Robocop (1987) Rated R Starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, and Ronny Cox Rating: out of

In the near future, Omni Consumer Products, who owns the police department of Detroit through a company called Security Concepts, Inc., plans to tear down what's known as Old Detroit to pave the way for a New Detroit, which will bring prosperity to the now blighted city. The head of Security Concepts, a man named Jones (Ronny Cox), unveils a new type of robot-cop, the ED-209, that will aid the city's police force in erasing crime from the New Detroit. The ED-209 fails miserably at it's first test, killing an OCP employee during a drill.

A young up-and-comer named Morton (Miguel Ferrer) has a backup plan, the Robocop program, in which the body of a recently deceased police officer would be united with a robotic exoskeleton to create a blend of man and machine that should prove vastly superior to the ED-209's purely robotic makeup. Given the green light by OCP's CEO (Daniel O'Herlihy), Morton's crew waits for a body matching the requirements of the program to become available.

That body belongs to Murphy (Peter Weller), who is killed while attempting to stop supercriminal Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) during a routine chase. Murphy's body is joined to the machinery and a supercop is born. It's inevitable that that Boddicker and Robocop will meet again.

Kurtwood Smith, who is probably better known for his roles in Dead Poet's Society and A Time to Kill makes a fantastically slimy villain. Ronny Cox is good as the OCP man most interested in derailing Robocop's progress. Weller's robotic movements in the Robocop suit, which looks unbelievably restraining, are awe-inspiring. He manages to be graceful as well as powerful, often at the same time.

Robocop is more than just a mere action film. Although it's graphically violent, it also has a lot to say about the corruption of big business by organized crime, the value of the police department, and humanity itself. While far from a perfect movie, Robocop shines with an intelligence that the two sequels and TV series that it spawned are sorely lacking. Pick this one up, but ignore the sequels.

Trivia: The director of Robocop, Paul Verhoeven, is also responsible for Total Recall, Basic Instinct, and Showgirls. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)