Last Saturday, we left Robocop (2014) at the point where Alex Murphy (what is left of him physically) is placed in a robotic suit. He is the pilot phase of a special project meant ultimately to put robots out on the street as cops. Now that he is officially a robocop, Murphy begins his training.

He is introduced to Mattox, who, for some reason I have yet to figure out, doesn’t like his newest trainee. Mattox plugs Murphy into a computer program meant to see how he compares to other robots. Murphy performs just as well as the robot in terms of accuracy, but he’s just a little bit slower than his mechanical competitor.

Why did the writers backtrack on some of their own assumptions?

There were a number of problems with this scene. For one thing, I’m not sure why Sellars needs Murphy to be just as fast as the robots. From his perspective, he just needs a man in a metal suit so he can utilize a loophole in the law against robotic cops. Taking just a few seconds longer than a regular robot really wouldn’t interfere with his goal because he could just explain that a man must wrestle with his emotions before pulling the trigger. Because the public is already apprehensive about unfeeling machines enforcing the law, he has given them a man who can feel but has machine-like abilities. Murphy’s slower speed is the inevitable trade-off.

Also, why did the writers assume that the lack of empathy on the part of the robot makes it more efficient? Why not believe that having no emotions would lead to more mistakes? The writers made this very point themselves earlier in the film. When the machines used in the army were first introduced, one of the larger robots, the ED-209, shot an innocent boy with a butcher knife because it was unable to tell the difference between the terrorists and a teenager who couldn’t hurt it. So, while the writers make clear that emotions are one of Murphy’s greatest assets, we are still asked to assume that a machine would be faster because of its lack of feelings, not because of its physical construction.

Of course, it’s possible that the writers understood this point but chose to stay consistent with the perspective of Murphy’s antagonists. That would help justify Dr. Norton’s decisions later in the film.

But how would lack of emotions enable better performance in complex human scenarios?

But the question remains: Could a machine really be more efficient because of a lack of emotion? I should note that this isn’t the same question as asking whether a robot could run faster or work harder because it never feels pain or exhaustion. No doubt a robot could shoot straighter than a man because its arm would never grow tired. But when it comes to the ability to read a complicated situation, could the robot perform faster than a human without making as many mistakes?

I would argue no, because a robot cannot understand things in an abstract sense. In its mind, there would be no difference between a a man holding a gun, intending to do harm and a hostage being given a gun to trick its programming. It sees a man and a gun, and both of those objects are just binary. This weakness is later utilized in the film when Murphy directs the ED-209s to focus on some of Sellars’ guards.

So, how could a programmer teach a robot what a hostage is, beyond describing a person who is being restrained or held at gunpoint? To do so would require teaching it the concept of a hostage. But a robot’s world is numbers, so how can it truly read a situation or be able to identify people apart from their dimensions or what they’re carrying?

The robotic solution

None of Sellars’ team considers these questions, so Sellars, who is funding the project, demands that Dr. Norton find a way to make Murphy’s performance identical to that of the robots. Dr. Norton comes up with a unique solution. Whenever Murphy’s visor lowers over his eyes, robotic programming takes control. Murphy believes he’s the one pulling the trigger, but it’s really Dr. Norton’s program that’s doing the work. Of course, Murphy isn’t told this, so any real free will he might’ve had is theoretically stripped away.

With these new updates installed, Mattox creates a final obstacle course for Murphy, and the RoboCop passes with no trouble. After this success, he is allowed to return home. Murphy first goes to see his family, but he can’t stay with them. He must return to a lab so Dr. Norton can keep an eye on him. Of course, Murphy is hesitant because he’s worried about his family’s reaction to his new suit; however, his wife and son, while shocked, are happy to see him.

Murphy then meets with his partner and discusses catching the men behind his attempted assassination. But he’s not allowed to dwell on the subject for long. The next day, Murphy is scheduled to meet with the press. But before going out to the podium, Dr. Norton and the police department decide to download all of the city’s criminal records into Murphy’s mind. Why they chose to do this five minutes before the press conference, I have no idea. It’s a monumentally stupid decision, and this downloading process goes exactly as anyone would predict.

Murphy handles the criminal records with ease at first. But then he sees his own crime scene, begins to replay it in his partially mechanical mind, and has a seizure. Everyone panics, and it once again falls upon Dr. Norton to come up with a solution.

Out of desperation, Dr. Norton lowers Murphy’s dopamine levels to nearly zero, so that he can’t feel much of anything. Then Murphy meets with the press, acting like . . . well, a robot.

Murphy’s wife instantly realizes that something is wrong. But when he goes outside, he immediately recognizes a criminal and arrests him. That provides Sellars’ with just the sensational story he needs to ease the public’s hostility. RoboCop Murphy is a smashing success. However, because no one is sure what to do about Murphy’s new temperament, Sellars decides to keep him away from his wife and son and have him just focus on fighting crime.

Robocop begins cleaning up the streets, and it soon looks like the Dreyfus Act, which prevents the use of robots in law enforcement, is going to be repealed. Sellars’ plan is working, but Murphy’s wife is having none of it. She finds Murphy on the street and tells him that their son is having trouble. We’ll cover what happens next in Part 3, next Saturday.

Here are Parts 1 and 3 of my three-part review:

Robocop 2014: A good movie hampered by bad timing. The 2014 remake of RoboCop is considered a failure by most. I disagree. It has its problems but it is pretty solid in many respects. The film implies the existence of the human soul, as that seems to be pretty much all that Alex Murphy has left as he begins a new life as a robocop.

RoboCop 2014: Murphy is a real boy after all. After his wife confronts him with troubling news about his son, Murphy starts a chain of events that enables him to confront key sources of crime and corruption. The political commentary is on the nose but lazy writing took much of the punch out of the ending. Still, it may be worth your time.