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Directed by Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) and written by comic book legend Frank Miller, you’d think that RoboCop 2 would be vastly better and more interesting than it is. But for just another inferior sequel, it’s not half bad. The disjointed script eventually boils down to a big confrontation between RoboCop (Peter Weller) and the latest model from his makers at Omni Consumer Products, aptly named RoboCop 2, a bigger and badder robot culled from the psychotic remains of a notorious drug addict (Tom Noonan).

Whereas the first RoboCop functions on multiple levels, marrying a thrilling plot with a compelling character arc, the sequel barely pokes beneath the surface. There are cool concepts at play — like the unresolved situation between Robo and his wife, who can’t decide whether to hold on or move on. Miller’s script also takes place in a community being torn apart by both drugs and corporate greed. Is that prescient, or what? There’s even a scene where the mayor of Detroit (Willard E. Pugh) visits OCP only to be informed by the Old Man (returning Dan O’Herlihy) that since the city is in debt to the company, the company now owns the city and plans to immediately privatize everything. I mean, that horror is going on in real-life Michigan today!

I also kinda admire RoboCop 2 for its sheer audacity. The humor doesn’t land quite as well as it did in the first film, but I like seeing a blockbuster take risks with dark humor. My favorite gag is a failed RoboCop experiment in which the model is announced and unveiled with fanfare, only to tear it’s metal helmet off, revealing a screaming skull underneath. It’s also a hell of a violent flick. I read once that RoboCop 2 features more gunfire than any other Hollywood studio film ever made, and the highest on-screen body-count for the year of 1990. When national politics focused like a laser on movie violence in 1990, RoboCop 2 was one of a handful of bloody flicks that were dragged through the mud. I think RoboCop 2 was the tipping point, because we really haven’t seen a commercial film as unabashedly violent from a major studio since.

Even though it’s a messy movie and pales in comparison to the original masterpiece, RoboCop 2 is still interesting, both in historical context, and also as an amped up sort of grindhouse flick. The cast is better than the film needs it to be, with Weller given a few moments to bring pitiable depth to the title character. Noonan is terrific as the nemesis drug lord, who also is the leader of a burgeoning religious cult. O’Herlihy’s role is expanded, giving him more time to shine as a calculated, callous, corporate villain. Nancy Allen gets second billing, but her role is greatly reduced. It’s a shame because the relationship between her Officer Lewis and Weller’s RoboCop could have been the center of a better movie. The practical effects by Rob Bottin and stop-motion animation by Phil Tippet are, as always, pretty awesome. The symphonic score by Leonard Rosenman is a welcome, old-fashioned throwback to the ’50s and ’60s, though the new main theme featuring a female chorus is a bit corny.

With Belinda Bauer, Felton Perry, and Gabriel Damon as a pretty nasty pre-teen member of the drug cult.