In 2014, two years before he debuted as Rick Flag in Suicide Squad, Joel Kinnaman led the Robocop reboot as Alex Murphy, the role Peter Weller originated in the 1987 original. Unlike the first Robocop movie (which is considered one of the best sci-fi movies of all time), this take on the material earned mixed critical reception, with some not approving of it whatsoever and others saying that this Robocop is better than you think. Nearly a decade after its release, Kinnaman has shared what he found “lacking” from the Robocop reboot, and he makes a good point on the subject.
The actor reminisced on his Robocop days while speaking about his latest project, the 2023 movie release Silent Night, with Comicbook.com. As he explained below, Kinnaman thinks the 2014 movie would have benefitted from catering to the fans more and potentially might have performed better if it hadn’t been tied to the Robocop franchise:
It was a cool experience. I think if I would have done it now, I think I would have inserted myself more into it. I love [director] José's [Padilha] concept into it. The one thing, I think, was lacking in that film, I like to be self-critical, I think that it was one of those films where I think, we who made it didn't fully take into account what RoboCop was for the fans. Tonally, that sort of [Paul] Verhoeven satire, because it's so ingrained in the RoboCop franchise and its being. It's different when a new filmmaker comes in and puts his voice on it, and José had a very clear image of what he wanted to do, it was an anti-Empirialistic take, and I think that movie would have done better if we had listened more to the fans beforehand. But I think it stands alone ... I almost think the RoboCop film we did would have been a better movie if it wouldn't have been named 'RoboCop.'
Reboot/remaking/reimagining a prior story is tricky, as you want to deliver something new to audiences, yet still honor the original source material enough. For Joel Kinnaman, while he enjoyed the experience of making 2014’s Robocop, he also acknowledges that the feature from director José Padilha went in a tonal direction that wouldn’t easily gravitate towards fans of the original Robocop. It is worth noting that Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, who wrote the original Robocop, co-wrote the reboot’s script with Joshua Zetumer, although it’s unclear how much of what they penned was retained in the final product.
It would have been interested to see how Robocop would have performed had it been envisioned as a brand-new, non-franchised movie. Would that anti-imperialistic approach have fared better using a different character, rather than Robocop fans comparing it to the anti-consumerist and more satirical vibe from the original? Unfortunately we’ll never know, and because 2014’s Robocop critically and commercially underperformed, plans to make a sequel were scrapped by 2015.
As for where things stand for the Robocop franchise as a whole, following Amazon’s acquisition of MGM in March 2023, the company announced it’s developing both a new movie and TV show, with the latter (and possibly the former) being disrupted to Amazon Prime Video subscribers if it moves forward. There were also once plans to bring back Peter Weller for Robocop Returns, which would have served as only a sequel to the 1987 movie, but there’ haven’t been any notable updates about that project since director Neill Blomkamp dropped out in 2019.
In addition to being available to stream on Amazon, 2014’s Robocop can also be viewed on the Pluto TV and Tube platforms. While we wait for official word on what the next step for this sci-fi franchise is, browse through the 2024 movies schedule to see what cinematic content is arriving next year.
