Sci-Fi Crime Thriller Director’s Cut Max is the Only Version You Should Stream

By Robert Scucci
| Published 19 hours ago

In case you need a gentle reminder that the best satirical sci-fi thriller of all time is streaming on Max right now, I’m here to spread the good word intended by the unscorable (like God and Paul Verhoeven) Robocop a director’s cut can be viewed from the safety of your living room. Now, you might be asking yourself, “how much longer is the director’s cut Robocop compared to the theatrical cut, and why should I care?” The answer may surprise you because this extended version is only about a minute longer than the widely released equivalent.

You need to trust me though, because it’s a very revealing moment that you’re not going to want to miss.

What can I say about it Robocop that hasn’t already been said over the decades, and why is the director’s cut the superior version? The most succinct elevator pitch I can give you is the promise of more violence. The Robocop director’s cut doesn’t add any side stories or character development, but instead adds in an appropriate setting seconds of a running time that elevates its satire to ludicrous proportions.

Or, in some cases, we get pretty graphic close-ups instead of wide shots that will make your stomach churn.

We’re talking “pump it up” levels of violence in a hilarious situation that you have to see to believe. The kind of violence I’m talking about can’t even be backed up with pictures in this article because the censors will find out where I live and try to delete me like RoboCop’s body soaked in Alex Murphy’s cybernetic (Peter Weller) eradicating crime from the mean streets of Detroit.

RoboCop’s Satire Gets Better With Age

If you’ve never seen RoboCop, or if you’re like me and haven’t watched it since you were six years old when it scarred you for life, you owe it to yourself to watch the director’s cut.

And if you’re worried about the satire aging badly, you’re seriously mistaken. From the overzealous insensitive and smiling news personalities rattling off a death count in perfect non-regional diction to Omni Consumer Products poaching the launch of their ED-209 killer bot during a board meeting, Robocop dripping with tongue-in-cheek commentary on urban crime, corporate takeovers of public services, and what it means to be a hero in a dystopian hell slowly being taken over by the police corrupt militarism.

A Poignant Issue On Technology And Humanity

At his heart, RoboCop is a story about a man who turns into a machine and loses himself to his crusade against crime. Having his memory wiped after being brutally shot by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his goons – who are much more brutal in the director’s body, by the way – Alex Murphy becomes a killing machine in his own right, but one that goes astray as RoboCop.

However, Murphy has moments of clarity when he fights against his programming, as he vaguely remembers his life before becoming RoboCop, and suddenly we have a story that is not only mindlessly violent for violence’s sake, but to show how this man has been reprogrammed and stripped of his humanity for the sake of “progress.”

Stream The Director’s Cut

If you don’t believe me, so much extra runtime adds up RoboCop by about 1000 percent, then you need to put your money where your mouth is and stream the director’s cut immediately. Forget the theatrical cut (also streaming on Max), and forget about the sequels. The only version of Robocop the director’s cut of Max is worth watching.