police officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller), gunned down by a brutal crime gang, is the unwitting donor of the organic material used to create RoboCop. Initially RoboCop seems to be a huge success, but before long, memories of Murphy's old life start to resurface. I remember watching RoboCop when I was quite young, and I was actually surprised by how violent the film is as well as by how (intentionally) funny it is. I still think it is one of the best action films of the 1980s. I remember years ago, a very heavily edited version of the film was made to be shown TV during the early evening so kids could watch it. They cut out most of the violence and cut or re-dubbed the swearing, with hilarious results, such as the line: "fun you, melon-farmer!"

Today has been quiet. I've only been out to go and get my groceries for the week, and the rest of the time has been spent watching TV or on the computer. My throat is feeling better, though.