Violence in RoboCop

When it comes to violence in RoboCop, I feel that there is a great mixture of both realistic gore and gratuitous exaggerated violence. Though the violence is extreme and delivered in relatively high quantities, I feel that not a single frame was wasted or unnecessary. Every instance of violence was critical to the plot and the overall theme of the film.

One of the major points that the film was trying to convey was the sense that when it comes down to man vs. technology, man ultimately wins. We see this in the beginning when the ED robot was being tested in front of the executives. The shelling of the unfortunate man was shown for several seconds. The body was shredded beyond recognition even after his death. The whole point of this scene was to hammer in that a machine is uncontrollable. It cannot be reasoned with. The body is mangled on camera for much longer than one would expect to see in a film of the same genre, but not without reason. This gives the entire idea of the RoboCop project a new light. It has the element that is missing: humanity.

When Murphy is killed, his body is salvaged and what little brain is left operational is hardwired with computers. He still the ability to reason, though, which allows him to react with more precision and use his instincts when needed. Film viewers will notice the difference in violence between RoboCop and the ED robot. RoboCop has the human instinct that allows him to be controlled with his aggression, whereas the ED simply knows how to kill.

The violence overall was well done and I think has both artistic merit and entertainment value. The violence is not extremely over the top like Kill Bill or even Sweeney Todd. It has a realistic edge to it. I never saw a part that I thought was extremely unrealistic, sans for how long Murphy lives while being shot. Everything else was pretty understandable. I would imagine being shelled by a giant robot would be a little more graphic in real life than portrayed, however.