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RoboCop frying out his directives should've been further explored in the third film

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
2 replies | jump to latest

This really should've set the stage for RoboCop 3. Now that he no longer has any prime directives to obey, the third film really should've given Murphy a conflict as to whether he wants to break free of his duties as a police officer and reunite with his family or not. This could've been done in tangent with the main plot still being about OCP trying to get Delta City off the ground by evicting people from their homes to begin construction.

This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I wouldn't even mind had if the series chose to close out with Robo finally choosing to leave behind the life OCP built for him, and just choose to spend his remaining days with his family instead, somewhere far from Detroit. Maybe Dr. Lazarus builds him a recharging station at his new home, thereby ensuring that he could conceivably stay alive till the end of time, so long as the station is properly maintained.

It'd be a really touching, heart-warming ending to such a violent, cynical series of films. It'd be even more so if there could be a line in there about how by the time Murphy has outlived his wife and son, he will meet them there. If done right, this could be the kinda ending that makes the manliest of men cry.

Any thoughts?

Discuss...

[–] twinA (4921) 5 years ago

Posted May 26, 2020

Personally I have a love-hate relationship with RoboCop 2. A major theme that Murphy goes through with each film is him having to learn to accept who he is, and that also happens to entail ultimately his responsibilities too. Maybe the creators of the films thought having Murphy be given too much freedom would have meant him no longer being Robocop in a sense.

In the beginning of the second film, where Murphy pretends to be overly robotic to his on-screen wife, showcased that he thought it more important for her to move on and not be bogged down trying to live a life with him, which he probably thought was unfair to her and their son. It's my favorite scene of Robocop 2 as it demonstrates his true love for his family. This is the same man who refused to commit suicide in favor of living a life outside anything we would consider normal. Murphy is just having to make tons of sacrifices left and right, so I agree with you that giving him more freedom would have definitely been an interesting direction even if it goes outside the franchise's creative framework.

Yeah, I also can't see Murphy being Robocop for the remainder of his days either. More than likely, given his longevity being a technological law enforcer, he'll probably give up his 'career' once he feels everyone around him is safe from harm or they don't need him anymore. He should go out on his own terms after being such an esteemed 'man' of duty.

I feel bad for Murphy - people don't love him as a person, they love him as Robocop, a commodity. He probably remains an officer because his only family are his fellow officers, who remember Murphy for who he really is. Losing his police partner hurt him just as much, if not even more, than giving up being a family man.

This series was really dictated by its marketing more so than other established names. Toy sales would have likely dropped if the creators did anything resembling thinking too much outside the box.

~~/o/

[–] mitzibishi (2013) 5 years ago

Promoting the new toy line for RoboCop 3 trumps putting as much thought into the story as you did.