Review of Robocop, The Prime Directives (Special Edition Box Set Four Discs)

Introduction

Paul Verhoven`s bleak and violent RoboCop is ever popular, fourteen years after its initial release. The stylish movie, which saw a part-machine, part-cop fight crime in Delta City was a success through a combination of a fly-on-the wall style that Verhoven returned to for Starship Troopers, an interesting story and some memorable action sequences. The film spawned two sequels and a television series, none of which are worthy of their position on the shelf next to the original.

RoboCop Prime Directives is a new, mini series featuring four separate feature length movies, which form an epic tale of crime and justice. In this boxset, each movie occupies one DVD.

Dark Justice.
Delta City, now dubbed "The Safest Place On Earth!", is a futuristic megalopolis wholly owned and operated by Omni Consumer Products (OCP). Ten years after his death and resurrection as RoboCop, Alex Murphy (Page Fletcher) has begun to feel his age. On the verge of obsolescence, RoboCop must also contend with the fact that his now-grown son, James (Anthony Lemke), is an OCP executive who is unaware that his father is still alive. In addition, RoboCop`s former partner, John T. Cable (Maurice Dean Wint) has returned to Delta City as its new Security Commander. But there is a new threat to Delta City: a mysterious vigilante called Bone Machine is cutting a swath through the criminal element of Delta City with the help of an experimental, armored combat suit.

Meltdown
Things get off to a furious start when a group of cybernetically-enhanced mercenaries, led by the enigmatic Ann R. Key (Leslie Hope), break into OCP in an attempt to steal top-secret technology. Their mission is thwarted by the appearance of RoboCop - but a very changed RoboCop. Still tormented by John Cable`s murder at the hands of The Trust (a tragedy he was helpless to prevent), RoboCop has become more mechanical, colder, and more violent than ever before... It seems his humanity may have died along with his best friend. What RoboCop doesn`t know is that The Trust, under Sara Cable`s leadership, has resurrected Cable as a new and improved crime-prevention unit — one they will use to discredit the increasingly dangerous and unpredictable RoboCop...

Resurrection
In the wake of their epic battle, RoboCop and RoboCable are both left wandering and on the edge of collapse in the wastelands of Old Detroit. RoboCop, near death, is rescued and repaired by Ann R. Key and her mercenary associates Lexx (Francoise Yip) and Abby (Marni Thompson). At the same time, RoboCable falls into the hands of the renegade Dr. David Kaydick (Geraint Wyn Davies), a genius who plans to unleash a doomsday weapon upon Delta City and the entire world. Back at OCP, James Murphy, on orders from Sara Cable, takes charge of the cyborg-cleanup operation. Backed up by a new squad of RoboHunters and armed with an EMP disruptor that will shut down RoboCop permanently, James heads into Old Detroit for a final confrontation with the man who once was his father...

Crash and Burn
RoboCop races back into Delta City in a desperate attempt to stop Kaydick and his doomsday device from killing countless innocents. Still branded as an outlaw, RoboCop battles both his own colleagues on the police force and the lethal, computer-controlled security system in the OCP Tower to reach Kaydick and shut him down. But Kaydick has an ace up his sleeve: his re-engineered cyborg of John T. Cable, now fully operational, stands ready to confront his former partner in a climactic final battle.

Duty vs. friendship.
Honour vs. vengeance.
Machine vs. man.

To save Delta City and all of humanity, one of them must sacrifice everything...And the other must die.

Video

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is of a reasonably high standard, with no dirt or grain on the print. The image is quite crisp and detailed.

Fans of the movies will recognise the visual style immediately, with a combination of news reports providing key information, live "present day action" and flashbacks used to tell the story. Action sequences are as you would expect from a television miniseries - not on the scale of a movie, with everything looking a little lower budget. Some of the long shots of Delta City look a bit ropey, but despite this, the visual effects are reasonable, and don`t detract from the movies.

RoboCop, however, is RoboCop, no matter who is under the body armour and helmet, although in this series he quite short compared to the other characters! Other amusements include officer Cable`s ludicrous moustache, clearly applied to age him in the present day scenes as opposed to the moustache-less flashbacks.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and is pretty good considering the television origins of the series. The sound is well reproduced, but most of the effects and music come from the front three channels, with the rear speakers used primarily for quieter atmospheric effects - in a similar fashion to a Dolby Pro-Logic mix.

The dialogue is always clear and understandable.

Features

There aren`t any extras available, which in some ways is a little disappointing, but on the other hand, given that the boxset contains six hours of movies for a low price, this is something that can be excused.

The discs are packaged in an attractive RoboCop slipcase which contains a fold out tray containing the four picture discs. This tray opens up into a picture of RoboCop.

Conclusion

For anyone familiar with the movies, RoboCop Prime Directives follows a similar story - that of the corporate desires at OCP against justice, and the inevitable conflict of interest that arises from having a private corporation in charge of law and order. Battles in the boardroom between power-crazed executives are matched by battles between RoboCop and the criminals. Once again, RoboCop is used as a tool of OCP instead of being an impartial police officer as it becomes clear who is behind the crime wave.

Whilst the plot and script are better than I expected, some of the acting is a little dubious in true mini-series style, but overall, each of the movies is quite enjoyable - and I thought that they were better than RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3. The use of the flashbacks and some interesting characters help to maintain interest between the action sequences, which are quite well done for a mini-series.

Overall, good picture and sound combine with excellent value - this four disc RoboCop Prime Directives boxset is available for around £15 and whilst you can buy each disc individually, the buying the boxset is more sensible.