RoboCop is an extraordinary film filled with countless very powerful scenes. I want to upvote the drug factory scene that hasn't been mentioned a lot. Verhoeven's direction and Poledouris' score are generally exceptional in the entire film, but i feel this is where both combine to produce an absolutely perfect scene.
RoboCop slamming the door repeatedly to orchestra hits (that are only on album) has been mentioned. This is followed by an eerie, suspenseful score (almost magical on album) as Robo enters the factory in a cloud of dust, a surreal apparition, the buzz of his motors and the thud of his feet the only sounds in the stunned silence of the place.
Dramatic timpani roll: "Come quietly, or there will be... trouble."
Concentrated gunfire ensues. The score takes mechanical rythm, as the machine part of Robo, standing still and impassible while bullets fly all around him, is calmly calculating his next actions and validating his Prime Directives.
Then Robo moves, justified and unstoppable, as the score is building into the very mechanical RoboCop march.
Then he fires, and only then is the RoboCop march performed in all its heroic glory. This is no longer a score, it is a concert: the gangsters no longer matter as Robo calmly, coldly dispenses justice to them through his perfect robotic aim.
In this scene, the mechanical part of RoboCop is really emphasized by the direction and the score, but for us viewers who have a tendency to humanize our silver screen machines, what we see is not a programmed robot but an infaillible hero. It's something that worked so well in T2 until we as viewers were slapped back into reality with "I know now why you cry, but it's something i can never do".
But in RoboCop, who's to say how much of Murphy there is in this scene? Who's to say Robo does not show the genuine human heroism Murphy showed in the beginning of the movie when he attempted to take out the Boddicker gang without reinforcements, strong only with his will to do his job, and his faith in justice?
What i like to see there is Murphy as the infaillible hero, now aided (as much as he is trapped) by his armor in his quest for justice and identity. So that's a scene that resonates a lot with me.
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