RoboCop 2 is a 1990 American cyberpunk action-superhero film directed by Irvin Kershner, written by Frank Miller and Walon Green, and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. Set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, it is the sequel to the 1987 film, RoboCop.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and fans. In 2013, the film received attention from news media due to its plot predicting Detroit filing for bankruptcy in the future.
It was the final film directed by Irvin Kershner.
Plot[]
RoboCop is slowly coming to grips with the loss of his former life as Alex Murphy. Though he attempts to reach out to his family, he eventually realizes he can never return to them. When he finally sees his wife, he tells her that the face was placed on him to honor her husband.
OCP's current plans also come into focus: they attempt to have Detroit default on its debt, so that OCP can foreclose on the entire city, take over the city government, demolish the old city, and put up a planned community development, Delta City, in its place. As part of this plan, OCP forces a police strike by terminating their pension plan and cutting salaries. As RoboCop is property of OCP and cannot strike, this measure increases his duties as the city sinks further into chaos and terror.
Meanwhile, the Security Concepts division of OCP continues to sink millions into the development of a more advanced "RoboCop 2". However, each project ends in disaster; once the officers realize what they have become, they immediately turn suicidal. They deduce that Murphy only survived because of his exceedingly strong sense of duty, and his moral objection to suicide as an Irish-Catholic. The scientists decide they need someone similar, like a criminal with a desire for power and immortality, regardless of the cost.
Throughout the city, a new designer drug named “Nuke” has been plaguing the streets. The primary distributor, Cain, believes that Nuke is the way to paradise, and is obsessed with power. He is assisted by his girlfriend Angie, his still-juvenile apprentice Hob, and Officer Duffy, a corrupt police officer. Having learned of Cain's involvement with Nuke from Duffy, RoboCop confronts him and his gang at an abandoned construction site. However, RoboCop is rendered immobile and disassembled; the pieces are then left in front of the Detroit Police Station.
OCP, reluctant to foot his massive repair costs, ignores his fellow police officers insistence that he be repaired. RoboCop is saved when Dr. Juliette Faxx, an OCP psychologist, takes charge of the new RoboCop team. She argues for his importance as a figure of the community, and creates a list of over 300 new directives to be added to his program. Murphy is ultimately powerless to refuse the new commands, and is rendered unable to take aggressive action against criminals or even to defend himself. After the original RoboCop team explains what to do about this, Murphy shocks himself with a power cable to erase all of his directives. He then leads the striking officers off the picket line to attack Cain's hideout. Cain is badly injured in the battle and is taken to the hospital. With Cain immobilized, Hob takes control. Faxx, having decided that Cain is perfect for the RoboCop 2 project, arrives at the hospital and switches off his life support. Later, while displaying the new RoboCop 2 (Cain) to the head of OCP, Faxx demonstrates how he may be pacified through a canister of pure Nuke.
Meanwhile, Hob arranges a secret meeting with the Mayor, offering to bail out the city's debt to OCP, but only if he agrees to a hands-off policy regarding the distribution of Nuke. Since this would hinder OCP's attempts to take over the city, they send RoboCop 2 in to kill everyone. While the mayor escapes through a sewer drain, all attendants, including Hob, Angie and two city councilmen, are slaughtered. RoboCop arrives late, only in time to find and comfort a dying Hob, who tells him about what happened.
During the unveiling of Delta City and RoboCop 2 at a press conference, the OCP President unwittingly presents a canister filled with Nuke. Cain escapes control, destroying the control device that arms his weapons, and opens fire on the crowd. RoboCop arrives, and the two cyborgs battle throughout the building, eventually falling off the roof and into an underground facility. As the rest of the police force arrives and engages Cain (who, having gone berserk, fires at armed personnel and innocent civilians alike), RoboCop heads back to the OCP building to get the canister of Nuke. Upon seeing the canister, RoboCop 2 immediately ceases fire and takes it. While distracted, RoboCop jumps onto his back, punches his way through to Cain's brain, and crushes it.
The Chairman of OCP, executive Johnson, and OCP lawyer Holzgang discuss the companies liability for the massacre, and decide to scapegoat Faxx, claiming that she acted without company support in designing RoboCop 2. Lewis complains about how the OCP executives will escape legally unscathed, but RoboCop reassures Lewis and tells her to be patient, because "We're only human".
Cast[]
- Peter Weller as Alex Murphy/RoboCop
- Nancy Allen as Anne Lewis
- Daniel O'Herlihy as Old Man
- Belinda Bauer as Juliette Faxx
- Tom Noonan as Cain/RoboCop 2
- Gabriel Damon as Hob
- Robert Do'Qui as Sgt. Reed
- Felton Perry as Donald Johnson
- Galyn Görg as Angie
- Willard Pugh as Mayor Kuzak
- Stephen Lee as Duffy
- Jeff McCarthy as Holzgang
- Wanda De Jesus as Estevez
- John Doolittle as Schenk
- Ken Lerner as Delaney
- Phil Rubenstein as Poulos
- Roger Aaron Brown as Whittaker
- Tzi Ma as Tak Akita
- Michael Medeiros as Catzo
- Mark Rolston as Stef
- John Glover as MagnaVolt Salesman
- Mario Machado as Casey Wong
- Leeza Gibbons as Jess Perkins
- John Ingle as Surgeon General
- Lila Finn as Homeless Woman
- John Hateley as Purse Snatcher
- Gage Tarrant as Hooker
- Tommy Rosales as Chet
- Brandon Smith as Flint
- Wallace Merck as Gun Shop Owner
- Linda Thompson as Mother with Baby
- Lily Chen as Desperate Woman
- Clinton Austin Shirley as Jimmy Murphy
- Angie Bolling as Ellen Murphy
- Martin Casella as Yuppie
- Richard Reyes, Charles Bailey, Jo Perkins, and Erik Cord as Angry Citizens
- George Cheung as Gilette
- Gary Bullock as Hack Doctor
- Ed Geldhart as Electronics Store Owner
- David Dwyer as Little League Coach
- Adam Faraizl as Little League Kid
- Justin Seidner as Brat
- Bill Bolender as Cabbie
- Wayne De Hart as Vendor
- Fabiana Udenio as Sunblock Woman
- Cynthia Mackey as Surgeon
- James McQueen as Dr. Weltman
- Yogi Baird as Contortionist
- Jerry Nelson as Darren Thomas
- Michael Weller as OCP Security #1
- Woody Watson as OCP Security #2
- Rutherford Cravens as Reporter #1
- Christopher Quinten as Reporter #2
Uncredited[]
- Patricia Charbonneau as Linda Garcia
- Frank Miller as Frank
External links[]
- RoboCop 2 at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)