By Robert Scucci | Published
In case you need a quick reminder that the best satirical sci-fi action thriller of all time is currently streaming on Max, I’m here to spread the good word that the unrated (like God and Paul Verhoeven predicted it) Robocop Director’s Cut can be viewed from the safety of your living room. Now you might be wondering, “How much longer is the director’s film?” Robocop compared to the theatrical cut, and why should I care? The answer may surprise you because this extended version is only about a minute longer than its widely released counterpart.
But you have to trust me, because this is a very revealing moment that you won’t want to miss.
What can I say about Robocop this hasn’t already been said over the decades, and why is the Director’s Cut the superior version? The most succinct argument I can give you is the promise of more violence. THE Robocop Director’s Cut does not add side stories or character development, but rather adds appropriately placed elements. seconds of runtime that elevates its satire to ridiculous proportions.
Or, in some cases, we get nice graphic close-ups instead of wide shots that will turn your stomach.
We’re talking “pump it full of lead” levels of comedic violence that you just have to see to believe. The type of violence I’m talking about can’t even be supplemented by pictures in this article, because the censors will find out where I live and try to eliminate me like the cybernetic body of Alex Murphy’s RoboCop (Peter Weller) eliminates crime of the world. mean streets of Detroit.
RoboCop satire gets better with age
If you’ve never seen RoboCop, or if you’re like me and haven’t watched it since you were six years old when it scarred you for life, you owe it to yourself to watch the director’s film.
And if you’re worried that satire won’t age well, you’re sadly mistaken. From overly insensitive, smiley news personalities denouncing death tolls in perfect non-regional diction to Omni Consumer Products botching the launch of their ED-209 killbot at a board meeting, Robocop is full of wry commentary on urban crime, corporations taking over public services, and what it means to be a hero in a dystopian hellscape that’s slowly being taken over by corrupt militarized police.
A poignant vision of technology and humanity
In his heart, RoboCop is the story of a man who becomes a machine and loses himself in his crusade against crime. Having had his memory erased after being brutally shot by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his henchmen – which is much more brutal in the director’s film – Alex Murphy becomes a killing machine in his own right, but who deceives. on the side of good like RoboCop.
However, Murphy has moments of clarity when he fights his programming, as he vaguely remembers his life before becoming RoboCop, and suddenly we have a story that isn’t just mindlessly violent for the sake of it violence, but which shows how this man was reprogrammed and stripped of his humanity in the name of “progress”.
Streaming The Director’s Cut
If you don’t believe me, such a small amount of extra runtime improves RoboCop by about 1,000 percent, then you need to walk the talk and release the director’s cut immediately. Forget the theatrical cut (also shown on Max) and forget the sequels. The only version of Robocop the director’s film about Max is worth watching.
