Not bad for a dumb shoot 'em up sci-fi movie, this story of a gravely injured cop turned into a cyborg has lots of special effects and violence and a few laughs, primarily in the scenes with Samuel L. Jackson as an outspoken TV personality. The description of the 1987 original calls Detroit (then a bustling metropolis) a dystopia, but this Detroit (now full of urban blight), seen in computer-generated aerial views, has in 2028 all kinds of shiny skyscrapers added to some existing buildings, and, in a few shots, some Toronto landmarks the filmmakers forgot to remove. Several heavy hitters were considered as director, but we ended up with Brazilian José Padilha (new to me) at the helm and Joshua Zetumer in his debut adapting the old screenplay. Other stars' names were bandied about but Swedish actor Joel Kinnamen (never heard of him) plays the title role, with supporting duties taken by Abbie Cornish (last blogged in Seven Psychopaths), Gary Oldman (most recently in The Dark Knight Rises), Aimee Garcia (the babysitter in Dexter), Michael Keaton (profiled in Clear History), the afore-mentioned Sam Jackson (last in Django Unchained), and more.
A couple of songs caught our interest: If I Only Had a Heart (the Tin Man's song in The Wizard of Oz), written by Harold Arlen & E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, covered by Andrew Page and I Fought the Law and the Law Won, written by Sonny Curtis and covered by The Clash.
I wouldn't urge anyone to rush out and see this but if it's the only thing on, those who like the genre will probably have a pretty good time.
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