RoboCop
1987, R, 103 min.
D: Paul Verhoeven; with Peter Weller.

When the Detroit police force of the future is privatized, it results in an unexpected consequence: a supercop with a popped top. Weller plays a policeman who is killed while on duty and is then turned into a cyborg experiment by the department’s newly contracted management. Half man and half machine, but fully lethal, this RoboCop is indestructible. But the human part of him wants vengeance on the criminals who killed him. Great effects and a nasty undercurrent drive this vehicle.

This article appears in July 7 • 2000.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.