On a cold day in May, at a hidden location in East London, I, Junior Smart, stepped up to the Roboflex challenge. A formidable task which involved entering into an arena armed with both machine gun and pistol and taking down ten targets as fast as possible and beating the time set by the latest iteration of the Robocop franchise.
In case you failed to see it whilst it was in the cinema, Robocop is a re-telling of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 classic in which father and skilled cop Alex Murphy (played here by Joel Kinnaman of Easy Money, TV’s The Killing) is critically injured in the line of duty and transformed by mega-company OmniCorp – headed by CEO Raymond Sellars (a role carried well by Michael Keaton – star of Batman and Need For Speed) into a part-man, part-robot police officer designed to rid Detroit of crime.
Fortunately for me I didn’t need to be critically injured in the line of duty to experience the delights of the warehouse challenge; a challenge where the newly ‘renovated’ Murphy has to ‘prove his worth’ to OmniCorp in a heart-racing shoot out against the clock. Nonetheless, even though I knew this event was for fun I have to admit my heart was pounding; it wasn’t just me who was taking part in the challenge, around me stood other reporters from different magazines and although we were all professionals and smiled nicely at each other, deep down we all knew that no one wanted to come last and go home to our editors with our tails between our legs. The stage was therefore set.
My first job was to be suited in the correct gear; an ominous police onesie followed by body armour and that was before the gun holster and machine gun were handed to me. Then followed a briefing on the safe and correct use of firearms delivered by Stirling Airsoft these guys knew how to put someone like me through their paces, I quickly learnt how to draw, how to move whilst firing a weapon and most challengingly, how to change weapons in the heat of a battle. I soon realised it is nothing like the movies; there is so much to think about and there is no way you can use the Americanised posturing you see in video games and movies as the recoil from the weapon at best destroys your aim and at worst can cause injury. Worse still, the body armour slows down your flexibility, the helmet destroys your field of vision. I have to be honest I had real sympathy for anyone who carries a weapon either to serve our country or protect our liberty.
Nonetheless the briefing had me sufficiently amped and ready. The target was set – three times through the course, first time machine gun, second time pistol and third time changing to weapon on instruction. I was off; the subdued lighting and smoke making it hard to see (well, that’s what I’m sticking to anyway). I managed to take down all targets in a respectable 33 seconds. The second time with the pistol I fared better; the smaller hand held weapon feeling more immediate and certain along with my familiarity with the landscape. I punched the air with my fist when he told me it was 15 seconds. The third time however was embarrassing. I had seen Robocop in the movie and witnessed the way he had changed weapons and he makes it look easy, however there is a good argument for why robots are needed in the film and one of them is because they make far less errors. I entered the arena, click, click my machine gun is on ‘safety’. O.k I think, I can make the time up, then after I take down a couple of targets the instructor from Stirling Airsoft shouts “change” meaning to change my weapon, then I not only struggle with getting the pistol out but to my horror realise it is on safety too. My time – 32 seconds only a second slower than when I had one gun. I would have buried my face in my hands – that is, if I wasn’t wearing a helmet.
When I got home I consoled myself by making sure I had pre-ordered a copy of ROBOCOP, which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on 9th June 2014. I strongly recommend that you do the same or make sure you pick up a copy on the day of release; it is a fine retelling of a classic film and one which tries to builds upon the original’s legacy instead of merely repeating it and features some star turns by Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson. What’s more, the DVD has deleted scenes and a making of featurette. Check it out.
Robocop is available on digital platforms from 2 June 2014, and on DVD and Blu-ray from 9 June 2014, courtesy of Studio Canal.