The original RoboCop is violent, there's no question about that, but it could have been a lot more intense. Originally the Motion Picture Association of America gave the movie an X-rating due to its graphic violence, requiring director Paul Verhoeven to to cut out much of the blood and gore, as well as insert some humorous commercials during the news broadcasts to help lighten the mood. After more than ten tries, Verhoeven was finally successful in getting RoboCop knocked down to an R-rating, and that's the version that was screened to the masses. However, if you head to Amazon right now, you can stream the X-rated version of RoboCop.
Ok, so nowadays we'd think of it as the NC-17 version of RoboCop, but nevertheless, as noticed by Comicbook.com, rather than showing the traditional R-rated one, Amazon Prime has the more gruesome version of RoboCop available for its subscribers. It's unclear if this was intentionally done, as the movie is not labeled as the "X-rated" or "unrated" cut. Nevertheless, if you're a RoboCop fan, it becomes immediately clear that this version of the movie is not the one that's usually readily available. That being said, this certainly isn't the first time that the X-rated RoboCop has been released, as it's previously been released several times on DVD and Blu-ray. For streaming, on the other hand, this appears to mark its big debut.
Paul Verhoeven has said that he wanted RoboCop's violence to be as over-the-top as possible to the point that it was comical, which is fine from an artistic sense, but that subsequently causes problems when getting an official rating. Among the scenes that had to be toned in RoboCop included Alex Murphy (the man who would become RoboCop) being executed and the ED-209 law enforcement droid gunning down some poor executive. Now there's obviously still many violent movies left to be seen in the theatrical cut of RoboCop, but just be aware that if you plan on catching the movie on Amazon Prime, at least for now, you're in for an even gorier ride.
As far as the RoboCop franchise as a whole goes, the two sequels that followed the original weren't met with nearly the same level of positivity as their predecessor, and in 2014, the RoboCop reboot was released and earned mixed reactions. Now the franchise is taking the same approach as this month's Halloween and next year's Terminator 6 by selectively ignoring continuity. Directed by District 9's Neil Blompkamp, the upcoming RoboCop Returns will be a direct sequel to the original RoboCop and see the eponymous protagonist returning to Detroit to battle crime and corruption as the city's fate hangs in the balance due to anarchy being widespread.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more coverage on the RoboCop franchise, but for now, don't forget to look through our 2018 and 2019 release schedules to plan your trips to the theater over the next year accordingly.
