20 Reasons Why You Rock: RoboCop 2

No other RoboCop related project will likely ever come close to the 1987 original. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop is a masterpiece that appeals to fans of the action, sci-fi and horror genres. Filled with memorable moments and characters, satire and a healthy dose of ultraviolence (especially for the time), RoboCop is the type of movie that is forever etched into the memories of anyone who had the pleasure of viewing it.

With all of that said, while no sequel, reboot or series can be AS good as the original film, that doesn’t mean they can’t be good… I would argue that not only is the 1990 sequel, RoboCop 2, a good movie, it is a movie that rocks…

#1. A wise man once said “It’s all in the hips” but for Peter Weller’s RoboCop it may be all in the lips… One of the reasons Verhoeven cast Weller for the original was Weller’s lip placement when wearing the RoboCop costume. It’s like Weller was born to play RoboCop. Without Weller’s return I doubt I would love RoboCop 2 as much as I do.

#2. RoboCop makes a helluva an entrance after some criminals in the midst of robbing a gun shop blow up Robo’s police cruiser… with Robo in it! But RoboCop comes out unscathed and ready to dish out some justice!

#3. Of course the gun shop robbery was immediately proceeded by a fun bit where we see life in Detroit… an old lady with her cart full of cans to recycle nearly gets run over, a guy comes over to seemingly help her, but ends up robbing the poor old lady instead, then that same guy is assaulted by a pair of prostitutes who take his recently stolen money for themselves… Old Detroit is in some serious shit.

#4. When RoboCop goes to the Nuke lab and does the bank shot to save an infant of one of the women forced to work in the lab, it always reminds me of those classic Billiards Trick Shot commercials from the 80s, you know the one that would teach you how to do the masse’.

#5. RoboCop did his job so well in the first movie that a new crop of villains was needed for RoboCop 2. The movie went into an entirely different direction with Tom Noonan’s Cain… a drug lord with a God complex. Cain was just the right mix of creepiness and menace and much like Clarence Boddicker before him, Cain has a colorful array of henchman to back him up. And Cain is also successful at setting up the destruction of RoboCop… that’s freaking impressive!

#6. The Media Break segment at the start of the film was another welcome return. Media Break did a great establishing some key plot points for the movie There’s the Detroit Police Department going on strike after OCP’s mismanagement of the department (including cutting cop’s pension!). We also learn about Nuke, the most addictive narcotic in history and they even include a video message from Nuke kingpin Cain! Plus, we get to see the surgeon general assassinated. Having real life anchors Mario Machado and Leeza Gibbons as Media Break anchors Casey Wong and Jess Perkins respectively, adds a bit of authenticity to the whole thing.

#7. One of my guilty pleasures when watching a movie is when a character says the name of the movie, especially when it is a title that is not easy to work in dialogue wise. The original RoboCop was easy, there is a character in the movie named RoboCop that interacts with other characters. When those other characters say his name or refer to him they are also saying the title of the movie, but RoboCop 2 manages to pull it off when The Old Man reviews some video footage of the OCP’s attempt at making another RoboCop (what was wrong with the first design?!?!)… or as Johnson introduces it… “RoboCop 2”! Pure joy every time I hear it!

#8. During Johnson’s video presentation of the failed “RoboCop 2” prototypes, we meet a new character to the RoboCop universe, Juliette Faxx (played by Belinda Bauer of Timerider fame). Faxx is the kind of shark you need to succeed in the cutthroat corporate world. Taking a page from Bob Morton’s playbook, Faxx uses the previous “RoboCop 2” failures to worm her way in to heading up the project and get closer to The Old Man in the process.

#9. New characters are essential to give a sequel a different feel and not seem like nothing but rehash… but to me it is just as essential to bring back characters/actors from the previous movie(s) since the audience has already made a connection with them… On the OCP side of things, there’s the aforementioned Johnson played by Felton Perry and The Old Man played brilliantly by Dan O’Herlihy… to me they never got another “face of OCP” nearly as good as O’Herlihy in any other RoboCop incarnation… On the Detroit PD side of things, Sgt. Reed (Robert DoQui) is back and of course, Murphy’s partner, Anne Lewis (Nancy Alen)… who continued to be the best partner a RoboCop could ask for.

#10. Quite possibly my favorite character in the movie not named RoboCop is Mayor Kuzak played by Willard E. Pugh of Traxx and Toy Soldiers fame. The stress of a bankrupt Detroit is getting to the Mayor and him losing his cool and blowing up at The Old Man is one of my favorite moments in the entire movie… “Fuck you, you old senile bastard!”

#11. Quite possibly my least favorite character in the movie is Officer Duffy… the dirty cop played by Stephen Lee of Dolls and Ghoulies Go to College fame. There is nothing redeeming about Duffy and when he gets his, I know I didn’t shed any tears. But seeing a character like that meet his demise is always rewarding.

#12. If you ever wanted to see a Little League baseball team rob an electronics store, then RoboCop 2 is the movie for you! Another fun scene with the Motor City Muskrats getting lectured by a not quite himself RoboCop, who also found himself reading the Miranda Rights to their already dead coach.

#13. RoboCop is a cyborg of action. The scene where he decides to take matters into his own hands and “erase” the re-programming Faxx forced on him by electrocuting himself is one of the most memorable for me. Robo had no way of knowing that he would survive the massive voltage or if he did if it would erase his nonsensical directives… but he did it anyway. And that’s what courage looks like folks.

#14. I’m a sucker for a familiar face or three popping up in a movie I am watching and RoboCop 2 did not disappoint… First up is John Glover as the Magnavolt spokesman, Glover is a favorite of mine from movies like Gremlins 2 and Scrooged and was a pleasant surprise in his brief appearance here… In one of his meatier roles was another favorite, Phil Rubenstein. Rubenstein plays Poulos, Mayor Kuzak’s aide and is on board with the mayor’s outside the box thinking on how to save Detroit from falling under OCP control. I always think of Rubenstein’s work in Back to School any time I see him… Last but not least is Alotta Fagina herself, Fabiana Udenio as the woman in the sunblock commercial.

#15. Four Words: RoboCop on a motorcycle.

#16. In all my years of movie watching, there’s only one movie that I recall seeing a fiddle playing contortionist.

#17. Big props to young Hob, who really steps up in a major way when Cain is taken out by RoboCop and becomes the new leader of the gang. Bigger props to Gabriel Damon for playing the character so well that you could believe that a kid has taken control of the lucrative Nuke business.

#18. While the human version of Cain is in fact eliminated courtesy of RoboCop, Faxx gives him new life as RoboCain! RoboCain who is a giant Nuke addicted cyborg… RoboCain makes an epic debut when he shows up and interrupts the meeting between Hob and Mayor Kuzak and all hell breaks loose!

#19. My hat goes off to composer Leonard Rosenman, who continued the tradition started by Basil Poledouris in the original film, with a majestic score for RoboCop 2.

#20. There’s only one way a movie with a RoboCop and a RoboCain could possibly end at that is with a clash of the cyborgs and what a clash it was… especially in the days before CGI. Special shout out to Lewis who once again earned her clutch player status!