Book Review: RoboCop
Ed Naha’s official novelisation of the movie, based on the screenplay by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner.
This is one of those books that’s totally come out of left field. During the half term break, my family and I went on an outing to a National Trust property in Sevenoaks called Ightham Mote, a medieval moated manor house with sprawling gardens. As with many National Trust properties, Ightham Mote had a delightful little used bookshop, which I naturally perused. However, I found nothing I wanted in there. So where did I get RoboCop from? It was, in fact, in the gift shop, in a locked cabinet labelled “Rare and Antique Books”. I knew I had to buy it. I also got Superman: Last Son of Krypton, and the novelisation of Disney’s The Black Hole. What a brilliant find! Anyway, RoboCop is the first out of the three that I’ve read, so let’s get into the review.
Blurb
Murphy was a good cop. He had the toughest beat in the toughest precinct in a tough city. He had a fine family, good friends, and a new partner. Then a bunch of lowlifes blew him away.
Only Murphy didn’t completely die. He came back in a body of steel—big, invincible, and deadly… back to the streets where the bad guys ruled. But no more. Behind the badge is a cop that can’t be killed. A super cop out to find the punks who shot him. And stop crime. Dead.
Review
I don’t know why, but that blurb makes me want to break stuff. What a mess. Thankfully, I’m not reviewing that!
I loved RoboCop, the movie. I must’ve watched it when I was 8 or 9 years old, in the living room in my grandparents’ house. All concern about the violence was set aside simply by them asking, “You do know it’s not real, right?” Of course I did. Ah those halcyon days in the mid-90s.
Alas, I haven’t watched it since then. I need to rectify that.
I wish I’d had a copy of the movie to hand when I read this book, because there are some significant and fascinating differences between the two. Different character names, altered deaths, and a different ending involving a dog. This probably has to do with the fact that the book is adapted from the original screenplay, rather than the finished movie. I still plan to rewatch it, but getting this review out was the priority.
Now, when it comes to the book, the basic story is there. It’s very short, the chapters absolutely speed along. So much so that it’s a bit sparse. The writing style itself is edgy and absolutely fits the cyberpunk vibe, but honestly? It’s rubbish. This is not a very well written book in the slightest. The prose is amateurish. And I absolutely have to mention the casual racism and sexism present here that must have been an addition made by the author. I say this because it’s mainly in the narrative character descriptions (and you don’t get those in the movie). It’s unfortunate to say the least, but I wonder how much of it is simply out-of-date racial terminology which might have been considered polite at the time.
Despite all of that, it was rather enjoyable. I didn’t expect much, and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s ultra-violent, funny, and a good satire.
With the exception of Murphy and Lewis, the characters are pretty one dimensional. I really liked the introspective scenes with Murphy as he becomes RoboCop, which is handled as a bizarre stream-of-consciousness going providing a through-line from his “death” to his awakening as the cyborg warrior. Weirdly, the gas-station attendant gets a bit of extra characterisation before he has to leg it when Emil starts shooting up the place.
Worldbuilding-wise, this leaned more heavily into the cyberpunk aesthetic of the setting, even giving humanity Moon bases which I’m pretty sure isn’t in the movie. It draws a bit closer to Blade Runner in that sense. The worldbuilding generally was pretty good for how quickly the book sped along.
Overall, a pretty good novelisation that adds some extra flavour to the world of RoboCop, and featuring appropriately schlocky prose. It’s made me want to rewatch the movie, and that’s no bad thing.
