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Robocop II
Penguin 1st paperback fine
234 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 1, 2025
Some wonderfully cheesy bits mixed in with the violence and heavy handed/confused politics. The original movie is one of my all time faves but the sequel is a mess and this novelisation captures that perfectly 😂
October 3, 2015
Ed Naha does a fine job of turning the troubled “Robocop 2” screenplay into a book. It’s got to be a sort of thankless job, at least artistically, writing novelizations of movies that rely heavily on their visuals. I bet it’s rather fun, though, too. When I was a little kid I tried writing my own novelizations; I had a version of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” that was essentially a novelization OF a novelization.
Some things worth noting about the book version of “Robocop 2”:
- Robocop’s inner monologue, and occasionally dialogue, makes him appear much more human than in the movie. It isn’t a true representation of the character as we know him from the films—but then, how does one write a book in which the lead protagonist is a cyborg with limited verbal expression? Peter Weller accomplished a lot, with little dialogue. That must have been a challenge in writing the novelization.
- Cain comes across as slightly sympathetic sometimes. He actually tears up as he’s beating Robo into submission halfway through the story. Also, his identity is kept secret, whereas in the film he’s transmitting video of himself directly to news stations.
- The subplot about Murphy’s connection to his wife and son, handled so terribly in the movie, is actually spread out here, so that Robo meets with Murphy’s widow just before his final confrontation with Cain. It makes more sense this way, and since novelizations are typically based on screenplays and not finished films, I’m wondering why they shifted that scene to the beginning for the movie. The way Naha’s book is ordered makes it feel less jumbled than the film.
It would be impossible, of course, to recommend the novelization of “Robocop 2” to any but the most serious “Robocop” fans. But for those folks, there are enough differences and quirks about this version of the story, to make it worth reading.
Some things worth noting about the book version of “Robocop 2”:
- Robocop’s inner monologue, and occasionally dialogue, makes him appear much more human than in the movie. It isn’t a true representation of the character as we know him from the films—but then, how does one write a book in which the lead protagonist is a cyborg with limited verbal expression? Peter Weller accomplished a lot, with little dialogue. That must have been a challenge in writing the novelization.
- Cain comes across as slightly sympathetic sometimes. He actually tears up as he’s beating Robo into submission halfway through the story. Also, his identity is kept secret, whereas in the film he’s transmitting video of himself directly to news stations.
- The subplot about Murphy’s connection to his wife and son, handled so terribly in the movie, is actually spread out here, so that Robo meets with Murphy’s widow just before his final confrontation with Cain. It makes more sense this way, and since novelizations are typically based on screenplays and not finished films, I’m wondering why they shifted that scene to the beginning for the movie. The way Naha’s book is ordered makes it feel less jumbled than the film.
It would be impossible, of course, to recommend the novelization of “Robocop 2” to any but the most serious “Robocop” fans. But for those folks, there are enough differences and quirks about this version of the story, to make it worth reading.
June 6, 2021
Another really good novelization by Ed Naha. Like the previous movie, this one followed the movie very well, but also added some depth to the events and characters in the story. I enjoyed it very much.
April 6, 2026
I thoroughly enjoyed this novelization. Kind of a random pick, I was looking for the first RoboCop but found this one and almost didn't get it, but it was cheap and what the hey.
I quite enjoyed how different the novel is to the movie, I think I prefer it this way. It's still a very confused plot that doesn't really lead to anything but a hulking robot fight, but whatever, it's a story about a robot police officer.
Most notable changes involve Robo's personal relationships. They spread out Robo/Ellen Murphy scenes, the big "I'm a machine, nothing more." scene takes place just before the Hob's in the armored truck and RoboCop 2 fight. After the Hob's dying scene RoboCop makes it his mission to protect the children/future. Which is sort of random. Next we have Lewis, they really build up to Lewis and Robo have a relationship, the nearly kiss and Robo is holding her hand at the end and saying that all he wants to be is a good cop, the son of a good cop, and maybe someday the father of a good cop.
Robo also places the mayor in handcuffs at the end, for... no reason? But a nice moment at the end, Ellen and Jimmy Murphy are in the crowd and Robo spots his son and does the TJ Lazer gun twirl, which was very cute and a fun nod to the first film, that should have been in the final film. Oh well.
Another fun difference is the cops ban together to collect money to have Robo fixed after getting disassembled by Cain. Reed has a pretty good line about how cops are the only people who care about cops. Yup. Speaking of Cain, he also gets to be more of a character in the book. He actually seems like a reasonable fella, he cry's when the disassemble RoboCop. He wants to start a legit business in Detroit and sell NUKE so there wouldn't be crime. Then he is forced to be a god awful machine, and curses everyone and anyone who made him this way. This was not how he wanted to be imortalized.
On a personal RoboCop take, I don't really like it when Robo is made out to be far more human than he is. I fully support him having human feelings and memories, but the dude shouldn't be taking deep breaths of air and screaming out in pain when he takes damage. When he takes damage the book writes it to be this word ending thing for Robo, but he is perfectly fine in the next scene, why was he screaming in pain?
Anyway, worth a read if you like these movies.
I quite enjoyed how different the novel is to the movie, I think I prefer it this way. It's still a very confused plot that doesn't really lead to anything but a hulking robot fight, but whatever, it's a story about a robot police officer.
Most notable changes involve Robo's personal relationships. They spread out Robo/Ellen Murphy scenes, the big "I'm a machine, nothing more." scene takes place just before the Hob's in the armored truck and RoboCop 2 fight. After the Hob's dying scene RoboCop makes it his mission to protect the children/future. Which is sort of random. Next we have Lewis, they really build up to Lewis and Robo have a relationship, the nearly kiss and Robo is holding her hand at the end and saying that all he wants to be is a good cop, the son of a good cop, and maybe someday the father of a good cop.
Robo also places the mayor in handcuffs at the end, for... no reason? But a nice moment at the end, Ellen and Jimmy Murphy are in the crowd and Robo spots his son and does the TJ Lazer gun twirl, which was very cute and a fun nod to the first film, that should have been in the final film. Oh well.
Another fun difference is the cops ban together to collect money to have Robo fixed after getting disassembled by Cain. Reed has a pretty good line about how cops are the only people who care about cops. Yup. Speaking of Cain, he also gets to be more of a character in the book. He actually seems like a reasonable fella, he cry's when the disassemble RoboCop. He wants to start a legit business in Detroit and sell NUKE so there wouldn't be crime. Then he is forced to be a god awful machine, and curses everyone and anyone who made him this way. This was not how he wanted to be imortalized.
On a personal RoboCop take, I don't really like it when Robo is made out to be far more human than he is. I fully support him having human feelings and memories, but the dude shouldn't be taking deep breaths of air and screaming out in pain when he takes damage. When he takes damage the book writes it to be this word ending thing for Robo, but he is perfectly fine in the next scene, why was he screaming in pain?
Anyway, worth a read if you like these movies.
October 12, 2023
Very pedestrian, many parts read like they were written by a teenager.
July 21, 2025
Low Energy!
** 2 Stars.
** 2 Stars.
August 1, 2021
Old Detroit with its burnout and bombed tenements and storefronts and caressed with rivers of garbage, pock marked by bullets, greed is abundant. A new drug on the streets is getting kids hooked. Robocop cruising in his TurboCruiser scanning for nefarious activity. Murphy questioning whether he is a machine or a man but one thing he knows strongly is that he is a Cop.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews