On this day, 18 April, in 1993, RoboCop 3 was released. (It was first released in Japan. It wasn’t released for another 7 months in the US and over a year in the UK.)
I love this film. So I was very pleased to see that it is widely hated. Richard Harrington wrote in The Washington Post, “As for the conflict, it’s hardly riveting and often it’s downright silly.”
What’s amazing is not that critics hate films like RoboCop 3. After all, it’s their jobs to complain about the art form. No, what’s amazing is that critics liked the first film and somehow didn’t think that it was silly.
None of this is to say that RoboCop 3 is a great film. But Harrington is right: it is silly — unabashedly so. It’s a fun little romp with Rip Torn in top form.
Also on 18 April
Released on this day: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), At Close Range (1986), and 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag (1997).
Actor Barbara Hale (Perry Mason) was born in 1922 and James Drury (The Virginian) in 1934 (he died earlier this month).
Hayley Mills (Pollyanna) is 74, James Woods (Videodrome) is 73, Rick Moranis (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) is 67, Eric Roberts (Star 80) is 64, Maria Bello (A History of Violence) is 53, and David Tennant (Dr Who) is 49.
Screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto (Harakiri) was born in 1918. Director Eli Roth (Hostel) is 48.
RoboCop 3 poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.