[A]fter an opening sequence as promising as the one here, it needs at least an attempted follow-through, not the jumble of confused ideas and time-wasting effects that take up the bulk of the film.

| Original Score: 2.0/5 | Feb 20, 2014

Surveying the peculiar array of 1980s retreads clustered into release this week, I'm reminded of Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II, traveling forward in time 30 years to discover that everything is still the same, only worse.

| Feb 14, 2014

The Brazilian director José Padilha may be working for a Hollywood studio but he doesn't temper his critique of American imperialism, big business and political corruption.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 14, 2014

Padilha is Brazilian, and it's interesting that both RoboCops have been made by men whose non-Hollywood work focused on their respective countries' curdled politics.

| Feb 14, 2014

This Robo-reboot tries fiercely to update the satirical punch and stylistic perversity Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original. It's a futile gesture.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 14, 2014

Neither Alex Murphy's internal moral conflict nor the larger, vaguely satiric portrait of a global culture dependent on high-tech law enforcement seem to be the main point of this Robocop remake, which raises the question of what is meant to be the point.

| Feb 13, 2014

It's well made, polished, and hits every mark - but is it crazy to want a futuristic sci-fi action flick about a motorcycle-riding metal supercop to be just a little more fun?

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 13, 2014

It fully justifies its existence. That doesn't mean it's especially good. But it's a rare "reboot" that transcends its studio's money-grubbing. It has some Big Ideas.

| Feb 13, 2014

An action adventure that's graphics-rich, logic-poor, coherence-challenged and pleasure-impaired.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2014

I'll take the original any day, but this is still fun, and the cast is first-rate.

| Feb 13, 2014

RoboCop becomes less a work of aspirational coolness and more a piece of political satire - and not necessarily a bad one.

| Feb 13, 2014

There are some interesting things about "RoboCop," and - no, wait, that's a lie.

| Feb 13, 2014

The film has lots of energized mayhem, and Murphy's unraveling of the conspiracy against him isn't dumbed down, yet it's as if the comic-book action poetry of the original has been encased in a suit of generic armor.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 13, 2014

The action sequences are entertaining enough while watching them, but nothing sticks once you've left the theatre.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 13, 2014

A kinder, gentler RoboCop. What scares us in 2014 isn't that we could someday make a robot Murphy. It's that we probably already can.

| Original Score: C | Feb 12, 2014

It's all rather surprisingly well acted (Kinnaman and Oldman are better than they even need to be), but "RoboCop" is missing a crucial ingredient: fun.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Feb 12, 2014

The re-imagined crime, action, sci-fi thriller isn't going for the biting satire of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original, or its extreme violence. The sci-fi side hasn't evolved much. And the thrill? Well, most of the thrill is gone.

| Feb 12, 2014

"Robocop" marks Brazilian documentarian-turned action director José Padilha's American debut, but it doesn't reveal anything other than an ability to execute high-octane action scenes.

| Feb 12, 2014

At least offers something resembling ideas of morality and mortality in the guise of a silly shoot-'em-up, even if those ideas are eventually given short shrift.

| Feb 12, 2014

Compared to the humor in the "Iron Man" movies or the vigilante themes in the recent "Batman" series, this reboot has little to offer.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 12, 2014