Out now on Blu-Ray: Robocop [4K Remastered Edition]

With 4K becoming increasingly popular in the world of film, a lot of studios have taken to remastering and re-releasing older films in the 4K format. Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” and Ivan Reitman’s “Ghostbusters” were some of the first films to be released on Blu-Ray in this manner. Personally, I’m in complete support of this. I switched over to Blu-Rays a couple of years back, and I try to get every movie that I like on Blu-Ray, even the ones I already have an DVD and VHS (and a few Betamax tapes (and that one 35mm reel I have)) because the quality is exponentially better than their DVD counterparts, and online streaming versions of the movies. Most people would argue that you could just torrent the movies, but I for one don’t believe in pirating movies. I’m not telling you not to pirate them, just that I don’t do it myself. The same people will argue that I could just stream the movies online, Well, I don’t want to watch movies on my computer when I have a TV with Surround Sound; that just doesn’t make any sense. Also, being an Australian, I have shitty internet with a low data cap, so Blu-Ray is really the way to go.

But enough about Blu-Rays, let’s focus on the real technological masterpiece here; Robocop. I don’t think I really even need to recap the story of Robocop because if you haven’t seen it by now, I feel bad for you. But I’ll do it anyway. Police Officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller), fighting for justice in a crime ridden Detroit, is viciously gunned down by a gang of criminals (led by Kurtwood Smith). He’s given new life as a Cyborg that’s half cop, half robot, and all badass. There’s gunfights, explosions, gore, cocaine, boobs, and one liners; pretty much everything you’d expect from an 80’s movie. Robocop does this all wonderfully whilst still managing to fit in a decent analysis of the character himself, especially in the scenes that show him dealing with the loss of his family, and his human and robot sides interacting and battling for control.
Sure, the film has its flaws. Some times it comes of as unnecessarily stupid, some times it seems way over the top, but it’s a Paul Verhoeven film, the guy who brought us “Total Recall” and “Starship Troopers”, so you can excuse it for being a little flamboyant at points. It’s not a movie that requires a lot of deep analysis or thought, and it doesn’t try try to be; it’s job is to entertain and that’s what it does. Robocop still looks great in terms of the costuming and set designs, although the visual effects haven’t aged very well, mainly in the scenes with the stop motion ED-209 robot.
Robocop is a movie that still holds up as a film, and I’d definitely recommend the new remaster for anyone looking to see it. The film looks the best it has ever looked, and it’s a step up from an iffy 2007 Blu-Ray Release. The picture is clear but has significant amount of grain still shows upon analysis. The colour correction has been done wonderfully, and that nasty blue undertone has been removed from this release, letting us see Robocop in his pristine silver glory. The new scan of the film, whilst adding more than a fiar amount of grain, also adds much more detail to the Rob Bottin designed Robocop suit and the films impressively designed scenery. This is definitely a film everyone should watch, but theis Blu-Ray remaster really only appeals to fans.
Overall Verdict: I’d definitely recommend it for Robocop fans, as it’s a whole new level of quality for a film that puts a lot of effort into the visuals, but first timers may want to try before they buy, as the film really isn’t for everyone.