Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming (UK Cert 12A)

Whilst the Marvel Cinematic Universe bestrides the cinematic landscape like some giant lycra-clad colossus, it's easy to forget that Marvel Studios don't actually have the rights to all their characters. The rights to several franchises/groups (such as Fantastic Four and X-Men) belong with other parties- it's why there was so much wrangling over the use of Quicksilver in both X-Men: Days Of Future Past and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, with there being so many rules as to what can be said/referenced and so on. 

So whilst Spider-Man is a Marvel creation (created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962), the cinematic rights are currently with Sony, whose head honcho Amy Pascal said in 2013 (prior to the release.of The Amazing Spider-Man 2) that Sony selling the rights back to Marvel Studios would 'never ever ever' happen. However in February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios struck a deal to co-produce a new Spider-Man movie which would form part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as well as Spider-Man appearing in Captain America: Civil War) 

Fan speculation went into overdrive, especially when it was revealed there'd be new casting for Peter Parker. Would we be subjected to a THIRD version of the origin story in fifteen years? 

Luckily, not. Instead, we find Peter already comfortable with his powers, eager to be of more use to the Avengers whilst doing small-scale heroic acts in Queens. However, when he attempts to stop criminals pulling off a bank robbery (who are armed with technology which is definitely out of this world), our friendly neighbourhood webslinger discovers there's a very dangerous adversary behind it all. As if negotiating the difficulties of high school wasn't bad enough...

For a lot of previous MCU films, you can see that they're also riffing off a genre picture within the confines of a superhero movie (a paranoid political thriller, space opera, heist movie and so on). Spider-Man: Homecoming plays like a John Hughes teen movie- with added superheroes. 

It's also led from the front by a winning and utterly absorbing performance by Tom Holland (The Impossible, How I Live Now, Locke). Critics were fulsome in their praise of his short cameo in Captain America: Civil War- he was superb and was able to hold his own against the more established stars. In his own movie, he's given the room to expand that role and takes it with both hands. He's geeky, slightly awkward, bizarrely quite adorable. He has all the enthusiasm and warmth of an energetic puppy and you really feel for him as he struggles to stake his claim as a new Avenger.

The other school children are all strong too, with Jacob Batalon giving a star-making turn as Peter's equally geeky mate Ned who becomes Peter's 'guy in the chair' later on. Laura Harrier is excellent as Peter's crush Liz, and the burgeoning relationship between the two is quite lovely (there's also a killer twist later in the film which complicates things even further). Zendaya is also strong as school outcast/misfit Michelle, always ready with a sardonic quip or raised eyebrow. Finally, Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel) plays school jerk Flash and adds a nice level of comic snark to it.

As for the adult cast, Michael Keaton is just superb (and not a little chilling) as Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture. Toomes originally helped cleaned up the Avengers' mess- literally, as a construction worker tasked with clearing the debris- but after being closed down by a shady government organisation with ties to Stark Industries, he decides to keep some of the alien technology he''s scavenged. There's an interesting socio-economic point to be made here- the rich get richer whilst the poorer get screwed- but thankfully it doesn't tubthump on it too much. The design of the Vulture costume is really cool as well. There's also a very interesting twist on the big hero-villain confrontation (before the final fight) which works really well. 

Robert Downey Jr is as good as you'd expect him to be as Spidey's reluctant mentor whilst Jon Favreau is also superb as Happy Hogan, acting as Peter's contact. I still can't quite get my head round Marisa Tomei being old enough to be Aunt May but, as Tom Holland is only in his early twenties, it fits. She's a warm presence, providing some stability for Peter. There's also a great voice performance by Jennifer Connelly as the AI in Spidey's new suit. Chris Evans pops up here and there in several slightly cringeworthy Captain America instructional videos for the children (and also provides a nice end-credits scene). 

Some of the action sequences are stunning, especially the attacks on the Washington Monument and the Staten Island Ferry (the latter teased in the trailers). The whole aesthetic of the film works really well. The script is nicely balanced between these big set-pieces and the quieter, smaller character moments. The humour is there and the characters feel authentic- often, high-school kids don't sound like high-school kids but here (mostly) they do. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming deserves credit for a lot of things. Firstly, that it isn't an origin movie. In fact, the whole circumstances of Peter's transformation are glossed over in a few sentences. Secondly, using The Vulture as the primary antagonist is a good move; whilst he is a well-known Spidey villain, they could have gone with someone better known (Doc Ock or Green Goblin for example). Thirdly, Uncle Ben is nowhere to be seen. There are a few oblique references to May 'going through' some stuff but- as they're not using the origin story template- we don't see that happening. Ultimately, they're not trying to reinvent the wheel but, by not using the standard tropes, there's a certain amount of originality in it. 

As a collaboration between studios, I think they can say Spider-Man: Homecoming ranks as a success (at the time of writing, it had made over $700 million at the box office). It'll be interesting to see whether this is a one-off or whether other non-Marvel studios will be interested in attempting a similar deal in the future. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez

Countdown: 10 Actors Who Have Played Multiple Comic Book Characters On Screen

It was announced yesterday that Josh Brolin has been cast as Cable in the upcoming Deadpool 2 movie. Comic book movie fans will know that Brolin also plays Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Before he played Captain America, Chris Evans also appeared as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in two Fantastic Four movies. Brolin's Deadpool co-star Ryan Reynolds was also Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern movie, while Halle Berry has played both hero and villain as Storm and Catwoman respectively.

So here are ten more actors who have played different comic book characters on screen.

1. Ben Affleck

Before he was the Dark Knight, Affleck was Daredevil in the 2003 big screen version.

2. Angela Bassett

Appearing in Green Lantern as Amanda Waller, Bassett is taking the role of Queen Mother Ramonda in the upcoming Black Panther film.

3. Willem Dafoe

Dafoe played Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films; he will be playing Atlantean advisor Nuidis Vulko in Justice League and Aquaman

4. Laurence Fishburne

Known for playing Perry White in the DC Extended Universe films, Fishburne provides the voice of the titular character in  Fantastic Four: Rise Of The SIlver Surfer.

5. Tommy Lee Jones

From villain to hero: Jones played Harvey Dent/Two-Face in Joel Schumacher's camptastic Batman Forever, before taking the role of Colonel Chester Phillips in Captain America: The First Avenger

6. Michael B. Jordan

Jordan is one of the few bearable things in Josh Trank's disastrous Fantastic Four reboot; he will appear in Black Panther as the wonderfully named Erik Killmonger.

7. Michael Keaton

From hero to villain: Keaton played the lead role in Tim Burton's two Batman movies, and will play Adrian Toomes/The Vulture in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming

8. Nicole Kidman

Kidman appeared with Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever as Dr. Chase Meridian; she will also play Queen Atlanna in the upcoming Aquaman film.

9. J.K. Simmons

Oscar-winner Simmons will be swapping The Daily Bugle for the Gotham City Police Department, going from playing J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films to Commissioner Gordon in Justice League.

10. Terence Stamp

Stamp played General Zod in Superman and Superman II (and also went on to be the voice of Jor-El in Smallville). He also played Elektra's mentor Stick in the 2005 Daredevil spin-off.

Bonus: Sylvester Stallone

Stallone played Judge Dredd in the 1995 film version of the 2000AD comic; he has a small role in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (but the character has not yet been revealed)

Review: Spotlight (UK Cert 15)

In early 2002, the Spotlight investigative team of The Boston Globe published a story which had far-reaching implications for the Catholic Church: not only was there widespread and systematic sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the Boston area(which stretched back decades in some cases), but that senior members of the church- including the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Law- knew about it and did nothing to stop it. The team's investigations into this groundbreaking story is the now the focus of Spotlight, a biographical drama directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor). 

It's not an easy watch; some of the stories of abuse that are recounted are shocking and unpleasant, and you may well feel incredibly angry and disgusted with the degree of complicity and the cover-up at large. It's a film that will raise a lot of questions and a fair bit of debate. 

Performances are strong across the board (indeed, the film won the Best Ensemble prize at the Screen Actors' Guild Awards). Mark Ruffalo is superb as Mike Rezendes, one of the reporters and a tenacious little terrier who digs into the story. Rachel McAdams is similarly good as Sacha Pfeiffer, the lone female reporter (although, refreshingly, her gender is not her sole defining feature). Her empathy and determination shine through, as she has to reconcile the investigation with the effect it would have on her God-fearing family. 

Michael Keaton should count himself unlucky to miss out on the awards hype as his performance as Spotlight editor Walter 'Robby' Robinson is another career best. Whether facing down oleaginous lawyers or confronting an old friend who was also complicit in helping cover up the extent of the abuse, Keaton is just excellent. There's great support from the ever-dependable Stanley Tucci as lawyer Mitchell Garabedian (who is fighting for the victims of abuse and who has some great scenes together with Ruffalo) and Liev Schrieber as Marty Baron, the new editor-in-chief of the Globe who sanctions the Spotlight team to investigate the scandal. 

Comparisons to All The President's Men are inevitable; while both films cover major investigations into huge scandals, they're also paeans to old-school investigative journalism (some of the most satisfying scenes feature characters rifling around in archives or looking through microfiche). In one of those interesting true-life-is-stranger-than-fiction coincidences, the managing editor of The Boston Globe at the time of the Spotlight exposes was Ben Bradlee Jr (played by John Slattery), who was the son of the Washington Post editor who published Woodward and Bernstein's reports into the Watergate scandal. Spotlight even has its own 'Deep Throat' in psychologist Richard Sipe (an uncredited voice performance by Richard Jenkins) whose telephone calls prompt the team to uncover the full extent of the abuse.

In a sobering epilogue, the film tells us of the extent to which the abuse took place, with page after page of names of cities throughout the US and the world where investigations into historic and current sexual abuse cases were set up. It shows how endemic the situation is without attaching any judgement to it. That's for the viewer to do. 

A harrowing yet compelling film, utterly gripping and brimming with righteous anger, Spotlight is without a doubt the best film I've seen so far this year. 

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tez

Review: Minions (UK Cert U)

You'll have to go a long way to find someone who doesn't like the Minions. The cute yellow creatures were the true breakout characters from the Despicable Me films, so it was only a matter of time before they got their own movie.

The Minions have been around since the dawn of civilisation, seeking to serve the most evil master they can. However, they've not always been so lucky with that as their masters tend to perish- in part due to the Minions' well-meaning but utterly useless assistance. Stuck in a rut, three plucky Minions- Kevin, Stuart and Bob- decide to venture out into the world and find the biggest, baddest boss to serve. They find their way to VillainCon and into the employ of Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock) who has a nefarious plan to steal the Queen of England's crown.

The voice cast is strong, Bullock clearly relishing playing the villain with able support by Jon Hamm as Scarlet's husband Herb. There's wonderful voice performances by Allison Janney and Michael Keaton as a seemingly normal couple who help the Minions get to VillainCon (and who are responsible for one of the funniest sight gags in the film) and there's frankly inspired casting by having Jennifer Saunders as the Queen (channelling the Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2 in places and all the funnier for it). Finally, there's a deliciously arch narration from Geoffrey Rush. Even though the Minions speak a bizarre language (a mix of English, Spanish, Italian and other languages), you're never left in any doubt of what their intentions are. This is partly down to superb animation and also down to the vocal talents of Pierre Coffin who voices the Minions. All 899 of them.

There are some inspired sight gags (the montage of the Minions through history, although mostly used in the trailers, is particularly funny) and the setting of 1960s London is good, lending itself to some sly jabs at the Brits and also a particularly strong soundtrack (including songs by the Rolling Stones, the Doors and the Who). There's also a song-and-dance routine to a Minionese version of the Cole Porter song 'Make Them Laugh' which has to be one of the more surreal things I've seen on film.

Much like The Penguins Of Madagascar, the film is frothy, light and- above all- fun. It doesn't have the depth or emotional complexity of some of Pixar's finest but it made me laugh frequently and loudly. Sometimes that's all you need. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Awards Season 2015: Critics' Choice Awards

Aside from the announcement of the Oscar nominations yesterday, there was another awards ceremony to contend with. The Critics' Choice Awards were given out. Below are a list of selected film winners:

Best Picture: Boyhood

Best Actor: Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Best Acting Ensemble: Birdman

Best Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Animated Feature: The Lego Movie

Best Original Screenplay: Birdman

Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl

A full list of winners can be found here. 

The Critics Choice Awards also have categories for action movies, sci-fi/horror (which are inexplicably lumped together) and comedies, so Michael Keaton walked away with two trophies last night as he was named both Best Actor and Best Actor In A Comedy. 

Wins for Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette do no harm to their Oscar chances at all, whilst wins for Boyhood and Richard Linklater do likewise. Whilst it's far from sewn up, at least there's an indication on which way the wind is blowing.

After a busy week, the Awards Season mercifully takes a break until next weekend, with the announcement of the Producers' Guild Awards on 24th January and then the Screen Actors' Guild Awards on 25th January.

Review: Birdman (UK Cert 15)

Riggan Thomson used to be in pictures. He used to be big. He used to be Birdman. Wanting to reinvent himself, Riggan writes, directs and stars in a Broadway show based on the Raymond Carver story 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Love'. However, he has to deal with volatile actors, ex- and current lovers and his fractious relationship with his daughter as the clock counts down to opening night.

I've been divided over Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's previous films. Despite the rather heavy philosophical air of the piece, 21 Grams had some brilliant performances, but I found Babel an indulgent and utterly pretentious mess. I wasn't sure what to expect from Birdman, but luckily Inarritu has mostly reined in the indulgence (a few bizarre moments of whimsy notwithstanding) and has crafted a hyper-real character piece which is absorbing to watch.

Michael Keaton gives a career-best performance as Riggan. Struggling with his various crises, whilst being pursued by the inner voice of Birdman deriding his current choices, Keaton is excellent. Riggan could have been an overindulged child, a pretentious auteur whose neuroses run puddle-deep, but Keaton gives the character gravitas and a certain amount of dignity (even when running through Times Square in just his underwear at one point). 

Edward Norton is great as temperamental method actor Mike Shiner, who comes into Riggan's play as a last-minute replacement and shakes things up. He's an insufferable asshole on occasions, but Norton riffs on it (along with his own reputation of being 'difficult') to great effect. Emma Stone is similarly great as Riggan's daughter Sam, a recovering addict who acts as her father's assistant. She gets some lovely scenes with Norton as a nascent relationship between Mike and Sam forms, and gets a brilliant moment when, in a rage, she tells Riggan he doesn't matter. Stone really sells the anger and the pent-up fury of that moment and it doesn't feel fake.

Amy Ryan adds a dose of calm reality to proceedings as Riggan's ex-wife Sylvia, appearing in a couple of key scenes (most notably when she reminds him he's 'not Farrah Fawcett'). Naomi Watts' performance is great as an actress ready to make her Broadway debut yet nervous of it at the same time. She has a particularly great scene with Andrea Riseborough (who plays Riggan's current girlfriend) in which one of the funnies lines of the film is given. Lindsay Duncan gives a nice supporting turn as influential theatre critic Tabitha Dickinson, who threatens to bury Riggan's play with a bad review. There's a surprisingly dramatic turn by Zach Galifianakis, proving he can do so much more than his Hangover persona, as Riggan's lawyer Jake, desperately trying to keep everything from falling to pieces.

The way the film is shot is particularly good and credit must go to Inarritu and his cinematographer, the brilliant Emmanuel Lubezki, for that. The play is mostly set within the labyrinthine corridors of the St James Theatre (with occasional excursions outside the theatre and onto the street) and there's some very clever camera trickery at work to make it look as if the film was shot in one continuous take. The camera follows characters into dressing rooms then follows another one out of it. It looks good and really maintains the flow of the piece.

The script takes potshots at the current vogue for superhero movies which is a bit of an easy target, but there's something quite satisfying about having an actor who did comicbook movies before they were de rigeur criticising it. The casting of Keaton, Norton and Stone (aka Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk and Gwen Stacy) adds an extra level. It does make it all a bit meta, but it's enjoyable enough.

It's got a strong script, great performances to a man and cleverly shot. So why am I not shouting from the rafters? My main problem with the film is the ending. It's difficult to discuss without spoiling things, so all I'll say is this. The ending is ambiguous but it just seems done for the sake of it. No doubt there will be people ready to queue up and say I've either missed the entire point of the film or that I've wilfully misunderstood the director's intentions... if that's the case, so be it, but I judge what I see on the screen and how it makes me feel and the ending of Birdman left me cold and disconnected.

If the film had stopped just a few minutes earlier, it would have got a 5-star review. But the very end of the film just feels ambiguous for ambiguity's sake and undermined the sterling work of the previous two hours. Still very much worth seeing, though, but a disappointment.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Review: Need for Speed (UK Cert: 12A)

Need for Speed: The Movie – I’ve got number of issues with this. First off, the fact that, with less than a year since Universal Pictures released Fast & Furious 6, DreamWorks thought it was a good idea to bring out another car porn film. What can Need for Speed do that the Fast & Furious franchise hasn’t already done six times before? Also, having seen the trailer, DreamWorks are promoting Need for Speed as if it is one of this year’s biggest releases. Just because the film stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, DreamWorks’ trailer assumes that Need for Speed will be just as impressive as Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. DreamWorks are, you could argue understandably, ignoring the fact that Need for Speed is based on a video game. It speaks volumes when the cream-of-the-crop of video game adaptations is still Paul W.S. Anderson’s Mortal Kombat, based on the ‘90s 2D beat-‘em-up. Christophe Gans’ Silent Hill was decent enough, but went wildly downhill during the second half, which is minute-after-minute of clunky exposition and even clunkier dialogue. Paul W.S. Anderson’s second venture into video game adaptations, the first entry in the Resident Evil franchise, was a watchable film based on a video game with laugh-out-loud dodgy voice acting and a bonkers plot. Then you have Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter and Alone in the Dark, all films that completely missed the point. Whenever I find out that a video game is going to get the big screen treatment, lights flash and alarm bells ring. The most I can hope for is a passable way to waste two hours – that’s the best case scenario! Need for Speed is the best case scenario: it is has some impressive stunts, plus a handful of genuinely funny one-liners and gags, but there is also plenty that is wrong with it.

Aaron Paul, in his first film post-Breaking Bad, does his best as the film’s gravel-voiced, strong silent-type protagonist. You root for him when he wins races and want him to get his revenge when the tables are turned, but Need for Speed doesn’t allow Paul to do all that much. You could have had a number of actors playing the role instead, and they still would have been able to carry the film.

Paul’s gang who help him out in a crisis are all likeable. Scott Mescudi gets most of the one-liners, while Rami Malek is given one of the film’s funniest set pieces when he decides to leave his boring nine-to-five job behind and return to the world of high-speed racing. Paul’s friends are blatant narrative devices who come to his aid whenever the police are about to arrest him, or a rival driver threatens to ram him off the road, but you find yourself willing to forgive this.

There are several actors in Need for Speed who are either miscast or grate every time they appear onscreen. Imogen Poots was one of the many things that was brilliant about 28 Weeks Later and gave a hard-to-find-fault performance as Paul Raymond’s daughter in The Look of Love, but here she plays a stereotype Brit: frightfully posh accent and no life experience. Poots knows her cars, can drive fast, but she doesn’t offer all that much help, occasionally being annoying when she screams, whimpers, covers her eyes, or does all three at once. It’s a thankless role and sadly it was Poots who had to do it.

Dominic Cooper is another Brit who could have done with being cast in any film except this one. Here he plays the sneering panto villain. All Cooper has to do is taunt Paul and give a wicked grin; this is all that George Gatins’ script asks him to do. Cooper does his job, making you want to boo and hiss whenever he appears onscreen, but he is given the typical bad guy role.

Michael Keaton clearly shot all of his scenes in one day at a studio, but you question why he is even in the film. As the multi-millionaire who organises Need for Speed’s illegal racing, Keaton has nothing to do except stare at a computer screen and jeer at what he sees. It’s a terrible thing to say about the man who played Beetlejuice, but you end up hoping he never turns up again. Not once does Keaton’s dialogue produce even the smallest laugh, he doesn’t add anything to the thinly stretched narrative; there is no reason for him to appear in this film other than to have a big name actor on the poster.

George Gatins’ script is an odd mix. It takes itself too seriously, yet occasionally manages to add in some humour. What makes Fast & Furious so successful is that everyone involved knows it’s daft, unbelievable stuff; each film has its tongue firmly in its cheek. Need for Speed, with a straight face, asks viewers to accept that a car can soar through the air, land hard on the ground, and carry on like it just stopped at a zebra crossing. There are jokes in the film, which are guaranteed to produce plenty of laughter at the cinema, but none of it sits well. The humour feels forced, that while Gatins was writing the script, someone pointed out that it was too deadpan, so Gatins decided to throw in as many gags as he could come up with. If Need for Speed had been light-hearted throughout, instead of pretending that what you are watching is life-or-death, it would have been much more enjoyable.

Need for Speed is not about logic, or fully fleshed-out characters, or a well thought-out narrative with dozens of subplots, it’s about fast cars and stunts. All of the races in the film are watchable, but rarely produce any thrills. It all feels like it’s been done before, and better. Each race relies on long aerial shots, occasionally giving a close up of a driver concentrating on the road, or a view from the windscreen, using a shaky, juddering camera. There are some imaginative, wince-inducing crashes to get the pulse racing, but these are few-and-far-between. Considering cars driving at ridiculous speeds is the reason why people will go to see Need for Speed, these scenes are run-of-the-mill, unexceptional stuff. The film even has the nerve to show clips from the classic car chase in Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, but is nowhere near as inventive.

Need for Speed is a harmless enough two hours, but it’s a mess; an average entry in the car chase sub-genre rather than one of the best. If you’re after a great car chase film, The Cannonball Run or the Michael Caine original of The Italian Job are the very top-drawer. Alternatively, you could always play EA’s video games.

2 out of 5

Matt

Review: RoboCop (2014)

RoboCop (2014)

OK....and breath!!! Before I point the flaws and there are many, many, many flaws! My mum always told me if you need to find some good in everything in life!

So, the good points. The film has RoboCop in it! The correct theme music is there. The modern effects are spot on. The plot keeps to the original concept, in part.

Right now I can unleash! This film is again a great example of how Hollywood need to grow some balls! The film lacks the power of the original and the power of central character. The film is a remake of satirical SciFi Action classic – so what should there be here. Satirical view on fascist police state run by a large corporation – well no. They failed, the plot does revolve around the idea of Omnicorp trying bring there robotic products onto the streets of America, but this lacks any of the originals clever messages – this version just fails on any satirical level.

The action – well I’m still waiting to see some action in this action movie – the film when it does finally have action, either uses too many shaky camera angles or the speed of the action is so quick you miss the brief escape from the endless boardroom chats.

The scifi element – well that is here, unfortunately what they have focussed on in this reboot, reimaging, remake … piece of crap! Is they have focussed on the Murphy family and that’s how they draw into Murphy's humanity, instead of using an actor who can internilise the frustration from within the suit, we have endless scenes with Mrs Murphy unhappy and RoboCop missing his family!!!! Im going to SCREAMMMMM!!!!!

This film is everything I hate about Hollywood at the moment, why remake just make RoboCop 4! Terribly written, drivel performances from Joel Kinnerman and Abbie Cornish as Mr & Mrs Murphy. Gary Oldman, Micheal Keaton blatantly going through the motions and picking up there paychecks!

If you want to watch RoboBland – please carry on but if you want to watch RoboCop, then watch RoboCop not this watered down, polished up 12A embarrassment of a film – watch the 1987 film that is and always will be ROBOCOP!

In fact don't waste your cash on a cinema ticket, buy this instead: RoboCop Directors Cut 1987

2 out of 5

Rhys