Chappie is Short Circuit Meets Robocop!!!

Neill Blomkamp takes his prior two films District 9 and Elysium blended into a film about A.I., but Chappie is Short Circuit Meets Robocop.

CelebNMusic247.c0m film review: 3 out of 5

Once again director Neill Blomkamp gives us another grim look into the not so far off future of the world in South Africa, 2016 to be exact… Blomkamp touches on social issues, political satire, and social issues. Asking the question; “what would happen if crime was so bad that we needed robotic police force to control criminals?

You might say Chappie is Blomkamp taking another shot at Elysium and the corruption of corporate power. He recently claimed that Elysium was a mistake, but we think that he is forgetting the one ingredient, motivation. He has all the elements for the film’s premise, but why are all these people fighting for. It’s clear that Deon (Dev Patel) is driven to make the first artificial intelligent robot, so he does what he needs to and steals a damaged police robot from the corporate scrap heap and upgrades him to A.I.

What about the rest of the characters, Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) is the corporation head who is about power and control for a weapons company who facilitates the human shields for the Johannesburg police. Hugh Jackman’s character Vincent Moore is the least explained. All you get is that he is the yester-year version that is no obsolete to Devon’s creation, so he is the antagonist. Yo-Landi and Ninja of the South African group Die Antwoord are bangers who get caught in a bind and must find a way to pay back their gang leader $20k. As for the gang leader there is no real direction except for greed and power. Add all these up and the storyline is not strong nor is it exciting.

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We enjoyed the movie, but it was more of a mix of his first two films, “District 9” and “Elysium” with a dystopia feel and a si-fi aspect. He persuasively sets a chaotic back drop using a familiar setting by shooting in the real Johannesburg. To add to the chaos Neill Blomkamp enlists the abilities of an up and coming popular South Africa cult artistic group, Die Antwoord, whose members Yo-Landi Visser plays Mommy and Daddy, who is played by Ninja. Die Antwoord is currently touring with Drake in Australia on the Future Music Festival. But it seems the two artists are NOT getting along [Read HERE]

So what is Chappie about?

Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie opens up on an introductory flurry of news reports indicates, law demands order. To help stem the murderous tide, the authorities have deployed a force of armed robots, called Scouts, to serve as shields for their human brethren or to fire on the heavily fortified shouting masses.

After a night of Red Bull and energetic keyboard abuse Deon takes a decommissioned robot home to continue his quest to answer the question if artificial intelligence can indeed learn and live. Enter Chappie, played with a sing-song effect by “District 9 veteran Sharlto Copley, Mr. Blomkamp’s favorite attraction.

The film centers around a robot named Chappie (Sharlto Copley) who is brought to life by its creator, Deon Wilson (Dev Patel). The film is much more than a Short Circuit style remake despite the Chappie trailer where he declares “I’m Alive…Chappie is Alive.” This film questions social issues of what is right and what is wrong.

How does Blomkamp’s approach to A.I. come off?

Chappie is the first robot of its kind, he is 100% AI, but he is like a little boy who has to learn right from wrong. The only problem is Chappie gets in the hands of some low-level criminals played by Yo-Landi Visser and Ninja of Die Antwoord. Jose Pablo Cantillo plays our favorite criminal, Yankie aka Amerika, valiantly thumping along as the third wheel. Chappie is introduced to a troika of misfit criminals who decide that a smart robot would make a useful accessory to go with their pink and yellow guns. Chappie quickly becomes attached to Yo-Landi aka Mommy. Chappie believes that they are fighting for the people, but in reality they’re out to use Chappie for their own needs. He learns how people use each other, lies cheat and steal. The film touches on many of these issues alongside the obvious, betrayal.

While Chappie is learning what it means to be alive, back at the lab, the gun-toting Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) plays the antagonist of the film. He is the first gene robotic failure since Deon Wilson’s creation has ruled supreme. Moore is driven by revenge and when Deon isn’t paying attention he does everything in his power to sabotage Chappie and the robotic police force.

We don’t want to give away the movie, but what we can say is that if you are a fan of Neill Blomkamp’s prior films then you know he likes to dig deep to make his point. Except he gets a little bit confused with his direction once again. Maybe he is trying to live up to the acclaim of “District 9” and his Oscar nom back in the day, because it seems to be subconsciously messing with his movies. The film is a combination of raising a child, the right from wrongs and more when it comes to a young mind. Chappie is innocent, like we all are at birth. None of us are racist, prejudice or judgmental birth. Chappie is the loss of innocence, question the theory of consciousness, life after death and resurgence within ourselves. It also teaches us that young minds are taught racism, hate, crime, distrust and more. If Blomkamp was trying to make a point or send a message, he somewhat failed to execute it. He was heading in the right direction, but the film lost its steam when driving home its message.

Overall we enjoyed the film despite a few moments that seemed to lack in character development. We feel that there could have been a little more interaction between Chappie and Yo-Landi regarding the robot learning. Blomkamp tries to touch on the concept of A.I. like Spielberg but falls short. Instead Chappie is more of a concept film taking bits and pieces of successful A.I. style films like “Robocop” and “A.I.”

Chappie tries to poke fun at learning and comic heroes on TV. For example, there is a scene when Chappie watches the cartoon “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” because you see him learning, but the scene also gestures to the idea that hyperbolic masculinity is absurd.

Chappie is more than a friendly robot film. It deals with being the black sheep which is highlighted in the film, as Chappie favorite book given to him by his creator. One of the best scenes in the movie is when Yo-Landi reads a children’s book The Black Sheep” to Chappie, it’s there Blomkamp lets real emotions creep into his film. A much-needed aspect so the audience would have had more connection to Chappie.

Overall the movie is interesting to watch, but on an emotional connection there is little to none. You don’t care when people get killed and we really wanted to feel that like in “District 9,” but like we said before the film seemed to have lost its direction at the end of the film.

NOTE this is NOT a film for kids or children – it’s NOT Short Circuit

Stars: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Rated: R
Run Time: 120 mins
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia Pictures

Chappie opens today March 6, 2015