RoboCop Trailer Delivers The Action, Criticizes Your Robophobia

The future of law enforcement?

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Today is the day! Sony has finally released the first full-length trailer for the upcoming RoboCop remake. The new trailer gives us a better idea about the film’s story, which is definitely different from Paul Verhoeven’s original 1987 film.

The trailer starts off with the character Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), host of The Novak Element and a big supporter of mechanized crime control. Novak tells his audiences that robots and drones are used in every city around the world, and the result is a very low crime rate. That same technology could be brought to the United States, but for some reason, Americans are “robophobic.” It’s clear that the tone is not as gritty or dark as Paul Verhoeven’s original, but it looks like there’s enough action to make for a fun movie.

We also get a better sense of OmniCorp’s intent to sell the American public on mechanized crime control. It seems that Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), the villainous CEO of OmniCorp, might have had a hand in officer Alex Murphy’s unfortunate run-in with a car bomb. It also seems that the RoboCop remake might not deal with Detroit’s gang problem as much Verhoeven’s film did. There’s also no sign of an updated Clarence Boddicker type (played by Kurtwood Smith in the original). Nevertheless, the RoboCop remake feels like it will fall in line with other recent Hollywood remakes such as Total Recall, Straw Dogs, and The Thing prequel, which is effectively a remake in disguise.

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Sony also released a new RoboCop poster, which features a full-body look at RoboCop. It really looks like an Iron Man movie poster, except with a black suit and a large handgun. The tagline reads “Crime Has a New Enemy.”

Sony has pushed back the release date for the RoboCop remake a number of times, allegedly not because of the film’s production problems, but rather due to other outside circumstances. It was first set for an August 2013 release date, but Sony moved Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium into its spot, then it got bounced around again to make way for for George Clooney’s The Monuments Men. It’s currently slated to open on Valentine’s Day weekend, up against the film adaptation of the widely popular young adult monster romance Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.

The new RoboCop takes place in the year 2028, when a large corporation called OmniCorp is at the center of robotic technology, with their drones patrolling the streets of cities around the world. OmniCorp now wants to bring their drone technology to the home front. After Detroit police office Alex Murphy is critically injured during a car bomb attack, he becomes their prototype attempt to merge humans with robotics, saving his life but turning him into RoboCop.

RoboCop stars Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Kenneth Williams, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Miguel Ferrer, and Jay Baruchel. It will hit theaters everywhere on February 12, 2014, in 3D and IMAX.