Robocop 2 (1990)

 

Well, what do we have here? A sequel that is almost as good as the original. Who knew this was possible? Yet, it is in this case. Now fair enough: Irvin Kershner isn't as stylish and engaging a director as Paul Verhoeven and this film is lighter in tone, but it manages to convey the message of the first one and is pretty violent as well. 

One year after the events of the first one and the police force is on full strike as OCP decided to slash the budgets even more. Crime is through the roof and now a new designer drug called Nuke is on the streets, peddled by a cult led by the enigmatic Cain. Things don't look too good and when Robocop gets torn apart by Cain and his cronies, OCP is extremely hesitant to reassemble him. They're also close to completely controlling the city, as the mayor cannot afford to pay back the loan he received from the company. 

Meanwhile, OCP has been working on a second version of Robocop, but nothing has proven successful thus far. Then psychologist Juliette Faxx appears and she plans to use a criminal to become the new Robocop. She gets her chance when the original Robocop is finally put back together and he goes after Cain, putting him in hospital. Now Faxx has a drug-addicted monstrosity under her control. 

Or does she? 

The biting edge of the original is quite lost. Sure, there are still some of those wacky commercials and some newsitems, but the script doesn't bring that sharpness to life. What did hold up, are the performances. Peter Weller and Nancy Allen slip right back into their roles and it works because they both truly get it. Who now gets a bigger role is Dan O'Herlihy, the old man of OCP, who now fully embraces his douchebag-nature. What also is an excellent idea, even if it seems bizarre on paper, is the inclusion of Hob, a child of about ten who is one of the biggest drugleaders in the city. Writing it down, it seems like something absurd, but in the film it actually works. Go figure. 

There's a part where OCP forcefully overloads Murphy's brain with pointless directives and this is probably the weakest point of the film as it goes straight for comedy, but it feels incredibly disjointed with the rest of the film which tries to more or less keep its serious tone. 

Oh, and Tom Noonan is great as Cain. He is one of those instantly recognizable faces and he brings this hippie/cult leader swagger to the part. The design of his robotic form is also pretty cool and the stop motion is top notch as well. 

'Robocop 2' is a worthy successor to the classic first one. It does fall a bit flat at times and of course it is nowhere as good as the first, but it manages to be a very respectable follow-up that doesn't feel too far away from what made the first one so great.