Chappie

What can I say about this mish mash…?

After the earlier success of District 9, a documentary style take on aliens landing in Johannesburg, Neil Blomkamp once again enlists the help of Sharlto Copley for this story about a robot who gains consciousness, once again set in the South African city of gold.

In a country where criminals have run rampant, police robots have been deployed to bring things under control, and they have worked spectacularly well. The designer of these robots eventually succeeds in developing AI consciousness which he uploads (against company instructions) into a robot that was destined to be destroyed. The robot, named Chappie, ends up in the hands of a band of criminals (played by South African rap band, Die Antwoord) who use him to carry out various illegal acts. When a jealous fellow developer sabotages the police robots and tries to destroy Chappie, he shows his mettle and tries to save those that he loves.

This is such a strange movie. I can’t help thinking it was merely a vehicle for Die Antwoord to showcase their acting skills, which actually aren’t too bad. (I still can’t believe how big they are in America, being something of a parody – I cannot stand their music, and I use that term very loosely.) Considering they pretty much play their roles of Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er every time they are in public, I guess they are used to these characters and playing your alter ego is a lot easier than playing something completely different. Still, they did a pretty good job of it, playing the doting “Mommy” and no good “Daddy” to robot child Chappie.

Chappie (Sharlto Copley) initially reminded me of a scared puppy dog when he first gains consciousness, but evolves into a child-like entity, and it is this innocence and naivety that makes his mistreatment at the hands of various characters seem so dastardly. Chappie soon learns about human nature and it really is a sad commentary on the human race.

The big names in this movie, to me, are entirely wasted, perhaps with the exception of Dev Patel, playing the robot designer, Deon Wilson. Sigourney Weaver, as the company CEO doesn’t get too much screen time and her character is completely one dimensional. Hugh Jackman plays villain number 1, the designer of the Moose robot, whose machine gets rejected by the police force as being overkill. Although he gets a lot more screen time than Sigourney, I feel that his character, too, is flat and cartoon villain-y with no redeeming aspects to his character. This, too is where some of the plot is a bit silly – Jackman is jealous that his robots are not suitable for police work, but it is obvious that its strengths would suit the defence force, and actually I spotted a SANDF (South African National Defence Force) sticker/stamp on it, so surely that should be his target market??

Villain number 2 is even more outlandish and cartoony than Hugh Jackman’s character. Hippo is the gangster to whom Ninja owes money. Brandon Auret’s physique is impressively intimidating even if not fitness model standard, but Hippo reminded me a bit of the Tasmanian Devil – a bit unhinged with a speech pattern that leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, what even was that accent he put on?? Ugh.

I think this was a movie that could really have been great, but has somehow turned into a big mess. There were some subtle comedy moments - I especially liked the bit where a pitch was being made to police officials who seemed more interested in polishing off the free biscuits than in what was being said – and Die Antwoord were surprisingly good, but numerous plot holes, crazy ass single dimensional villains and in my opinion, Chappie not being able to meaningfully connect with the audience let this film down. 6/10