RoboCop

In a futuristic Old Detroit, the crime rates are soaring. Thirty-one cops have been wasted since Omni-Consumer Products took over responsibility for the police department; but, undaunted, Officer Murphy (Weller) and his cocky colleaguette Lewis (Allen) pursue a van-load of bank bandits into a derelict steel mill, where the sado-capitalists corner Murphy and use him for target practice. OCP's plans to construct Delta City can only go ahead if the designated area is safe enough for workers to go about their business unmolested. Their 'enforcement droid' ED 209, a galumphing giant cyborg, short-circuits at its unveiling, leaving the moribund Murphy, his insides wired into a computer-controlled titanium shell, to save the day. But RoboCop is not programmed to deal with corruption within the organisation. Verhoeven's blend of comic strip and snuff movie is vile, violent, and very funny. The pace is breakneck, and when the wit does run out, way-out weaponry and whole-scale destruction keep the appalled excitement burning.