From CHUD:

 

ROBOCOP REDUX?

11.08.05

By Dave Davis

Contributing sources: 'Screaming Neal'

 

Just the other day I basically surrendered to the concept of remakes (The Wild Bunch finally broke me). I recognize the value of a brand, I’m honestly sick of b****ing about them, and people are probably exhausted from reading all our complaints, for all the good it does anyway.

 

Well… I guess I can officially file my grievances about just one more. Because it seems that for some reason, they’ve decided to remake Robocop.

 

The circuitry-filled crimefighter has already endured two inferior sequels, a syndicated TV series and a pair of straight-to-cable movies, but that’s apparently not enough for Tinseltown, so producer Michael De Luca and Sony have apparently decided to dismantle the scrap and solder it back together for a 21st century version of the heavy-steppin’ police weapon.

 

Our source is usually quite reliable with intel, as unfortunate as that may be in this case. I honestly thought De Luca was a little better than this – as New Line’s former president of production, he helped make a reality of movies like Blade, Magnolia, The Mask, Austin Powers… And now a remake like this?

 

Blasphemy? Nah, but certainly idiotic, and a distressing indication of the true depths of creative bankruptcy afflicting Hollywood. Word is that original Robocop director Paul Verhoeven wisely wants nothing to do with it.

 

As a summary for those six or seven mutants out there who’ve never seen it, the original extra-violent classic was set in a crime-ridden futuristic Detroit, where a mortally wounded law officer becomes part of a corporate experiment in which his remains are encased in a robotic suit and unleashed on the city’s felons.

I dont oppose re-makes. I actually enjoy alot of them, but it definitely has to be "done right". And to me, doing it right means that you maintain the story of the original, and expand upon that story. Alot of problems I have with remakes and the new term "re-imaginations" is that people use the brand name as the selling point and dont remain true to the story.

 

I thought that Batman Begins was an excellent "Re-make" and re-launch of the franchise.