MovieChat Forums > RoboCop (1987) Discussion > "Messed-up" targeting system makes no se...

"Messed-up" targeting system makes no sense


I get what they were trying to do, but the way it's shown makes no sense (as usual in movies..)

Robocop says his targeting system is messed up, so he asks Lewis to aim for him. Makes sense so far.

However, then we're shown his POV including his HUD with the crosshair and all, and that's where the movie loses all credibility.

The CROSSHAIRS is shown to move with the display (and assuming, the hand as well). This shouldn't be happening if the targeting system is messed up and Lewis aiming FOR him by moving his hand to where the gun SHOULD point when the crosshair is over the baby food jars.

How it SHOULD have looked, is that the crosshair should've ALWAYS been on top of the baby food jars, and yet he can't hit them (equals 'messed up'). THEN the gun would be turned towards the baby food jars (a little bit to the left), so it would finally MATCH with the targeting system, which would always point at the jars.

This way, the targeting system would be RE-ALIGNED to shoot exactly where the gun is pointing at, instead of shooting to the side while showing the jars correctly targeted (which would be understandably messed up). They should've shown 'crosshairs perfectly over target but bullets still missing'.

It makes NO sense to move the CROSSHAIRS when Lewis is doing the aiming, because this would mean the bullets ALWAYS go where the crosshairs are! So he's 'targeting' the jars by moving the crosshairs into a completely different place and wondering why he misses?

This means the targeting system was always accurate, he was just targeting 'empty hall' instead of 'jars' for REASONS?!

This always bugged me, so I am glad to finally put it to words.

I wish movies made more sense, there's ABSOLUTELY no reason for this scene to not make sense, they COULD'VE made it so that the jars are always targeted, but bullets miss, then Lewis would guide the gun to the correct place, thus re-aligning it with the crosshairs, then the bullets would hit the jars, and Robocop could save those alignment settings, and it would all make sense.

As it stands now, this scene makes absolutely no sense, unless Robocop simply wanted an excuse to have Lewis close to him so he can smell the intoxicating aroma of her perfume or something..really? Does this explanation make any more sense?

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You expect to much accuracy out of what's essentially a popcorn flick?

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Avortac4 is either (A) a troll trying to waste everyone's time with such idiotic comments, or (B) the stupidest person on these message boards. Look at his posts. He doesn't think anything in any film makes sense. Don't feed the troll. Don't comment after my comment.

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Yep, this has bothered me also every time I watch this masterpiece. Fortunately it is a small detail.

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