Chappie
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Sigourney Weaver, and Hugh Jackman.
Rated R for violence, language, and brief nudity.
There are two guarantees with a Neill Blomkamp film: great sci-fi visuals and a consistently outstanding Sharlto Copley. With District 9, Blomkamp gave us these two qualities as well as a unique sci-fi story with ample social commentary. Elysium tried to do the same, but did not have the same emotional weight. Luckily, Sharlto was wildly hypnotic as the film's villainous Agent Kruger. With Chappie we have a spread of horribly developed characters telling a story that otherwise should have had a stronger impact.
In the near future crime in South Africa is monitored by police robots known as Scouts. The Scouts' creator, Deon (Dev Patel), secretly develops an artificial intelligence program that he intends to upload into a damaged Scout scheduled for destruction. When he is kidnapped by a rough gang, Deon is forced to give the thugs his creation in exchange for his life. The new AI robot, named Chappie (Sharlto Copely), then gets introduced to a violent and cruel world with low-life criminals guiding him along the way.
There is a good story in this movie, but it is lost and wasted on frustratingly idiotic characters. I must give Blomkamp some credit. If you're going to have your lead character be an AI robot, then you must get the audience to care for that character as they would a human. Mission accomplished in large thanks to Copley's charming performance. Sadly, Chappie is the only character worth caring for. His "parents," played by South African members of the rap-rave group Die Antwoord, are such horrible people with no depth that we must suffer to watch them corrupt this innocent child-like robot. His "mommy" (Yo-Landi, and don't even get me started on her voice) shows some sympathy towards Chappie, but you're never ignorant of the fact that she is a hardened criminal. Chappie's "daddy" (Ninja) is so incredibly selfish and foolish that he makes you want to jump on screen and tear out his hideous gangster mullet. And guess what? We're suppose to believe these two are reluctant heroes by the film's end, when throughout its entirety they've been nothing but the opposite.
I applaud Blomkamp for daring to make original sci-fi material that isn't toned down just for an extra buck, but the guy has to work on his characters. Like District 9, we should be discussing the film's heavy themes; instead, we're left with nothing but weak characters to tear apart.
RATING: C+
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