Dead or alive, you’re watching this trailer for the Robocop documentary RoboDoc

Few films manage to hold up over the years. To accomplish such a feat, movies of that calibre need to be relevant across the years, beautifully shot and simply ahead of their time. Or they could be a satirical look at America’s obsession with materialism as seen through the eyes of a modern day Jesus in titanium armour who comes back from the dead to uphold the law.

Such a film was Robocop. Part man, part machine and all cop way back in 1987. Thirty years on, and Robocop is still a landmark movie. Director Peter Verhoeven was at his best here, crafting a tale of revenge and resurrection inside of a Hollywood spectacle that was satire mixed with explosions. You throw that story onto a cast of brilliant actors and a visual design that gave birth to a hero who was the living embodiment of law enforcement and Detroit’s reputation as Motor City, and the results spoke for themselves.

There’s a story behind this film, that must be fascinating. A story that its upcoming documentary RoboDoc wants to tell:

Fun fact: In the original film when Robocop is walking down flights of stairs or driving, the limitations of the suit resulted in the film team coming up with a novel way to prevent Peter Weller breaking his neck: They only filmed him from the waist up, as he was basically in his underwear without the heavy legs on so that he could actually navigate his way down the stairs.

See what I mean about a movie having a story to tell? RoboDoc won’t just tell the story of the first film, but also its two sequels, animated series and its TV series. Hell, maybe there’ll even be a few details on the train wreck that is Robocop: Prime Directives. I’m kind of keen to hear more about Robocop 2, which I still think is a fine follow-up to the original film and deserving of love as well. That’s just me though, as I’ve got a hidden prime directive love for it.

RoboDoc hits US cinemas for a limited run later in the year. It looks like one bad motherf***er of a documentary.

Last Updated: July 18, 2017