Watch it again.. the bad guys are not some random street thugs, it is OCP, a mega corporation that produces the robots and is essentially a government organization (since that world is a "corporatocracy").
More specifically, "the bad guys" and OCP were actually in cahoots. The CEO of OCP has the main villain kill a junior OCP executive after the executive humiliates the CEO.
There is also a subplot where OCP is deliberately working with street gangs to drive up the crime rate and gather public support for demolishing the entirety of old Detroit and building the corporate-owned "Delta City" in its place.
The movie does criticize the establishment, it just stops short of criticizing the actual street cops.
Side note: I'm actually looking forward to the remake. I had strong fears that the reboot would be strictly all-action and contain none of the social commentary. While it looks like the movies will lose its satirical elements, the cynicism will remain. I watched another movie by Jose Padilha recently and I'm hopeful.
>>The movie does criticize the establishment, it just stops short of criticizing the actual street cops.
That is what I meant. Contrast that to Starship Troopers, where the military (the organization the main characters are a part of) is spared no criticism.
The central characters in Robocop were treated empathetically, the scathing social satire and black comedy were not central to the main storyline of heroes and villians, so there was still an engaging film even for those viewers lacking the social awareness needed to appreciate irony.
In Starship Troopers, every character was disposable, hence the gigantic 'whoosh'.
I recommend 'Hollow Man', Verhoeven's last, and largely forgotten Hollywood film, released in 2000. It's even more subversive, and the subversive message is even more subtle. So subtle in fact that I doubt even the film's producers were aware of what was going on. It's either a terrible B-grade hollywood sci-fi thriller, or brilliant black comedy, depending on whether or not you latch on to the subtext.
Another movie in the same vein is "Battleship." It "woooshed" a lot of people, but there are some controvertible clues that it was more than just an "America, fuck yeah!" movie. Most notably the song during the end credits which is Creedence's "Fortunate Son." I'm sure some people won't even be convinced by that fact, but then Reagan used Springsteen's "Born in the USA" during his campaign in 1984, so I guess some people just aren't wired for satire.
For me, the best thing about "Battleship" is how the director convinced the US military to donate the use of all that hardware to a movie with such an anti-military message. The DoD doesn't do that sort of thing lightly, they require script approval and have a strict policy that they won't help with a movie that is at all critical. Slipping that right under their noses like that was a real coup.
I agree with your analysis of Robocop, but I'm not looking forward to the remake at all. There's no need for a remake. There is nothing that feels old about Robocop. Watch it again and it still stands as a great movie altogether. The remake will just put more nonsensical special effects and you can bet there will tons of crappy acting in it.
