Second trailer for ‘Robocop’ reboot asks why we are ‘robo-phobic’
The latest trailer for the remake/reboot of “Robocop” reveals a bit more of the film’s atmosphere than the first, anchored by a stentorian presentation by Samuel L. Jackson. In what seems to be some kind of informercial editorial, Jackson describes a crime-fighting solution used in other countries all around the world before he asks the essential question:
“Why is America so robo-phobic?”
Directed by José Padilha, the film stars Joel Kinnaman as the cop who is revived from a near-death incident via a high-tech man/machine interface. The new film looks to shift his injuries from a vicious shootout on the job to a car bomb outside his house, perhaps implying that there will be some new emphasis on the domestic, human side of one day waking up part-robot.
Paul Verhoven’s 1987 original was, as many of his films are, a slyly political movie wrapped up as a gaudy genre picture. Padilha has been quoted as saying he was excited to deepen the film’s political subtext, in particular during the age of drone warfare.
The film boasts an impressive cast, as besides Kinnaman and Jackson character turns are glimpsed in the new trailer with Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Jay Baruchel, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennnifer Ehle and Michael K. Williams.
“Robocop” reaches theaters Feb. 7, 2014.
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