As I sat down in the theater, about to pull out my box of candy from the Dollar Tree down the street, I expected the movie to another boring robot movie. I was surprised with what the movie was actually about.

“RoboCop” is a 117 minute action movie about a near futuristic time where robots work as cops in places such as Afghanistan and other countries the U.S. is at war with.

A remake of the 1987 original, the new “RoboCop” movie contains plenty of action, crime and suspense. In the movie, Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), is a smart, passionate cop, as well as a husband and father of a young boy.

A large company called OmniCorp has started a program where they replace cops and soldiers with robots they have created, programmed to keep the peace and protect people. Their reasoning is so that the human cops can be kept out of harms way, lessening casualties among soldiers and officers.

While the program is still being introduced, the American people are opposed to the robots controlling people on American soil. Obviously, this is a problem that OmniCorp intends to fix. The main concerns were that the robots did not have human emotions and therefore could not process situations, making the whole deal too dangerous.

One day, Alex and his partner, who are in the Chicago Police Department, go to investigate a case that their chief told them to stay away from. His partner ends up hurt and in the hospital. Later, Alex was caught straight in the middle of an explosion and suffers from 4th degree burns.

There seems to be only one option for his survival.

OmniCorp decides they would like to keep Alex alive. After asking his grieving wife for permission, they get to work. All of the salvageable parts of his body were kept, which left only his face and brain, his lungs, heart and a hand. The rest of his body resembled a robot.

The emotional trauma Alex and his family go through in this movie is almost heartbreaking. It displays how control can be an illusion and you never know who holds it until it’s too late.

Most of the story has to do with political influences and how things in the media are placed there to change your opinions. The story is told in an unconventional way. To start, the movie is told with the perspective of talk show host Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson). He  is obviously pushing the American people in the direction of letting robot-cops work in the U.S. with biased information and interviews.

“RoboCop” is a whirlwind of emotions, action, and surprises. I suggest going and checking it out in the theaters.

by ABI BROOKS