Trilogy? I think not.

 

One of my favorite movies was released on DVD Tuesday. RoboCop is included as part of a set that also contains RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3. I've seen it on sale for as little as 27 dollars, which is a good deal for three movies, but I am glad that I already own the prior Criterion DVD release.

To some it may seem logical to package all three movies together and sell them as a set. In fact it seems to be the way that a lot of movies are sold. The Indiana Jones films were sold together in a set, and the upcoming Star Wars release will be as well. Now as much sense as it makes to sell those together, the RoboCop movies should really be sold separately.

RoboCop was a groundbreaking film. Director Paul Verhoeven brought a European eye to the story of a cop who is murdered and resurrected as a machine that exists solely to fight crime. Successfully mixing drama, satire and over the top violence, RoboCop was a success upon its release in 1987.

The inevitable sequel followed in 1990. Comic book scribe Frank Miller who was hired to write the screenplay and director Irvin Kershner, seemingly ignored the biting satire and violence of the first film, and the movie that resulted was nothing more than a pretty good Hollywood action flick.

RoboCop 3 was released in 1993 and once again scripting duties were handled by Frank Miller. The film broke no new ground (unless you consider giving RoboCop the ability to fly new ground), and involved RoboCop saving a group of homeless people. I really can't provide any other details than that though, because I couldn't sit through more than 25 minutes of it. RoboCop was dead in my eyes, had been since the first film, and that was fine by me.

So now all three films have been released in an affordable set, and if you don't own the first film, and don't want to spent 40-50 dollars on the Criterion one, this is the only way to get the unrated cut of it on DVD. It includes a new commentary from Verhoeven, a few featurettes, and some deleted scenes. The other two films are presented in wide screen prints with no extras to speak of, and that might not have been a bad way of marketing the set: Buy RoboCop and get the two sequels for free.