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Description
Lets continue the RoboCop series with the next chapter featuring a story from the writer of The Dark Knight Returns, and the director of The Empire Strikes Back.

Sometime after the events of the first film, Detroit is on the verge of bankruptcy after failing to pay off its debts to conglomerate Omni Consumer Products (OCP). The OCP chairman intends to have the city default on its debt, then foreclose on all public property, effectively taking over its government and allowing for a radical urban redevelopment plan. To rally public opinion behind the project, OCP sparks an increase in street crime by terminating the privatized Detroit Police Department's pension plans and cutting salaries, triggering a police strike. RoboCop remains on duty with his partner, Anne Lewis. They raid a manufacturing plant of Nuke, a new designer drug that plagues Detroit. The cartel's leader Cain, a drug kingpin with a messianic following who is also addicted to Nuke, and his adolescent accomplice Hob escape. OCP struggles to develop RoboCop 2, a police droid intended for mass production to replace the striking police force, which is fitted with the brains of dead police officers like the original RoboCop. However, the resurrected police officers keep going berserk and committing suicide upon activation. Psychologist Dr. Juliette Faxx convinces the Chairman to let her control the project, this time using a criminal with a desire for power and immortality instead of police officers. Cain fears losing his grip in the wake of the Delta City project, and uses corrupt police officer Duffy to undermine OCP and RoboCop's enforcement efforts. RoboCop tracks down Duffy and beats the location of Cain's hideout out of him. He confronts Cain's gang at an abandoned construction site, but he walks into a trap and is overwhelmed. The criminals cut apart RoboCop's body and dump the pieces in front of his precinct. RoboCop is repaired, but Faxx reprograms him with hundreds of confusing new directives at the insistence of the OCP Board of Directors, severely impeding his ability to perform his duties. RoboCop eventually clears these by shocking himself with a high voltage transformer and rebooting his system. Murphy motivates the striking officers to aid him in raiding Cain's hideout. As Cain tries to escape, RoboCop wounds and apprehends him. Hob escapes and takes control of Cain's drug empire. Believing she can control Cain via his Nuke addiction, Faxx selects him for the RoboCop 2 project and disconnects his life support. Surgeons place his brain in a heavily armed robotic body and reactivate him. Now it's up to RoboCop to destroy the deadly drug, and take on Cain/RoboCop 2.

Pros:
1. Alex Murphy/RoboCop is still a pretty good protagonist.
2. Lewis, the Old Man, Hob, Johnson, and Mayor Kuzak are decent side characters.
3. Cain/RoboCop 2, Faxx, and Duffy are alright villains.
4. The sets, costumes, and robot designs are still pretty neatly crafted.
5. Very impressive special effects.
6. The action scenes are still a lot of fun.
7. Leonard Rosenman delivers a pretty decent score.
8. Great performances from the cast.
9. There's still a great blend of action, dark humor, and sci-fi.
10. The storyline is decently written.
11. Like the first film, there's a decent amount of gore.

Cons:
1. The writing isn't as good as the first film.
2. The rest of the side characters are uninteresting.
3. The humor can be hit or miss.

Overall:
While it's obviously not as ggod as the first, RoboCop 2 is still a good watch, and a decent sequel, which is more than what can be said about the next one.

Rating:
7.5/10 (Good to Great)

Production Notes and Trivia:
1. RoboCop 2 was chiefly filmed in Houston in 1989. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, director Irvin Kershner mentioned that Houston was an ideal location due to the relative calmness of Downtown Houston at night. He also claimed that they were shooting in winter, and snow and rain would be an inappropriate climate for film production.
2. Jefferson Davis Hospital was used as the location for the Nuke manufacturing plant. The finale of the film was shot in the Houston Theater District near Wortham Theater Center and Alley Theatre. Cullen Center was depicted as the headquarters of Omni Consumer Products, while Houston City Hall was shown in a scene in which Mayor Kuzak speaks to the press. The George R. Brown Convention Center and the Bank of America Center were also included in the film. Additional footage was filmed at the decommissioned Hiram Clarke Power Plant.
3. The film score was composed and conducted by Leonard Rosenman, who did not use any of Basil Poledouris's themes from the first film, instead composing entirely new themes and leitmotifs.
4. Frank Miller's original screenplay for RoboCop 2 was turned into a nine-part comic book series titled Frank Miller's RoboCop.
5. The plot element of Detroit's bankruptcy received attention from the news media after this actually happened in 2013.

Description
Lets continue the RoboCop series with the next chapter featuring a story from the writer of The Dark Knight Returns, and the director of The Empire Strikes Back.

Sometime after the events of the first film, Detroit is on the verge of bankruptcy after failing to pay off its debts to conglomerate Omni Consumer Products (OCP). The OCP chairman intends to have the city default on its debt, then foreclose on all public property, effectively taking over its government and allowing for a radical urban redevelopment plan. To rally public opinion behind the project, OCP sparks an increase in street crime by terminating the privatized Detroit Police Department's pension plans and cutting salaries, triggering a police strike. RoboCop remains on duty with his partner, Anne Lewis. They raid a manufacturing plant of Nuke, a new designer drug that plagues Detroit. The cartel's leader Cain, a drug kingpin with a messianic following who is also addicted to Nuke, and his adolescent accomplice Hob escape. OCP struggles to develop RoboCop 2, a police droid intended for mass production to replace the striking police force, which is fitted with the brains of dead police officers like the original RoboCop. However, the resurrected police officers keep going berserk and committing suicide upon activation. Psychologist Dr. Juliette Faxx convinces the Chairman to let her control the project, this time using a criminal with a desire for power and immortality instead of police officers. Cain fears losing his grip in the wake of the Delta City project, and uses corrupt police officer Duffy to undermine OCP and RoboCop's enforcement efforts. RoboCop tracks down Duffy and beats the location of Cain's hideout out of him. He confronts Cain's gang at an abandoned construction site, but he walks into a trap and is overwhelmed. The criminals cut apart RoboCop's body and dump the pieces in front of his precinct. RoboCop is repaired, but Faxx reprograms him with hundreds of confusing new directives at the insistence of the OCP Board of Directors, severely impeding his ability to perform his duties. RoboCop eventually clears these by shocking himself with a high voltage transformer and rebooting his system. Murphy motivates the striking officers to aid him in raiding Cain's hideout. As Cain tries to escape, RoboCop wounds and apprehends him. Hob escapes and takes control of Cain's drug empire. Believing she can control Cain via his Nuke addiction, Faxx selects him for the RoboCop 2 project and disconnects his life support. Surgeons place his brain in a heavily armed robotic body and reactivate him. Now it's up to RoboCop to destroy the deadly drug, and take on Cain/RoboCop 2.

Pros:
1. Alex Murphy/RoboCop is still a pretty good protagonist.
2. Lewis, the Old Man, Hob, Johnson, and Mayor Kuzak are decent side characters.
3. Cain/RoboCop 2, Faxx, and Duffy are alright villains.
4. The sets, costumes, and robot designs are still pretty neatly crafted.
5. Very impressive special effects.
6. The action scenes are still a lot of fun.
7. Leonard Rosenman delivers a pretty decent score.
8. Great performances from the cast.
9. There's still a great blend of action, dark humor, and sci-fi.
10. The storyline is decently written.
11. Like the first film, there's a decent amount of gore.

Cons:
1. The writing isn't as good as the first film.
2. The rest of the side characters are uninteresting.
3. The humor can be hit or miss.

Overall:
While it's obviously not as ggod as the first, RoboCop 2 is still a good watch, and a decent sequel, which is more than what can be said about the next one.

Rating:
7.5/10 (Good to Great)

Production Notes and Trivia:
1. RoboCop 2 was chiefly filmed in Houston in 1989. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, director Irvin Kershner mentioned that Houston was an ideal location due to the relative calmness of Downtown Houston at night. He also claimed that they were shooting in winter, and snow and rain would be an inappropriate climate for film production.
2. Jefferson Davis Hospital was used as the location for the Nuke manufacturing plant. The finale of the film was shot in the Houston Theater District near Wortham Theater Center and Alley Theatre. Cullen Center was depicted as the headquarters of Omni Consumer Products, while Houston City Hall was shown in a scene in which Mayor Kuzak speaks to the press. The George R. Brown Convention Center and the Bank of America Center were also included in the film. Additional footage was filmed at the decommissioned Hiram Clarke Power Plant.
3. The film score was composed and conducted by Leonard Rosenman, who did not use any of Basil Poledouris's themes from the first film, instead composing entirely new themes and leitmotifs.
4. Frank Miller's original screenplay for RoboCop 2 was turned into a nine-part comic book series titled Frank Miller's RoboCop.
5. The plot element of Detroit's bankruptcy received attention from the news media after this actually happened in 2013.