Robocop!

Haha, that title makes it sound like a musical. "Robocop!" coming soon to a theatre near you...

I went to an Edinburgh Science Festival event last night which was a screening of the '80s classic "Robocop". There was a short Q&A session before with a science fiction writer called Justina Robson. I personally had never seen this film before so I was quite curious.

The atmosphere was great when we walked into the cinema, the Filmhouse in Edinburgh is great for stuff like this, the old-style screens are wonderful. Plus the fact that you can take alcohol in is always a plus.

It was so much fun. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. I mean, up until about 2 hours before we went I was sure that it was Arnie who was in it. The blood and guts was great with so much sugar syrup. I was also really impressed with the make-up - even with the resolution of a modern projection system the make up for Murphy still held up to scrutiny. The moment when the baddy had his arm blown off didn't though. There was some serious arm pumping = arterial fountain of blood. Still we were all laughing so much by this point it didn't matter. Another interesting thing to see was some stop motion animation. The robot that tries to take down Robocop was animated this way and it was a little jarring but surprisingly, looked kind of wonderful. There were lots of intricate bits that were working in unison on the model. The stop motion used at the end for a certain character's death however did not look good, and earned a huge cheer and clapping from the audience.

My friends and I were a little baffled by how they were going to have a discussion about the human/cyborg issue as the plot isn't the most complex (neither are the characters) but I guess it does deal with some interesting issues in terms of (and my English lit teacher will be so proud of me for this) man's inhumanity to man. The baddies are completely ruthless and there are a lot of times when people die and other, supposedly, normal people really aren't that fussed. Is this the future we're heading for? But we do see a nice turnaround when the police start standing up for Robocop when he's being attacked by the hit squad. That scene is interesting for me too in that as soon as we get a glimpse of Murphy's eye under the vizor of his helmet, we immediately start feeling sympathy for him and scared for him. Before that point he is just a cyborg, we struggle to see the humanity or something we recognise about ourselves in him. As Justina Robson pointed out before the film started, there is a fantastic scene where Murphy takes off the vizor to reveal what's underneath and Lewis (his female partner) doesn't flinch or shy away as his face is revealed. She just sees him and the humanity that his face represents.

Speaking of Lewis, she is one kick ass female character! And we all know how I feel about strong female leads! She is defeminised a lot in this film, made to seem like one of the boys in the precinct but she is wonderfully strong and funny. Most of the female characters in the film are either whores, winos, horrendously vacuous or working for the baddies - something else that Justina pointed out. At the beginning of the film she is the hard, slightly cynical one out of herself and Murphy (who's optimistic and cares for his family hugely) but by the end he is the one devoid of emotion and she is the one who cares for him and looks out for him. For me, that character development is wonderful.

So I think I've prattled on long enough. It really was a lot of fun to watch, it would be great to watch more films like this in a cinema with an audience, it really adds a lot to the experience, I would recommend it to anyone if they get the chance. My friend and I were saying it would be fantastic to watch "Alien" in a setting like that. Watch this space...