ANDROID COP (2014) **

Michael Jai White stars as a badass cop who is saddled with a partly robotic partner.  As in any Buddy Cop Movie, they don’t get along.  The robot cop does things by the book (mostly because of his programming) while White refuses to play by the rules.  When an assignment takes them into a desolate wasteland, they soon come to realize that they are being set up to walk right into a trap.  They then must work together as a team in order to survive. 

Android Cop is, obviously, The Asylum’s riff on the (now, mostly forgotten) Robocop remake.  As with that movie, the robot cop wears a cheesy faceplate that looks dorky.  The difference is that the focus is mostly on White as he is forced to put up with, and eventually rely on his odd new partner.  In that respect, it’s more like Alien Nation, but with robots.  (The film manages to steal bits from Escape from New York and Judge Dredd along the way.)   

While it’s nice seeing the ever-athletic White in a starring role, the filmmakers don’t make the best use of his talents.  He gets a few opportunities to show off his considerable Kung Fu skills, but unfortunately, the action is poorly framed and edited.  Probably aware that his talent is going to waste, White sometimes seems like he’s sleepwalking through some scenes.  Or maybe he was just on auto(maton)pilot.  Co-stars Kadeem Hardison and Charles S. Dutton (who looks like he filmed his scenes in a single day) are likewise limited thanks to their flimsily-written characters. 

Android Cop is also plagued with inconsistent continuity, ragged editing, shoddy effects, and inept production values.  I know this is an Asylum movie we’re talking about here, but even the Sharknado series has some semblance of basic competence.  I will say that it does have a decent plot twist in the third act; if you make it that far. 

As bad as most of the movie is, there was at least one scene that was legitimately funny.  It comes early on when White is negotiating with some terrorists.  They conclude their list of outlandish demands with a case of Mexican Coke.  This causes White to do a double-take and say, “Mexican Coke?  The kind with the real sugar?  I can’t do that!”  Since Mexican Coke is one of my few weaknesses, that scene alone was enough to earn the flick at least an extra Half Star from me. 

AKA:  Robotic Cop.