Friday, July 25, 2008
I'll buy THAT for a dollar!
Comingsoon.net is reporting that MGM has signed director Darren Aronofsky to helm a new RoboCop movie for a 2010 release. This is incredibly exciting news: RoboCop (the original; JUST the original) is, for my money, one of the truly great sci-fi movies, capturing the social commentary aspect of the best science fiction perfectly. Paul Verhoeven's 1987 film is remarkably sharp and funny, and still manages to deliver the goods as a blockbuster action movie about a cyborg policeman. But sadly the satirical aspects of Ed Neumeier's script were pretty much abandoned for the sequel (though I appreciate the meta-humour of having the new model of RoboCop in the movie actually called "RoboCop 2"; okay, maybe it's not really that clever), and the less said about the third, Peter Weller-less film, the better. (How do you screw up a concept as awesome as a robot ninja? Watch RoboCop 3 and learn.)
Aronofsky is capable of some truly amazing visuals, as shown in The Fountain, a strange and truly heartbreaking love story about immortality and trees flying through space, and his previous film, Requiem For A Dream is incredibly well-made, if so emotionally punishing that it's one of the rare movies that made me say "that was a brilliant piece of work, and I never want to watch it again, ever." I've been hearing rumblings that MGM's been looking to ressurect the RoboCop franchise, but until now I was afraid they were just looking at it as a potential sci-fi/superhero franchise, an excuse to milk some cash from a dormant franchise about a cyborg who can punch through walls. Hiring someone as smart and talented as Aronofsky to bring the character back, though, shows that the studio (presumably) isn't shying away from the social satire of the first movie -- there's no doubt in my mind that Aronofsky gets what made the original a great film, and with his incredible eye, I'm sure it'll look amazing as well.
In the meantime, I think I'll rewatch the original again, which MGM re-released last year in a nice two-disc special edition with slick metal packaging to commemorate the film's 20th anniversary. (Aaaand now I feel old.)
Aronofsky is capable of some truly amazing visuals, as shown in The Fountain, a strange and truly heartbreaking love story about immortality and trees flying through space, and his previous film, Requiem For A Dream is incredibly well-made, if so emotionally punishing that it's one of the rare movies that made me say "that was a brilliant piece of work, and I never want to watch it again, ever." I've been hearing rumblings that MGM's been looking to ressurect the RoboCop franchise, but until now I was afraid they were just looking at it as a potential sci-fi/superhero franchise, an excuse to milk some cash from a dormant franchise about a cyborg who can punch through walls. Hiring someone as smart and talented as Aronofsky to bring the character back, though, shows that the studio (presumably) isn't shying away from the social satire of the first movie -- there's no doubt in my mind that Aronofsky gets what made the original a great film, and with his incredible eye, I'm sure it'll look amazing as well.
In the meantime, I think I'll rewatch the original again, which MGM re-released last year in a nice two-disc special edition with slick metal packaging to commemorate the film's 20th anniversary. (Aaaand now I feel old.)
Labels: Movie news, RoboCop
¶ 7:42 AM
