RoboCop
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: February 12, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
21
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 11, 2014
RoboCop is no canned remake of the 1987 action film. It's a reimagining that responds to everything that has changed in American life over the past 27 years, addressing new threats and exploiting new anxieties. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 12, 2014
As viscerally exciting as Padilha's RoboCop can be, the movie is elevated by serious considerations of the ethics of using robots as guardians (shades of drones), commercialism, playing God with science, and what being human is about. Read full review
80
Total FilmRichard JordanFeb 5, 2014
Taking the original and successfully transplanting it into an ambitious new world, José Padilha’s english-language debut is an exciting, pacey and thoughtful sci-fi actioner. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 12, 2014
Jose Padilha's Robocop reboot does some of the things a good remake should do: it retains the central ideas and themes of the original while updating and rearranging the narrative to lose a derivative feel. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 12, 2014
This movie comes at you with an idea or two, as well as every available gun blazing. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaFeb 12, 2014
RoboCop is a solid near-future action pic that poses moral questions about artificial intelligence and remote-control combat systems without getting too preachy or ponderous about it. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 12, 2014
This RoboCop earns its stripes, mostly for the seriousness with which it treats its Frankenstein story. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 11, 2014
RoboCop is topically up-to-the-moment but stylistically it’s retro. Far from using the story as an excuse to string together cheap thrills and blowout spectacle, its hero has all the heart of the Tin Man. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 13, 2014
It’s a rare “reboot” that transcends its studio’s money-grubbing. It has some Big Ideas. Read full review
70
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 5, 2014
It’s a less playful enterprise than the original, but meets the era’s darker demands for action reboots with machine-tooled efficiency and a hint of soul. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFeb 12, 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. Read full review
67
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonFeb 5, 2014
There are enough rough edges and interesting kinks across the two-hour running time that you come out forgiving it for the more generic elements, though we'll acknowledge that the flaws might stick out more on a second viewing, when you're not just pleasantly surprised that the whole thing isn't a stinking mess. Read full review
66
Film.comWilliam GossFeb 12, 2014
RoboCop has sound and fury to spare and even an inspired idea or two lurking beneath that polished exterior, but much like its upgraded namesake, this watchable mess ultimately lacks a prime directive to call its own. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyFeb 12, 2014
Though this RoboCop can’t come close to capturing the clever-silly audacity of the original, one area in which the current film easily surpasses it is in the quality of the cast. Read full review
60
NPRIan BuckwalterFeb 14, 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? Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 11, 2014
A nicely cast, respectable remake. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonFeb 11, 2014
Every bit of it is more advanced: The actors are better, the plot is tighter, the special effects sleeker, the messages more heartfelt. Yet it lacks Verhoeven's bloody, biting scream. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 11, 2014
Thanks to a good cast and a willingness to stray fairly far afield from the source material, it’s better than you might think. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonFeb 11, 2014
This is a slicker, shinier, admittedly inferior affair. But with a strong cast, a roaring pace and at least one genuinely unforgettable scene, it’s by no means a write-off. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 6, 2014
The film is not only unchallenging, it seems actively scared of challenging us. You emerge feeling pacified and only semi-entertained. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinFeb 5, 2014
In some ways, the thoughtful, dense script marks an improvement on the original, and the cast is certainly tonier this time around. What’s missing is the original’s evil wit, amoral misanthropy and subversive slipperiness. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 14, 2014
Brazilian director José Padilha (Elite Squad, Bus 174) soldiers on stolidly, but lacks the Dutch Verheoeven's abiding sense of mischief. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensFeb 13, 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. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 13, 2014
What we’re left with is a teen-oriented action flick with an A-minus cast, a mixture of “Transformers”-style robot battles and cops-and-robbers showdown that never feels all that exciting or cutting-edge, bracketed by some intriguing and half-successful moments of social commentary. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 12, 2014
A faithful remake of RoboCop would be timely. Instead, the producers of this new version have retreated back to the lab, concocting a creaky hybrid of “Frankenstein” and “Call of Duty.” Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc MohanFeb 11, 2014
Aggressively loud, terminally mediocre. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 11, 2014
The film doesn't embarrass itself or dishonor its predecessor, which is something. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 11, 2014
Moviegoers are stuck with this sci-fi thriller's bland story, murky cinematography and frenetic special effects. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 11, 2014
Although the movie isn't a complete disaster, it's not your father's RoboCop either. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 11, 2014
Director Jose Padilha (the “Elite Squad” movies) knows how to create slick, sometimes clever fast-moving battle sequences... But other than Keaton’s Sellars, the bad guys are mostly generic nitwits. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 13, 2014
The result is fitfully interesting, and Mr. Kinnaman, best known for "The Killing" on television, compels our empathy with a kind of macho melancholia. Still, the whole thing comes down to an action adventure that's graphics-rich, logic-poor, coherence-challenged and pleasure-impaired. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisFeb 12, 2014
While retaining the core story of a bionic man tormented by the memory of his former human life, the film doesn’t play with the concept or give it new dimension. The whole enterprise raises the question: Why do filmmakers insist on remaking movies for no good reason? Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasFeb 12, 2014
There’s no harmony at all to the elements tossed into the new remake of RoboCop, but credit screenwriter Joshua Zetumer and director José Padilha for at least having some elements in play. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 11, 2014
Any improvements over the original RoboCop are mere window dressing, more a superficial function of technical advances in filmmaking than of any sort of storytelling prowess or fresh narrative ideas. Read full review
40
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Feb 5, 2014
There’s nothing wrong, of course, with sci-fi films asking Big Questions, but the delivery doesn’t have to be — should never be, in fact — this tedious. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreFeb 13, 2014
Yes, the technology has improved in the 27 years that have passed. But the ensuing years have also produced first person shooter video games which utterly preclude the need for this as a movie. Visceral, violent toys that they are, they still have more heart than this. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEric HendersonFeb 11, 2014
Ultimately the film is, like the Faux News programming it caricatures at face value, a deck-stacking simulation of a dialogue it isn't even remotely interested in opening. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyFeb 12, 2014
The main thing wrong with Robocop is that it's dumb, and it's trashy, and it's both of those things in a not-good way. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 11, 2014
For all its playfulness, the new RoboCop can’t help but lack the novelty of the original’s jolting mixture of dumb-smart irony and visceral pulp. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFeb 12, 2014
The remake of the 1987 cult actioner Robocop is a misguided failure — not only because its retooled half-man/half-machine hero now has emotions, but also because its “fear the machines” message winds up feeling creaky. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 6, 2014
A deafening, boring action pile-up that is more Call of Duty than Robocop. Read full review
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