Joel Kinnaman on the red carpet Image via Balkis Press/Abaca Press/INSTARimages
Around a decade ago, Hollywood studios decided that the best way to reboot a piece of IP would be to hire relatively inexperienced filmmakers and up-and-coming stars, placing them in positions of authority. Ridley Scott didn’t approve of this strategy; he said in an interview that experience is underrated, and the only reason he gets films across the finish line quickly is because he knows how to handle large budgets. Young directors with only an indie or two under their belt wouldn’t know what to do. This trend was evident when Gareth Edwards was hired to direct Godzilla, after breaking out with a tiny sci-fi movie titled Monsters. It was also evident when the Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha was tasked with rebooting the RoboCop franchise, perhaps because he’d made a couple of blockbuster movies about the police in his home country.
The film was headlined by the Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman, who had broken out with the film Snabba Cash. He was coming up at around the same time as his compatriot Alexander Skarsgård, who went on to star in another reboot, The Legend of Tarzan. Kinnaman was surrounded by highly respected veterans in the RoboCop remake, including Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson. However, despite the stacked cast, a talented director at the helm, and unending opportunity for sociopolitical commentary, the RoboCop remake didn’t perform as well as expected.
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Here’s Where You Can Watch the ‘RoboCop’ Remake
The movie grossed a little less than $250 million worldwide against a reported budget of $130 million. It earned mixed reviews, and is now sitting at a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “While it’s far better than it could have been, José Padilha’s RoboCop remake fails to offer a significant improvement over the original.” Fans of the franchise were certainly not impressed; they gave it a 49% score on Rotten Tomatoes. One person remarked, “An insult to the original. Garbage.” Kinnaman went on to play one of the leads in David Ayer‘s Suicide Squad, replacing Tom Hardy. He reprised the role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. He also played the lead in Netflix’s Altered Carbon.
You can watch the RoboCop remake for free on the Pluto TV streaming service. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
February 12, 2014
Runtime
118 minutes
Director
José Padilha