Fuel up the jet pack and unpack the robot ninjas, because RoboCop 3 is definitely not the Greatest Movie EVER!
Click on the movie poster or the title above to download our review of the film, featuring Sean “Hollywood” Hunting.
Review in a Nutshell: Urban revolutionaries, machine gun arm attachments, and Mohawk-sporting goons…somehow it all goes terribly, terribly wrong in this film directed by Fred Dekker and written by Frank Miller. Not even Rip Torn can save this movie.
The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast 
This movie is terrible! One of the worst sequels ever.
I don’t know man I’d still probably take Robocop 3 over Terminator 3
Paul you can’t pronounce anything right.
I think Paul’s pronunciation of ED-209 where he says the letters to make it sound like “Edie 209” instead of “Ed” conveys the same grating sense of “no no, this isn’t right here, stop it, stop this NOW” as Robocop 3 itself.
The PG-13 rating no doubt came about because “kids LOVE Robocop.” As both Paul and Sean have repeatedly attested, vital formative parts of all our childhoods entailed watching R-rated movies such that we all knew of Aliens, Predator, Robocop, Terminator, Freddy, Jason, and all the rest despite being in elementary school. Even after this movie tanked, that “kids LOVE Robocop” notion still gave rise to Robocop: The Series (which definitely came afterwards) and a Robocop cartoon that ran 52 episodes (one season shy of the 65-episode syndication prerequisite), of which my childhood memory is CERTAIN there was an episode where cartoon Robocop said “shit” or “fuck” or something that would otherwise be bleeped out on this podcast. My childhood memory also recalls thinking Robocop: The TV Series was “okay” despite being a total departure in terms of violence as the first two movies. I’m not even sure if Robocop killed anyone on that show, but I still feel that it felt a whole lot more “right” than this movie. Mind you, I say that as someone who still enjoys Robocop 2 quite a bit–I got no problem with the kid in that because unlike what should have happened to the kid in Robocop 3, he does indeed eat a bullet–and that’s NOT faulty childhood memory at play because I rewatched it fairly recently when showing a friend Robocop and Robocop 2 back to back.
That cartoon and the Canadian “Prime Directives” mini-series were never really my cup of tea. I think at that point the budget was so low that the tried-and-true plotline of every Robocop sequel–“Robocop is old and faulty technology in need of replacement”–was something you could visibly agree with for a change. That was the other problem with Robert John Burke (and definitely…uh…[checks] Page Fletcher from the miniseries): in addition to not quite being able to get the movements right as you noted, he’s just too darned BIG. But you know what? As lame as Robocop 3 is…that Frank Miller comicbook made from his original intended script IS EVEN WORSE.
And I’m not even a Frank Miller hater. I like his Daredevil stuff. I like Batman: Year One (DKR and particularly DKR2…not so much). I like Sin City, even though it’s the same thing over and over. Hell, I like 300 and that’s the douchiest frat-boy thing he’s done. I like all of these things STILL, even though I KNOW he is a lunatic. So when I say that comic is worse, it’s not because I have an axe to grind with the guy. Hell, I saw The Spirit in the goddamned THEATER, on opening weekend if not day. And that movie opened on CHRISTMAS.
…okay fine, so I do have an axe to grind with that guy.
I saw this movie ONCE and it was enough for me. It just felt so wrong.
I remember the Saturday morning cartoon and toy line that went with it.
The TV series was ok. I remember Rowdy Piper guest-starring as a guy who claims to be the real-life version of the show’s corporate “superhero” Commander Cash.
I liked 300 and I enjoyed Sin City. The Spirit was a huge mess of a movie. It seemed like Miller didnt know what he wanted in terms of making the film a parody or serious
I like Robocop 2 too, although I should say that I like the last fifteen minutes of Robocop 2. That miniseries seemed to be a sort of reaction to the neutering of the series after 2, a return to the grittiness (because there’s nothing grittier than Robocop). It’s sort of like AVPR: Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, and like AVPR, it’s still not really all that violent
There was also a second cartoon in the late 90’s called Robocop: Alpha Commando where Robocop is brought out of cold storage to do battle with new villains while being assisted by a sassy (and hawt) police lady, Yan Neumann, and his new arsenal of built in gadgets.
Robocop is practically the American equivalent to a Shotaro Ishinomori hero right down to being unwillifully turned into a sin against creation for justice so it’s no surprise the kids love him :3
I wasn’t wildly impressed with the film either, for all the reasons enumerated in the podcast. And I especially agree with the comments that the film looks like it was shot for television.
Because of that, and given that the TV series came out only a year later, I used to have the odd theory that Robocop 3 was a bizarre case of a TV pilot being given a theatrical release.
Yeah that first movie is all you need to see, anything else just comes off pretty low.
Great review as always guys. Really enjoyed it. Like everyone else I loved seeing Robocop as young lad, and I love it even more today. It has some of my favourite squib shots in cinema, so damn many of them.
I gotta say, Robocop 2 wasn’t all that bad, bit of a step down nothing too drastic, it definitely doesn’t shit the bed like this one did.
However, I cannot let go of my love for Frank Miller, despite how hard he seems to be trying to get rid of his fans. I love him in a similar way I love Kazuo Koike. Both are bat-shit crazy and don’t give a rats ass what people think. Koike thought he was making a serious story about police work with Madbull 34, while Miller took his vision of an insane, angry Batman to a whole new level with All Star Batman, again dead serious. Both of which are some of the funniest things I have ever read. Don’t give up Frank, you’ve got more in the tank I know i.
Not long before we see a Robocop Reboot though am I right? Maybe have Robocop vs Judge Dredd. I wonder if there’s a comic of that. I’d buy that for a dollar, or $3.99 give or take.
Anyway keep up the good work guys.
To me the robocop movies are the best even though 2&3 was a bit of a let down. Still they were good because it was robocop just hope the remake of the first movie is as good or better can’t wait but robocop was and will always play a big part of my childhood and to all those robo haters you led a sheltered childhood. Your loss
I’m just curious. What exactly has Frank Miller done, besides agreeing w/ most of America that the Occupy Movement was bullshit, that makes him racist and crazy?