RoboCop

RoboCop is the ultimate Verhoeven package — a Christ allegory wrapped in ultra-violent corporate satire wrapped in a genuinely great action film. Peter Weller plays Alex Murphy, a Detroit cop who is murdered by criminals and resurrected by OCP as a cyborg law enforcement product. The genius of the film is that Murphy's gradual recovery of his humanity is the most touching character arc in 1980s action cinema, and it happens between scenes of graphic violence and savage media satire.

The fake commercials and news segments — selling nuclear war board games, advertising the 6000 SUX sedan — are funnier and sharper than most dedicated comedies. ED-209's boardroom malfunction is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. Verhoeven understood that corporate America's real product is not goods but obedience, and RoboCop dramatizes that insight with zero subtlety and maximum impact. The film was rated X twice before Verhoeven cut it to an R, and it still feels transgressive.