Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
disliked it.
By the time this third chapter in the
Robocop series was released, the character had been through a children's cartoon show, a comic-book series, a theme-park ride, video games, action figures, and one horrendous sequel. All of these spin-off creations disregarded the point that this dark, violent story was originally centered on -- the soul of a brutally murdered police officer living on in the body of a machine. The character of Robocop was now being marketed for children, and the third film blatantly plays to its new audience, down to giving Robo a little girl as a buddy through the film. This film is covered in all the early warning signs of a bad sequel. Not only did original actor,
Peter Weller, choose not to return, but co-star
Nancy Allen is killed off in the first 15 minutes. Karate expert
Robert John Burke does a decent job filling in Weller's metal shoes, but it seems the filmmakers would have chosen anyone who could squeeze into the shiny suit. Thankfully, as it is the lightest big-screen
Robocop story told, it manages to capture some of the humor that was found in the original film, an element that was dearly missed in
Robocop 2. Credit for that goes to the film's screenwriter, acclaimed comic-book author Frank Miller, and director Fred Dekker. Dekker shows an obvious love for Paul Verhoeven's original film by not only showing several clips as flashbacks, but repeating lines of dialog and even bringing back
Basil Poledouris' thundering, heroic score. While some moments act as a tribute, Robocop 3, sadly does absolutely nothing to advance the story created in the first film. While fans of the first film may cry foul about the lighter tone, it's hard not to enjoy scenes where Robo fights an evil ninja robot or when he dons a jet pack and flies. ~ Jason Gibner, All Movie Guide