Remake of the silly, violent 1987 Paul Verhoeven movie once again takes a severely harmed police detective (Joel Kinnaman), guts him, and shoves his remaining organs into a metallic suit to protect the public as a "human face" for law enforcement ... except he's tormented by his existence as part-human/part-robot. I was never that big a fan of the original but at least Verhoeven wasn't above making it a black comedy - Padilha tries to use the concept as a political issue (using cyborgs as a "friendly look" for law enforcement, of the private sector intruding in governmental affairs) but satire and insight get lost when it tries to willfully emulate a video game, reminding me of Konami's Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ... only without the swordplay. How a movie that features so many killings, explosions and human organs pulsating - the shot of Kinnaman's post-human enforcer stripped of his metal bits and his brain and lungs exposed is unnerving - can still earn a PG-13 is beyond me: Verhoeven's version had to be cut to avoid an X-rating (oh, how times change).
