A new era of law enforcement rises from a man’s near demise. One officer — part man, part machine — stands against organized crime and police corruption, proving that a $2 billion hardbody is the only way to clean up the streets of Detroit. That’s just one of the few hokey moments “RoboCop” serves up in a forgettable remake of the 1987 sci-fi classic. Still, you could do worse once it hits Netflix streaming.

Joel Kinnaman is RoboCop in the remake of the 1987 sci-fi classic. (photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)

Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) and Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams) fight alone in the battle for Motor City’s tainted soul. Following a car bomb, Murphy is all but deceased. Luckily, OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) needs a new face for his “bot” soldiers. The U.S. military supports robot-policing in the Middle East (whatever saves our troops, even if the locals suicide bomb these synthetic abominations to take a stand), but Americans need a face — a product they can trust, as Sellars says.

With the help of synthetic limb specialist Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), Alex goes through an extreme makeover, transforming from his near-death remains into RoboCop, a cyborg with the strength of a robot and the heart of a human. But that’s not enough for OmniCorp’s bottom line. They need a human in name and face only, but a soldier with one-dimensional logic at heart –– and by heart, I mean the control chips in Murphy’s brain. But can the soul rise above the confines of a post-human body? Is there a ghost in this blackened machine?

This marks the second attempt to remake a Paul Verhoeven-directed film. And just like 2012’s “Total Recall”, this one feels more like robotic filmmaking than something willing to build on the original in a fresh way. In place of its predecessor’s biting social commentary, “RoboCop” round two hits the easy targets: military-contracted mercenaries, drone strikes and privatized weapons manufacturing. All fine topics, but unproven director José Padilha and screenwriter Joshua Zetumer settle for a makeshift stab at depth to little avail. They don’t have the Verhoevenian conviction to even tap into his lesser-received film, “Starship Troopers” (I’ll admit a guilty enjoyment with that one).

Attacks aside, Kinnaman, as Murphy/RoboCop, needs more roles. Following his exceptional work on AMC’s “The Killing”, he easily carves out his own space in many cop roles to come. He’s got the accent and grit necessary to appease the spirit of John McClane that resides in all cop flicks.

Joel Kinnaman stars as Alex Murphy/RoboCop, and Gary Oldman appears as Dr. Dennett Norton, in the remake of “RoboCop”. (photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)

Remakes don’t have to be such a terrible experience. They go wrong when studios choose dull directors and bland screenplays with little thought for novelty alongside visual spectacle. The latest “RoboCop” didn’t need to replicate the satiric moments of the first film — like Samuel L. Jackson, as Pat Novak, playing a propaganda-spewing TV commentator à la Glenn Beck — but they did so sans charm and wit. What results is humorless, dull and overall senseless.

Why can’t filmmakers go for mindless fun rather than half-mast subtext? Let the original stand alone (as it should) and do something different. Remember “Dredd” in 2012? Hardly amazing work, but at least it didn’t bother replicating the unfortunate Stallone flick. Granted, “RoboCop” attempts to follow a previously successful film, but its batched sequels and subsequent television series make it something worthy of redemption. All they need is a little bit of that “300”/“Wanted”-mindless and awesome charm. Can they give us just one remake that doesn’t feel like someone took a cookie cutter to once untouchable films of our past, effectively tarnishing moviegoers’ nostalgic connection to the films of their youth?

It’s not that the film, by itself, is abysmal. Decent action sequences, adept casting and solid effects at least manufacture a watchable — if golem — experience (don’t waste your money on IMAX for this one). Sadly, it’s one of many that prove remakes align with RoboCop’s programming by replacing human emotion with something too mechanical.