The problem with "Robocop 2" is that it doesn't adhere to the rigid, unwavering demands of the average movie critic who seems to expect the same things from every movie -- character development, following through with themes and ideas, each scene being directly relevant to the story, relationships, and so on. Thus, it's easy to see why virtually no movie critic out there liked this film. When measuring its quality by a set of criteria intended for films like "When Harry Met Sally" or "The Godfather", it's no surprise that "Robocop 2" would receive mostly lousy reviews. The reality, though, is that "Robocop 2" is a spectacular film. Here's why:

First and foremost, the plot is magnificent! (SPOILERS HERE).

Most of the police are on strike and the Detroit is in chaos. Crime runs rampant. The CEO of OCP wants to privatize Detroit and has swindled the mayor in order to make this possible. Meanwhile, a new designed drug called Nuke is being used throughout Detroit, and Robocop seeks to eradicate it. In the process, he nearly kills Caine, the drug-lord responsible for the Nuke epidemic. Concurrently, an ambitious researcher at OCP (Dr. Faxx, who is sleeping with the CEO for professional gain) is looking to design a second Robocop, and determines that the best way to do so is to use the brain of a drug-addict despite her colleagues' protests. When the opportunity presents itself, she reprograms Robocop to be utterly lame, and she murders Caine in his hospital bed and turns him into Robocop 2. The mayor, in order to prevent Detroit from being taken over by OCP, plans to strike a deal with Caine's second-in-command, a twelve year-old criminal named Hobb, who promises to pay all of Detroits debts to OCP in return for allowing Nuke to be manufactured unmolested by the Detroit police. OCP executives get wind of this plan, and together with Dr. Faxx, decide to utilize Robocop 2 to kill the mayor while he meets with Hobb. Many are killed, as you can imagine, including Hobb, but the mayor escapes.

Shifting gears, the CEO holds a press conference (which the mayor attends) to introduce to the public a model of the new and privatized Detroit as well as Robocop 2, the new version with the firepower to keep the public safe. Robocop enters the hall, Robocop 2 goes berserk, fighting ensues, many bystanders are killed, and ultimately Robocop kills Robocop 2. The CEO, of course, escapes and a plan is quickly formed to blame the entire catastrophe on Dr. Faxx in order to allow him to go Scot-free.

It's worth mentioning here that the description above is a simplified account of the story, and that the plot is indeed intricate, coherent, and downright interesting.

Moreover, you have to remember that there are movies with vastly more simplistic plots than this that have been awarded Oscars for best picture and/or best original screenplay in the past: "Gladiator" comes to mind, as does "Titanic", "No Country for Old Men", "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", and many others. All of these films, while excelling in other areas, had almost childishly-simple story lines.

The problem with "Robocop 2" is that it's much more eccentric and satirical than its predecessor, "Robocop". Put differently: unlike its predecessor, it's a film that was meant entirely not to be taken seriously -- a task that movie critics simply cannot perform. Since "Robocop 2" is neither a serious drama nor a comedy, it is to most critics two hours of pure satire, and it was reviewed accordingly. Read any review of the film and you'll see that most of them consist of little more than harsh criticism of the film's eccentricities and satire.

The reality is that when you view this film with an open mind and without any expectations, you will find it to be odd, even corny at times, and incredibly entertaining! A great plot, interesting (albeit static) characters, decent special-effects, a little bit of comedy, and plenty of action to go around can all be found. "Robocop 2" has everything you'd expect from a good movie.

RoboCop 2 follows RoboCop as he attempts to tackle the growing threat of the drug 'Nuke' on the streets of Detroit, along with the mysterious drug lord Cane, who is pushing its distribution. Alongside that we also have the mega company OCP, who are attempting to privatise the city, and to do this they decide to make a new RoboCop to earn public trust. Thing is, all the attempts fail... until OCP's Dr Faxx decides the best person to use in the project is none other than Cane himself...

This follow up to the amazing RoboCop didn't sit too well with critics at the time, but I enjoyed it. It maintains the gritty atmosphere of it's predecessor, along with some of the satirical comedy. The new RoboCop is a formiddable foe... and bizarre child psychopaths aside the film manages to entertain with some pretty good action scenes and decent effects. The only issues really are that in many ways it feels like a retread of the first film, and there is barely any delving into RoboCop's human side - aside from a strange scene where he stalks the Murphy family home... but then that doesn't really amount to anything. There is also a section where RoboCop becomes reprogrammed into a pacifist, that is frankly hilarious. Overall it's a decent film and worth a look, but it's not as good as the original.

Whoever thought that Irvin Kershner (nice bloke/mediocre director) would be the right person to take over the reins of the Robocop franchise from Paul Verhoeven (enfant terrible/movie maverick) should be made to explain themselves to a malfunctioning ED-209 ("You have 20 seconds to justify your decision... 15 seconds... 10 seconds.... BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!"): although Kershner proved himself capable of putting together a slick, family-friendly sci-fi sequel with The Empire Strikes Back, he's clearly way out of his depth when dealing with the kind of gritty, über-violent, and wickedly satirical content that is second nature for Hollywood bad-boy Verhoeven.

As one might expect, there are lots of explosions, gunfire, bloody bullet hits, and special effects on show, but Kirshner plays it all way too safe, displaying none of the excess or imagination that made the first film such an incredible experience. When you factor in a surprisingly poor script from comic geek favourite Frank Miller, an uninspired performance from star Peter Weller that feels more like contractual obligation rather than a genuine yearning to reprise the role, a forgettable main bad guy in the form of Tom Noonan (with a bloody kid as his sidekick!), and some weak attempts at mimicking the original's wry humour, what you have is a sequel that just about satisfies on the most basic of levels (it's got guns and robots and Nancy Allen), but can only be seen as a disappointment when compared to its predecessor.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.