The Robocop Remake Costume Controversy

It’s been a hot topic since the leak of the photos of Joel Kinnaman all suited up as the new, updated, 2013 Robocop. And fans have had some pretty loud and vocal reactions to it.

I wasn’t planning on saying anything about this new Robocop suit controversy at all, for two reasons:

First, when I heard they were doing a Robocop remake my reaction has been pretty much the same with every announced remake in recent years. One of exhaustion and eye rolling.

Initially I would have thought the continuous ‘remake cycle’ we’ve been experiencing lately was a result of Hollywood embracing the profits a remake would yield. If it was a guaranteed moneymaker why shouldn’t they keep dipping back into the well and remake anything with some name recognition. Find a popular film, make a remake of it, release it and sweep up the financial rewards from it. But that doesn’t seem like it’s been happening.

Arthur, Total Recall, The Thing, every horror movie ever made and countless other films have been remade and how many were real big blockbusters? I can’t recall any remakes that dazzled audiences enough to make the films huge hits.

Maybe there were a few, I think Clash of the Titans made some decent change, but really the majority of these remakes don’t seem wanted by many people and the reaction they get when they come out seems to prove just that.

A Robocop remake simply fell into that category for me. I heard they were making one, I shook my head and already decided I wasn’t interested. I don’t really care if Sam Jackson will be in it. Him showing up is not enough of a draw for me to generate interest.

Secondly, since the image of the new Robocop costume has come out and movie fans haven’t been holding back their feelings, I figure there’s not much else I can add. But since I was asked about it recently I figure I would pipe in with my reaction which is:

I think the costume looks pretty frickin’ stupid.

When I think of Robocop I immediately have strong visions of that silver, metal costume with Peter Weller inside. A ‘robot’ to me is silver and metal and the costume reflected that concept. It was bulky and awkward. It looked like something a soulless corporation would create that wasn’t concerned the character of Alex Murphy’s humanity getting lost inside it.

This new one…..why does he look like Batman?

I’m not sure what the thought process to this was. I get they were trying to update the thing. Maybe make it less cumbersome looking, but is it supposed to look like it’s made of rubber? And couldn’t they have given a bit more color to it than just make it all black? It looks awfully boring.

I guess he’s going to have his right hand exposed. Maybe that part of body won’t be destroyed and he’ll be able to use that to shoot his gun. Unless they make it bionic and it can be really strong and crush stuff or something. His helmet kind of makes him look like an insect. Slap some antennas on him, stick on some wings and he could probably make a pretty decent bug in a Pixar flick.

Some fans have held onto the optimistic notion that what we’ve seen will be enhanced by CGI in post-production and it will look much better in the film, but it doesn’t sound like that will be happening. I don’t know when the idea that CGI could be used as a band-aid started. Maybe everyone was just grasping at any hope with that thought.

The original costume might look old fashioned today, but it’s still pretty cool looking. It caught your attention as soon as you saw it. Just the helmet was pretty sweet looking.

I always loved how Robocop could holster his gun inside his thigh like a gunslinger. This new one, I guess they’re just going more for a superhero look. They’re obviously taking cues from The Dark Knight and going with the whole popular thing of making the hero done up all in black. I’m not sure why they’re even calling this guy Robocop.

So far this first glimpse hasn’t ignited much excitement in Robocop fans with this remake. Maybe the actual film will be good and this new costume will grow on people and it will become one of those few remakes that actually deliver a satisfactory updating to the original. As of now though, Robocop 2013 has an uphill battle to win fans over.

With Halloween soon approaching I’ve seen many stores selling Robocop costumes modeled after the one Weller wore. The costume everyone remembers and has endured in the minds of moviegoers. I’d make a wager that in thirty years time not many people will be going to Halloween parties dressed as Robocop 2013.