Directed by:
Neill BlomkampCinematography:
Trent OpalochComposer:
Hans ZimmerCast:
Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Watkin Tudor Jones, Yo-Landi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, Brandon Auret, Johnny Selema (more)Plots(1)
When revolutionary scientist Deon (Dev Patel) awakens his latest creation, a robot with artificial intelligence and the ability to think and feel like a human, his dreams and his nightmares all quickly become his reality. As the robot, Chappie (voice of Sharlto Copley), begins to develop in the same ways a human would, society around him finds it increasingly difficult to accept him into their lives. After Chappie is kidnapped by South African gangsters who wish to do him harm, Deon puts all his efforts into finding his creation and proving to the world that Chappie is not dangerous but merely provides evidence of the next generation of thinking. (Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (16)
An unusual sci-fi, especially these days. The dramaturgy is screwed, but in any case Chappie works like an indie R-rated comedy about how No. 5 picked up a gun and in the finale gives the Robocop chicken a piece of his mind. This is a fan movie with a massive budget where Blomkamp breaks loose from his fetters and had some fun with his friends from Die Antwort, Ripley and the robotic Sharlto Copley. Much more than crazy action, this is about how a gangster raises a child and about machines becoming human and the other way round too. P.S.: Hugh Jackman is incredible, he reminded me of an former workmate... But to go against such a cool image and create such an unpleasant bastard is almost the most remarkable acting performance of the whole movie, apart from Copely. That’s concussion, Mommy.
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Why? Because Die Antwoord, that’s why. Throw in a bit of wacky comedy, a bit of fatalistic sci-fi drama, add a dash of Deus Ex Machina and a few ideas from The Matrix on top, season it with a pinch of clichés, stir it up and you have a fun, inconsistent mashup of genres that one moment is laugh-out-loud hilarious and the next is naturalistically ripping your body in half. Blomkamp is a misunderstood filmmaker doing things his own way, the antithesis of the California dream factory of today. And that’s good. And one thing is certain: Die Antwoord are aliens whose cute non-acting is amusing. Although I believe those two didn't have to play much, they're fucked up in real life añready :o)
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My friends ask me what Chappie was like, so I'll post here on FilmBooster what I usually tell everyone: Not great. Apparently the director tried hard to make another District 9, only with robots, and it didn't work out so well. There's too much violence for my taste, especially violence against Chappie himself (not just physical, but psychological as well). Apparently, to make it less drastic, the director added some comic elements, in which he makes the robot a gangster. Unfortunately, it was funny only once; after that I found it rather awkward. Another problem was that Chappie is a film where there isn't a single likable character I could relate to – I hated them all, even Chappie himself (that is, only from the middle of the film; he was just a cute little kid at the beginning). The action was okay, Hugh Jackman as the bad guy was for me a role I've never seen him in before, so more or less a nice bonus. He played the maniac pretty convincingly. Unfortunately, I felt that the already rather contradictory film ended as if someone had pulled it out of their hat (I would say “out of their ass" to my friends, but I won't use such foul language here!). Apparently they don't have hospitals in Johannesburg. It has logical flaws; it has no hero. From a feeling point of view, I absolutely disliked the film (I kept telling myself that this is wrong, it's not supposed to be like this). Don't let the kids see it, show them Short Circuit instead.
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Blomkamp the director trying hard to compensate for the incompetence of Blomkamp the screenwriter. Chappie is nice to look at, it has some good moments, but when you start thinking about it… :-( When you take the stories of each of the characters away from the plot, their behaviour is well… a stupidity race with a photo finish. Every single one of the blokes in there do the best they can to excel in this discipline.
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I appreciate Blomkamp for always being identifiable by his chassis and design, but even with Zimmer’s boost helping his performance here, the genre-mixing fuel tends to sputter, and smoke occasionally rises from the script's errors. Looking at the Indian origin of the creator and the winking metal above the lovably robotic eyes, it’s hard not to recall Short Circuit. If I were Ben Jabituya, I’d say: "I’ve seen it, and it wasn't all that great."
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