Review Detail

Up front, I will say this: I missed "bitches leave." One of the great line deliveries in the history of motion pictures and it's just gone. Kurtwood Smith would not stand for this.

On the plus side, I loved literally everything else about this cut. As much as I can't get enough of Robocop in its original form, I've always thought that the subversiveness of the concept would have worked better in a slightly less over-the-top, hard-R setting, allowing younger viewers to better have their minds blown by a Franken-zombie who fights back against his omnipresent corporate masters. Plus, having the intense violence occur just off-screen allows the viewer to imagine the horrifying violence on their own, which only adds to its power.

Besides aesthetic reasons, the network-TV version is how I first watched this fine piece of sci-fi cinema, so it worked for me on a nostalgic level, which I suspect is the primary point. Nevertheless, this might just be my go-to Robocop version from now on. I might even try splicing in some mid-90s commercials, just to see how well they sit next to the terrifyingly dystopic creature that is Mary Hart, newsanchor.