ROBOCOP

   Film (1987). Orion. Dir Paul Verhoeven, starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith. Screenplay Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner. 102 mins. Colour.

   Dutch director Verhoeven here unusually made a successful transition from foreign art films - the violent medieval epic Flesh + Blood (1985) and the perverse thriller The Fourth Man (1983) - to a US populist blockbuster. A corrupt corporation inNEAR FUTURE Detroit manufactures a prototype CYBORG (Weller) in which the head of a mortally wounded policeman is integrated with a powerful metal body. The brutal extermination of criminals and cleansing of the corrupt business community that follow are directed with a blend of technical skill, low cunning and genuine artistry that is both dismaying and breathtaking. The casual cruelties of the ongoing bloodbath seem merely a cynical exploitation of the worst aspects of audience voyeurism, but the film also contains a density of information about, and a sharp satirical observation of, this future world that are both rare and welcome in sf cinema. Verhoeven went on to direct TOTAL RECALL. The sequel, not dir Verhoeven, was ROBOCOP 2.

   PN

   See also: CINEMA.