Description

RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner.

In a near-future dystopia, Detroit is on the brink of societal and financial collapse. Overwhelmed by crime and dwindling resources, the city grants the mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) control over the Detroit Police Department. OCP Senior President Dick Jones demonstrates ED-209, a law enforcement droid designed to supplant the police. ED-209 malfunctions and brutally kills an executive, allowing ambitious junior executive Bob Morton to introduce the Chairman (“The Old Man”) to his own project: RoboCop. Meanwhile, officer Alex Murphy is transferred to the Metro West precinct. Murphy and his new partner, Anne Lewis, pursue notorious criminal Clarence Boddicker and his gang: Emil Antonowsky, Leon Nash, Joe Cox and Steve Minh. The gang ambushes and tortures Murphy, until Boddicker fatally shoots him. Morton has Murphy’s corpse converted into RoboCop, a heavily armored cyborg with no memory of his former life. RoboCop is programmed with three prime directives: serve the public trust, protect the innocent and uphold the law. A fourth prime directive, Directive 4, is classified.

Reassigned to Metro West, RoboCop is hailed by the media for his brutally efficient campaign against crime. Lewis suspects he is Murphy, recognizing the unique way he holsters his gun, a trick Murphy learned to impress his son. After experiencing a nightmare of Murphy’s death during maintenance, RoboCop encounters Lewis, who addresses him as Murphy. While on patrol, RoboCop arrests Emil, who recognizes Murphy’s mannerisms, furthering RoboCop’s recall. RoboCop then uses the police database to identify Emil’s associates and review Murphy’s police record. RoboCop recalls further memories while exploring Murphy’s former home, his wife and son having moved away following his death. Elsewhere, Jones gets Boddicker to murder Morton as revenge for Morton’s attempt to usurp his position at OCP. RoboCop tracks down Boddicker’s gang and, after a shootout, brutally interrogates Boddicker, until he admits to working for Jones, but he is unable to kill Boddicker, as it would violate his prime directives. RoboCop attempts to arrest Jones at the OCP Tower, but Directive 4 is activated—a failsafe measure to neutralize RoboCop when acting against an OCP executive. Jones admits his culpability in Morton’s death, and releases an ED-209 to destroy RoboCop. Although he escapes, RoboCop is attacked by the police force on OCP’s order and is badly damaged, but is rescued by Lewis, who brings him to an abandoned steel mill to repair himself.

Angered by OCP’s underfunding and short-staffing, the police force goes on strike, and Detroit descends into chaos, as riots break out throughout the city. Jones frees Boddicker and his remaining gang, arming them with high-powered weaponry to destroy RoboCop. At the steel mill, Boddicker’s men are quickly eliminated, but Lewis is badly injured and RoboCop becomes trapped under steel girders. Even so, he kills Boddicker by stabbing him in the throat. RoboCop confronts Jones at the OCP Tower during a board meeting, revealing the truth behind Morton’s murder. Jones takes the Old Man hostage, but is promptly fired from OCP, nullifying Directive 4 and allowing RoboCop to shoot him, causing Jones to crash through a window to his death. The Old Man compliments RoboCop’s shooting and asks his name; RoboCop replies, “Murphy”.