Robocop

Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop (1987) gave the sci-fi genre a shot in the arm by adding a heavy dose of political and social satire, influencing everything from District 9 to The Adjustment Bureau. This remake includes a few sharp pokes—one TV news report originates from a U.S.-occupied Tehran, and the plot turns on a congressional battle over the domestic use of drones—but mainly emphasizes the family drama surrounding Detroit cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), who’s nearly killed by a car bomb and becomes the flesh-and-blood component of a new crime-fighting android. I’ll take the original any day, but this is still fun, and the cast is first-rate: Gary Oldman, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Jay Baruchel, Samuel L. Jackson, and (hey, yeah, whatever happened to) Michael Keaton. Jose Padilha (Elite Squad) directed.