That is the key to the movie, and why the audience cares about Murphy. He is cruelly tortured and left for dead by a criminal gang, which we see in all its 1980's gory detail, then he is "rescued," only to be cruelly tortured even more by the medical team and OCP, then abandoned by this wife and child who think he is dead. He has to rescue his own humanity himself, with the help of his partner, who is the only one to not abandon him.
If the new movie has an "updated" robot body which looks human, and a visor people can see through to see his face, people will know he is human from the start. If he looks human, then will he have lost as much as Weller's Murphy?
“If the new movie has an “updated” robot body which looks human, and a visor people can see through to see his face, people will know he is human from the start.”
Old Robo looked robotic. New Robo looks like a guy in a suit from an old Batman movie. Not a good choice.
Agree. A key part of Weller’s performance was the way his movements simulated the electro-mechanical nature of the armored robotic body. If that is lost in the remake, the robocap performance will be too human in tone and lose the pathos created by Murphy’s effort to reconnect with humanity despite the tremendous trama he has undergone.