RoboCop 2014

Eliana Dockterman, TIME Magazine: RoboCop becomes less a work of aspirational coolness and more a piece of political satire - and not necessarily a bad one. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Padilha is Brazilian, and it's interesting that both RoboCops have been made by men whose non-Hollywood work focused on their respective countries' curdled politics. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: This is a superhero film for grown-ups that reflects a moment when drone usage is hotly debated and it's no longer ridiculous to contemplate a man who might have several metal limbs. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: An action adventure that's graphics-rich, logic-poor, coherence-challenged and pleasure-impaired. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: There are plenty of high-tech gunbattles in this "Robo," which make it a real pulse-pounder. But it's the intelligence behind the gunplay that makes it distinctive. Read more

Guy Lodge, Variety: It's a less playful enterprise than the original, but meets the era's darker demands for action reboots with machine-tooled efficiency and a hint of soul. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Slightly squarer and less subversive than the other one, but also admirable in its refusal to simply replicate the circuitry of a blockbuster predecessor. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Thanks to a good cast and a willingness to stray fairly far afield from the source material, it's better than you might think. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: This ''RoboCop'' has updated the dystopia with some clever ideas and better acting, while at the same time sanitizing any satire with video-game polish and sequel baiting. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The film doesn't embarrass itself or dishonor its predecessor, which is something. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: I'll take the original any day, but this is still fun, and the cast is first-rate. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: This is at heart a pretty sad movie. Verhoeven wouldn't be caught dead making you care about anything in his "RoboCop"; Padilha is after something different. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The new RoboCop has just about no interest in being the old RoboCop, and for that we can be thankful. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Most people will go see this film for the extensive gun play and the body count, which of course make for swell entertainment. But you don't have to pull back the curtain very far here to see the drone that will soon hover over your neighborhood. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: It's unfortunate, then, that this RoboCop reboot shrugs off the pointed satire too soon, devolving into just another big action vehicle - even if it's a well-made, entertaining one at times. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The film has lots of energized mayhem, and Murphy's unraveling of the conspiracy against him isn't dumbed down, yet it's as if the comic-book action poetry of the original has been encased in a suit of generic armor. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: At least offers something resembling ideas of morality and mortality in the guise of a silly shoot-'em-up, even if those ideas are eventually given short shrift. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter: This remake of the 1987 dystopian classic has a better cast, more meticulous script and, naturally, flashier effects, but it lacks the original's wit and subversive slipperiness. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The re-imagined crime, action, sci-fi thriller isn't going for the biting satire of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original, or its extreme violence. The sci-fi side hasn't evolved much. And the thrill? Well, most of the thrill is gone. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: A kinder, gentler RoboCop. What scares us in 2014 isn't that we could someday make a robot Murphy. It's that we probably already can. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It's all rather surprisingly well acted (Kinnaman and Oldman are better than they even need to be), but "RoboCop" is missing a crucial ingredient: fun. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Like RoboCop himself, it doesn't seem quite as truly, organically alive as it once did. But it sure looks sleek, and moves pretty fast. And if you don't think too much, it almost feels like the real thing. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: It's well made, polished, and hits every mark - but is it crazy to want a futuristic sci-fi action flick about a motorcycle-riding metal supercop to be just a little more fun? Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Whose bright idea was this? Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Every generation, apparently, gets the "RoboCop" it deserves, or perhaps desires. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: With a host of others, Padilha and screenwriter Joshua Zetumer concoct a bubbling stew of terror-streaked social satire and teary domestic drama. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: RoboCop is a solid near-future action pic that poses moral questions about artificial intelligence and remote-control combat systems without getting too preachy or ponderous about it. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It retains the central ideas and themes of the original while updating and rearranging the narrative to lose a derivative feel. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Cynical, boring, PG-13 retread. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This Robo-reboot tries fiercely to update the satirical punch and stylistic perversity Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original. It's a futile gesture. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: There are some interesting things about "RoboCop," and - no, wait, that's a lie. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: RoboCop is no canned remake of the 1987 action film. It's a reimagining that responds to everything that has changed in American life over the past 27 years, addressing new threats and exploiting new anxieties. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Neither Alex Murphy's internal moral conflict nor the larger, vaguely satiric portrait of a global culture dependent on high-tech law enforcement seem to be the main point of this Robocop remake, which raises the question of what is meant to be the point. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: I would advise anyone with fond memories of Paul Verhoeven's movie to cross the street and avoid seeing this flimsy facsimile. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Compared to the humor in the "Iron Man" movies or the vigilante themes in the recent "Batman" series, this reboot has little to offer. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Surveying the peculiar array of 1980s retreads clustered into release this week, I'm reminded of Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II, traveling forward in time 30 years to discover that everything is still the same, only worse. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The revamped RoboCop has a lot in common with the Ford Edsel, history's most notorious automotive misfire. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: RoboCop avoids being a bad remake by giving the original wide berth, but all we're left with this time around is a cop who becomes a robot without being particularly interesting in either incarnation. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Junking Verhoeven's sledgehammer satire in favour of real-world politics and 12A thrills, this is a slicker, shinier, admittedly inferior affair - but it's by no means a write-off. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though this Robo reboot resonates to some degree with its depiction of military drone strikes, the film sidesteps deeper questions about the intersection of technology, law enforcement and politics. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It fully justifies its existence. That doesn't mean it's especially good. But it's a rare "reboot" that transcends its studio's money-grubbing. It has some Big Ideas. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: For all its playfulness, the new "RoboCop" can't help but lack the novelty of the original's jolting mixture of dumb-smart irony and visceral pulp. Read more