I thought that Upgrade (2018) was a better reimagining of Robocop (1987) than Robocop (2014) was

Upgrade takes a lot of the story beats from the original Robocop, and flips them.

Both protagonists are savagely attacked by criminals.

Both protagonists are unwittingly turned into machines following their attacks. With Robocop, this is literal, but with Upgrade, the protagonist must use an electronic wheelchair and robotics in his apartment in order to function independently.

The goal of both protagonists is to regain their humanity.

But this is where Upgrade flips things. The protagonist gets an implant, and seemingly has his humanity restored.

Both protagonists bring their attackers to justice (although they have differing definitions of justice)

Both protagonists learn of a plot against them from a high powered corporate executive

Both movies end in the office of the head of the company that made the protagonist the way they are

Both protagonists kill the person(s) trying to stop them in that office (a bad person for Robocop, a good person and an ambiguous person for Upgrade)

Both movies effectively end with the protagonists verbally acknowledging who they are (In Robocop, the protagonist asks to be referred to as Murphy, in Upgrade, the protagonist says that There is no more Grey, only STEM)

By the end of both movies the protagonists are visual opposites from one another. Robocop is a human being who looks like a robot. STEM is a robot who looks like a human being.

Anyway, those are a few of my thoughts after having seen Upgrade. I thought it was a very good movie, and I thought that the writer took a lot of heavy influence from the original Robocop, to the point that to me, it's a reimagining of Robocop (1987).

Submitted September 28, 2018 at 08:34PM by tl34tf https://ift.tt/2xFceWz