''RoboCop 2'''s drug message -- Why the PSA's don't work on the video release of the Peter Weller film

RoboCop 2

”RoboCop 2”’s drug message

”DRUGS,” DRONES ROBOCOP. ”Drugs bug me.” While that’s the first line of RoboCop 2, the cassette, Robie’s not griping about snafus in his circuitry. This is a public service announcement that Orion has chosen to lead off the cassette version of the movie.

The spot then cuts to actor Peter Weller as himself, warning any kid who may be watching the R-rated movie that drugs are everywhere and that a Boys or Girls Club of America is one place where there is ”no pot, no pills, no crack, no smack, no coke — no exceptions.”

Then the movie comes on, and we get to watch 13 bloody deaths in the first 10 minutes. Bad guys who squirt a cool-looking orange fluid painlessly into their necks, achieve quickie ectsasy and romp around with rocket launchers. A 10-year-old drug kingpin who swears a blue streak and slings a mean Uzi-until he as a teary deathbed coversion that wouldn’t fool a kid half his age.

True, the anti-drug spot’s sentiments are admirable. It’s just too bad that the message gets blown to atoms by the movie that follows it.

RoboCop 2
  • Movie
  • 117 minutes