The premise of the telemovie is it is approximately 10 years after the first film. OCP (which supposedly went belly-up in RC3) is back and is running Detroit completely, except that it is now called Delta City (from RC3). A new computer system developed by OCP is going to go online on the new year to completely ran the city. But a psychotic scientist that originally created the Robocop technology and was let go by OCP for unethical practices has come back to infect the system with a virus. It's up to Robocop, his son, the computer's creator, and a former follower of the psycho scientist to stop him. Added into the miss are a couple power-obsessed junior execs of OCP and Alex Murphy's first partner (John Cable) who has been Robocized.
Overall, I liked the film. It was a bit on the gory side with lots of gun play, but not as much as the tradition established by the first three movies. I don't know if this was an intentional reigning in or if Sci-Fi censored parts. The plot a bit on the predictable side, but it was an entertaining and sometimes suspenseful film. Some of the predictable parts included the Cable Robocop being on the bad side and battling the Murphy Robocop. Son didn't know that his father still in the form of Murphy Robocop, but eventually comes to accept his father. Cable Robocop flirts between going good and going bad up until the very end when he goes good. Along the way, the two Robocops fight a lot. Psycho scientist is eventually defeated thanks to his own arrogance. OCP suffers a lot like in Robocop II and III. Add to this the glaring continuity mistake that Alex Murphy had a son (didn't he have a daughter those first three movies?).
There was some good stuff about the movie. I felt the acting was good. The new guy who played Robocop did an excellent job and mimicked Peter Seller's performance from the first movie quite well. The actor who played Robocop's son did a fine job of playing the snooty OCP junior exec who eventually decides that life isn't all about power. And the actor who played John Cable did an excellent job of being a good adversary for Robocop. Another thing (and the Voyager special effects crew could have taken note of) is that Robocop really does look like he's as old as he seems to be. His metal is dirty, dull, and dented. He's definitely seen better days.
So, did anyone else catch the flick? If so, what did you think of it?
And no, Murphy always had a son. Remember the trick Lewis saw him do in the first one, the gun-spinning thing? He said he learned it because his son loved that show "T.J. Lazer."