Set in an unspecified time in the future, Robocop is a cyberpunk film about the police officer Alex Murphy who is transferred into a crime-ridden district in a dystopian Detroit. In his first action with his new partner, Lewis, he pursues Clarence Boddicker’s gang into their hideout, an abandoned steel mill. They decide to go in without backup, and Murphy is cornered and brutally murdered. But the dead do not stay dead. Murphy is resurrected by the corporation, Omni Consumer Products (OCP) as part of a program to create a robot police officer after the failure of an earlier model ED-209. At first, Robocop is a success, but some of Murphy’s memories come back, and he eventually discovers his killers. His pursuit of them leads to the second in command at OCP, a cutthroat executive named Dick Jones.

Robocop is most immediately a biting social satire, which mocks American consumer culture, privatization, and, of course, the news. However, it’s also an existential meditation on the nature of humanity; and even a Jesus allegory, with Murphy as the crucified and resurrected savior of Detroit.

Roger Ebert review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/robocop-1987

Robocop and Jesus: https://gizmodo.com/the-original-robocop-was-a-christ-allegory-1523956164