Geeky Seats hits the D-Box Seats
A movie I haven't been excited about and went to see mostly for lack of other options is now in the books. Robocop has hit theaters and is very different than the other mushy Valentine's weekend movies that came out along side it. As I do not have anyone to see a mushy movie with (although I am currently taking applications and reviewing candidates), Robocop seemed to be the one to pick.
"Dead or Alive... You're watching my movie."
D-Box Experience:
As I was planning my day and checking the theaters, I noticed there were times listed for something called "D-Box Seating." They lined up with the other shows, but I remembered seeing a display last week before The LEGO Movie about D-Box. It was very vague to look at. 2 movie theater seats in front of a screen. The head rests said "Reserved for D-Box" but there was a big red button that said "Play" next to the screen. Since I wasn't as early as I usually am, I bypassed it and saw my movie.
This week, I tried to do a little more research about it. I dare you to go to their website and get any real idea what D-Box actually is. Seriously go. Fine, I'll just tell you. Once I did some digging and watched a YouTube video on it, I learned what was so special about D-Box Seating.
Taking another step forward from where some theaters have taken the movie-going experience by adding soft, leather seating that costs a bit more to sit in, D-Box tries to make the movie experience more immersive. It takes a slightly more comfortable seat, adds some hydraulics, and a roll-cage.
Thought I was kidding about the roll-cage, didn't you?
The D-Box seats move with a choreography set to the movie. At times this was really cool. Flying with a drone over a small town, it gently glides you left and right with the drone as though you were following it. When bullets were fired (and there were a lot of bullets fired), you feel the pop of the gun. Even an emphasized heart beat you can feel through your seat. You pick your seat when you buy your ticket and MUST sit in that seat. You can also pick your overall intensity for how much of the action you want to feel once you sit down.
At times I thought this was great. The first time it happened, though, I thought someone kicked the back of my chair. I hate that so much. So it took some time to adapt. This is new, so I would expect it to get better. At an $8 up-charge it is somewhat cost-prohibitive to see a lot of movies this way. It was neat, but I didn't think $8 neat.
There are movies I think would be worth that. Picture watching Jurassic Park. When the power first goes out and the cars are stuck outside of the T-Rex pen: That iconic scene where the the footsteps make ripples in the glass of water and you hear the increasing boom with each step as it gets closer. Now imagine that you could feel that instead of just watching it. In a moment like that it's a great idea. To watch a whole movie that way, however, is another story. I would recommend giving it a try, but be prepared for some movement that makes no sense with what you are watching and at times you will want to punch someone for kicking your seat.
"Kick my seat again and I'll EAT YOU!!!" - me
Spoiler-Free:
That's D-Box, so on to Robocop. As I mentioned, I was not particularly excited about this movie in the first place. I actually thought it would be a great candidate to be my first bad to terrible review since I started this blog. At first, it was on it's way there. Watching a remake of any movie, it is nearly impossible not to compare it to the original- a movie I've seen many times from the time I was a kid.
Overall, I didn't think it was bad. It holds true to the original story for the most part while giving it a more modern look. That being said, there were overarching things that bothered me the whole time that you can see right in the trailer. Speaking of the trailer:
If you couldn't guess, it's the human hand and the black paint-job. I understand the more modern, sleeker look to the body, but changing the color? It was hard to identify as the character from watching the original so much. The human hand just didn't fit for me. It took away the symmetry and you have to assume that it wouldn't be as strong as a fully mechanical hand, ya know, like the one he has on his other side.
Overall, before going into more details with some spoilers, I actually enjoyed the movie. You do have to detach from the original some and give it a chance, but it was an interesting introspective into free-will and consciousness as well as the idea of control. Are we in control or do we have an illusion of control? Anyway, time for some spoilers, so if you don't want to know skip down to the bottom.
--Caution: Spoilers Ahead--
Robocop takes place in the near future. It's a world where the mega-company OCP makes a line of humanoid combat drones for use oversees. They also have the mech-warrior looking giant tank mechs that are almost ripped right out of the original. There is a standing law forbidding the use of these drones on U.S. soil which has overwhelming public support. OCP needs to find a way to gain public trust to open the market in the U.S. to accept drones in law enforcement in order to earn ALL the money.
Meanwhile, Alex Murphy, is a Detroit detective. Tell me if you've heard this part before. Yadda yadda, crooked cops, investigation, arms dealer, killed for his trouble. The attempted murder was a little different than the original. I loved how the original did it. He knew who killed him. Surrounded by shotgun-wielding bad guys he was blown to pieces one shot at a time. In this movie he is also blown to pieces, but by a car-bomb intended to stop his investigation into the arms dealer which could lead him to the crooked cops.
Artist's interpretation.
OCP is reviewing candidates to put a man inside a machine. The idea being to give the people a drone with a conscience, not a cold killing machine. They see Alex Murphy and talk his wife into allowing the procedure. We get a gruesome view of what is left of him after the surgery when they take all of his limbs away and all that is left is his head, throat, and his lungs in transparent containers breathing away. I missed a lot of what was said at that point because I was just looking at the lungs. Unfortunately, the seat didn't rise and fall with each breath.
In true origins-film style, we go through the different steps into him becoming the Robocop that we remember. Contrasted from how the original had Murphy hardwired and emotionless right off the bat, the remake actually starts with the real Murphy learning about his differently-abledness and dealing with his new reality. He even meets his wife and kid again early.
We do know, however, that he is wired so that in combat, the AI takes over. Alex thinks he is in control, but he really isn't. The problem comes in while they are uploading police records and CCTV footage into his brain when he sees the footage of his own murder and is unable to cope. The doctor (played by the great Gary Oldman) lowers his dopamine levels to almost nothing so he doesn't feel anything about his murder. He is now the emotionless robot from the original film. His sole focus is on making arrests and upholding the law. This part is pretty bad-ass.
After his wife stops him for a brief second and pleads with him, Robocop begins to unravel his programming and proceeds to solve his own murder. Again, not quite as dramatic as the original film. In that one, he electrocutes himself to fry the programming that is keeping him under OCP control. In this one, it appears to be his feelings for his family that undo his programming. Once he is free, he is able to take down the arms dealer and find evidence on the crooked cops, including his own police chief who it turns out helped facilitate his murder.
This isn't good for OCP. Realizing Alex is no longer completely under their control, they want to terminate him. They can't risk that he would go to the press and jeopardize getting all drone-use legal in the country. Alex fights through a blockade of the large mechs and gets pretty beat up to get to Michael Keaton and to save his wife and kid.
In a somewhat anti-climactic finale to the action, Michael Keaton is wearing a bracelet that indicates to Robocop's programming that he can't be harmed. Again, sound familiar? Alex has to fight that programming in order to kill him and get his "life" back. Obviously he succeeds and, with the help of Gary Oldman, gets fixed up and his original silver-blue coloring back.
It really brings out his eyes.
In Summary:
I liked the movie. Would I see it again? Eh, not sure. Once was probably enough, even when it is on DVD. I will say if they make a sequel, it might be decent and I'd probably see that.
My thoughts on the new Robocop are mainly that it was interesting, but not great. Like I mentioned up top, making his body black to be more "tactical" really took away some of the cool-factor. It would have been interesting for a scene or 2, but it was that way for the majority of the movie.
So a pretty decent story with lots of action and, of course, my seat getting me a little more into it at points were definitely high marks for the movie. As for low points really, just the things I mentioned already. The only other thing I can say on that is that it failed to out-do the original. I don't necessarily expect that it be better than the first, but at least out-do it. Make it more epic and somewhat memorable. The best way I could illustrate this is to say look at Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight. There was a great previous performance of this character by Jack Nicholson but they were able to really make a mark with it. That's a performance that is going to stick with us, but I think Robocop will be overshadowed by the original forever and eventually forgotten.
Also, that human hand just always gave me the feeling that he was just wearing a suit, not that he WAS the suit no matter how much they beat it into us. I don't get that decision at all.
Wait... Why???
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