Robocop vs. The Terminator: Movie vs. Movie Issue #2

Movie vs. Movie Issue #2: Robocop (1987) vs. The Terminator (1984)

Robocop and The Terminator are both action staples of the eighties feature badass cyborg characters.  Though both films play up different strengths, they have often been compared and contrasted. They are both revered classics and have legions of devoted fans, but also share similar plot elements and themes. Which film is truly the defining action film of the decade, and which titular character is superior? To truly determine this, each film must be broken down and each piece examined closely.

Right off the bat, The Terminator edges ahead simply because it came out three years before Robocop. Co-written and directed by James Cameron, The Terminator was the jumping off point for numerous careers and an iconic movie character. In the year 2029, decades after a nuclear holocaust referred to as “Judgment Day”, the artificial intelligence defense network Skynet sends its most advanced cyborg model, the T-800 (played by Schwarzenegger) back in time to 1984 L.A. This “Terminator” has been assigned to kill Sarah Conner, the mother of the as of yet unborn John Conner, who will one day lead a resistance against Skynet. If the Terminator can kill Sarah, then John will never be born, and Skynet will be able to exterminate the human race entirely. Sent back at nearly the same time to prevent this from happening, Kyle Reese, a solider sent by the future John Conner, has been assigned to protect Sarah in the past and ensure his birth. On the outside, the Terminator looks human, but peel that flesh away, and it becomes clear what it really is. Like a human form of Mechagodzilla, the Terminator is a cybernetic organism with extreme strength, incredible resilience to damage, and advanced artificial intelligence. Even using future technology and artillery against just one, these things are hard to destroy. Because of the laws of time travel, Kyle can’t bring anything back in time to help him defeat it, so must rely on creative use of twentieth century tech to take the robot down.

Filmed on a low budget—just over six million dollars—it was never expected to be a huge hit. Thanks to some great casting, Cameron’s clever storytelling techniques, and Stan Winston’s bold special effects, The Terminator became a critical and commercial success. It cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger’s status as a buff, man of few words action star, and boosted the careers of Linda Hamilton (as Sarah) and Michael Biehn (as Kyle). It also began James Cameron’s filmmaking career, proving to 20^th Century Fox he was more than capable of bringing his Alien sequel, Aliens, to the big screen. Cameron would collaborate with future wife Linda Hamilton on the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Schwarzenegger twice more with T2 and True Lies.

Robocop is set in a near future Detroit where the threat of Skynet does not exist. Instead of the threat of an artificial intelligence looming, it is crime that’s out of control, and the police force can’t keep up. There is a huge drug problem, among other things, and Officer Alex Murphy has been transferred to help fight this war on crime. After being blown to bits by a gang led by drug lord Clarence Boddicker, Murphy is put into the Robocop program, developed by Omni Consumer Products (OCP). His mind is replaced with artificial intelligence (though not as diabolical as Skynet), his dismembered corpse rebuilt using robotic limbs, and his entire body sealed in a shiny steel suit. He wears a helmet, has a gun stored in his thigh, and follows his own set of law enforcement rules, which are typically shoot first and ask questions later (or not at all, just shoot and move on). As Robocop takes Detroit by storm and begins to put a tight grip on the crime problem, he begins remembering pieces of his life before becoming Robocop, and remembers who nearly killed him. He sets out on a personal mission to destroy those who wronged him, and bring justice to the city.

Made for thirteen million, a budget higher than The Terminator but still small, Robocop became an instant success and spawned its own franchise. Originally rated X for its extreme violence, the film was edited to fit the R rating and receive wider distribution. Though it was a success, it didn’t earn as much at the box office as The Terminator had three years earlier, however was one of the highest earning films of that year. It kicked off a film franchise, as well as a TV series, two animated series’, video games, and comic book adaptations. Besides being a kickass action film, it was also a satire on consumerism, media, violence, and many other themes. If you watch Starship Troopers (another tongue in cheek action flick from director Paul Verhoeven), you can see some of these themes get even more satirized.

So which film is better, the one with the hero man/machine, or the villain machine/man? Looking at them as a franchise, I would say Terminator has Robocop beat. Both the first Robocop and first Terminator are eighties classics, no doubt. Robocop 2 was a pretty big disappointment, even though Peter Weller reprised his role as the mechanical officer. Terminator 2, on the other hand, was a tremendous success. I have cited it as my favourite movie sequel ever, as have many other diehard fans of the original. The visual effects were greatly improved thanks to a larger budget, Arnold Schwarzenegger returned as a hero rather than a villain, an even scarier villain was introduced in the liquid form of the T-1000, a liquid metal terminator, and all of this was done while telling a story that was a worthy continuation of the first film. It built upon the mythology, the characters, the action, and delivered on all other fronts. Robocop 3 was even more inferior than Robocop 2 was, with Robert John Burke replacing Peter Weller and a sorely missing R rating, plastered over with an inadequate PG-13. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, although not hated by all, is one of the most miscalculated sequels ever in my opinion. T2 wrapped up the story perfectly and put the bow on it by confirming the future is not set and there really is no fate but what we make, meaning Judgment Day was stopped. Terminator 3 threw that out the window and said Judgment Day is inevitable. The date on which it happens simply changes to 2003, and yet another Terminator is sent back in time, the T-X, which is supposedly superior to all Terminators that came before it. And yet somehow, this one gets destroyed by another Schwarzenegger model (the T-800). In fact, the T-X has a metal body with liquid metal skin only, which seems second-rate to the entirely liquid metal T-1000. With Judgment Day back on track and the post-apocalyptic future ahead for poor old John Conner, a fourth sequel was made. Terminator Salvation only brought Schwarzenegger back in a small capacity, and Christian Bale was cast as John Conner. While I think it was much truer to the essence of what the series is all about than Terminator 3, it was still lacking the creativity, originality, and passion of the first two (plus it got a cursed PG-13 just like Robocop 3).

It’s difficult to pick one character as better than the other because one is purely and simply a hero, and the other is a bit more complicated, capable of being a hero or a villain. Both Robocop and the Terminator have memorable one liners due to their lack of conversational speech, but the Terminator’s infamous “I’ll be back” is the most well known. Still, Robocop himself has a number of great quotes: “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” “Your move, creep.” “Come quietly or there will be...trouble”. Robocop also has a custom weapon which he can store in his thigh, whereas the Terminator has no onboard weapons (though more advanced models would adopt this feature in the sequels). The Terminator sometimes doesn’t even need more than its hands to inflict serious damage. Robocop requires maintenance after battle, such as in the first film when he repairs after battling the ED-209, one of Omnicorp’s bulky and clumsy robot guards. Kyle Reese wasn’t exaggerating when he said the Terminator is unstoppable. It can literally be blown to pieces and only have its arms and head left, and it will still crawl around and try to kill its target—surely it is the most devoted assassin ever. Only by destroying or re-programming its CPU chip can the Terminator be stopped. While Robocop, who is still human on the inside, can be injured and feel pain, the Terminator will stop at nothing to kill its target. It feels no pain and no remorse; it is simply programmed to succeed. Point goes to the Terminator for being even more unstoppable than Robocop.

Both of these films fit into the action genre, but which one boasts the bigger and better effects? Some of the effects in The Terminator aren’t up to par; one scene that always bugged me was when he takes his eye out in the bathroom. It’s extremely obvious that a replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head was used for the shot because it’s shiny, stiff moving, and wholly unconvincing. To be fair, this film had a meager budget, and most of the other effects are good for the time. The stop motion to make the fully robotic Terminator move is used minimally, and just as high of quality as the stop motion ED-209 in Robocop. However, I have to hand it to Robocop for excelling in the visuals department. Blood squids, which is what gives blood that explosive pop to simulate gunshot wounds, were used extensively in this film. From the ED-209 blowing away a board member to Murphy being gunned down in one of the most over the top scenes of the whole movie, every living thing in the movie spurts massive amounts of blood (it’s obvious why they tried to give Robocop the X rating). Robocop throws guys through walls, shoots them in the dick, and can be stopped by no one. He also has a thing for smashing glass, which he does repeatedly. Due to the bigger budget and more over the top nature of the film, Robocop beats The Terminator as far as visuals go.

Looking at all the aspects I have examined and the original films as a whole, it’s hard to pick one over the other. For me, The Terminator wins over Robocop, but not by a landslide. Both films are well made; I simply prefer the more serious tone of The Terminator over the exaggerated fun of Robocop. What’s really impressive is Robocop took a concept that was similar to The Terminator in having a part man-part machine as a main character, but made it original and not feel like a rip off. Both of these characters have become icons of the action genre, and continue to find success to this day. There have been numerous action figures, toy lines, and there was even a Robocop vs. The Terminator game released for the Super Nintendo. The Robocop remake hit theaters February 12^th, and a reboot of the Terminator series is set for a 2015 release, currently titled Terminator: Genesis and starring Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke as Sarah Conner.