Here’s the problem with reaching the top: The only place left to go is down. Thus appears to be the lot in life for Neill Blomkamp, the visionary South African born filmmaker who made the most high-flying of debuts with the “fooking prawns” of District 9 a few years ago. His followup, Elysium, with its subtle-as-cancer soapboxing and paper-thin characters, was not as well received despite boasting some arresting visuals and comprehensive world-building (and of course, that rendition of Jan Pierewiet!).

And unfortunately, Blomkamp’s latest effort once again sees a masterly technical performance hamstrung by a poor script, as he commits some of the same mistakes again. To paraphrase a surly Portugese fish shop owner who always refused to give my colleague Darryn coins after he had paid for goods as a kid, and instead insisted on him taking chewing gum as recompense: “No change. Just Chappie!“.

1251623 - Chappie

In an effort to curb violent crime in a near-future Johannesburg, the police force make use of humanoid law enforcement robots provided by Tetravaal. When one of these “scout” robots gets damaged in an explosive altercation, their idealistic designer Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) seizes the opportunity – against the wishes of his bottom-line focused boss Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) – to upload a new experimental AI consciousness that he’s developed into the nearly-dead robot chassis. Before he can do so though, he’s kidnapped – half-demolished robot in tow – by bumbling cartoon outlaws Ninja and Yolandi (rap-rave duo Die Antwoord playing quasi versions of themselves) and their compatriot America (Jose Pablo Cantillo). The outlandish thugs want Deon to shut down all the scouts remotely so that they can successfully pull off a big heist to settle their debt with nightmarish local gang boss Hippo (Brandon Auret). When Deon reveals that the scouts can’t be shut down, the duo force him to revive the broken robot with the new AI consciousness so that they can use it fight for them.

Given the name of Chappie by Yolandi, the newly sentient robot emerges with infant-like innocence and wonder. But that all changes rapidly as Ninja kicks Deon out – not before Deon gets Chappie to promise to do “no crimes” – and insists on teaching the robot himself. Soon, despite Yolandi’s surprisingly charming surrogate mother display, Chappie is a blinged out, shuriken throwing “robot gangster number one!” much to Deon’s dismay. And also to the disgust of aggressively mulleted Vincent (Hugh Jackman), a rival engineer at Tetravaal who feels that his own human-piloted mech, the gigantic over-weaponized MOOSE, is being marginalized in favour of Deon’s scouts. When he discovers Chappie to be sentient, he considers it an abomination and sets events into motion to take it down and have his own MOOSE shoved into the spotlight.

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On paper (well, LCD screen), that actually appears to be a half-decent sci-fi action romp. Except for the fact that what Blomkamp and his writing partner and wife Terri Tatchell have produced here is essentially just the derivative Zef-accented lovechild of Short Circuit and Robocop (Kort Circuit, anyone?). Now it must be said that not every movie idea needs to be a one-of-a-kind piece of narrative. Some derivation is certainly allowed if those borrowed ideas can be used to say something new. Unfortunately though, Chappie really brings nothing fresh to this allegorical table, rehashing the same themes of consciousness, humanity and nature vs nurture, and even going so far as to copy elements from District 9.

Now once again it must be said, copying ideas is easily forgiveable if it at least produces enough flashy distractions to gawk at (go, reptilian brains!), and here Blomkamp definitely excels. Brought to amazing realistic life through the motion-capture and child-like voice-acting of Sharlto Copley, Chappie is simply a marvel to behold – and often quite hilarious – as Blomkamp once again proves his almost peerless mastery of seamlessly blending digital creations and practical, visceral action. These visuals are flawless and especially impressive in the film’s big blow-out action sequences where the young director has a clear and fantastic flair for seriously exciting R-rated sci-fi violence (also making me wish that the film actually boasted more than just the two major action beats we get here).

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Unfortunately the same cannot be said as a whole in front of the camera, as Yolandi and Ninja painfully flub lines and undersell scenes with a level of acting usually seen from high school theatre production hopefuls. Blomkamp and Tatchell’s script already boasts some cringe-worthy dialogue and really silly plot points, but these are accentuated even further by the pair’s amateur showings.

Not that the rest of the cast fares much better, as Weaver is stuck in default movie CEO mode while Cantillo does a low-budget Carlos Mencia impersonation and Dev Patel essentially plays Dev Patel from Newsroom, only sweatier. Jackman and Auret, as the film’s two proper baddies, at least get to have some fun with things, snarling it up on cue. And besides, who wouldn’t want to see Wolverine decked out in the traditional Afrikaner uniform of two-tone shirt, khaki kort broek en ‘n paar lank sokkies piloting a 12-foot tall flying mech loaded with things that make people go boom and splat?!

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And it’s these explosively cool, geek out moments produced with such expert technical polish, coupled with Copley’s fantastic motion-capture work and the VFX hocus pocus that brings it all to vivid life, that act as Chappie‘s saving grace. Blomkamp is an immensely talented director, of that there is no doubt, but I think he needs to start leaving the screenwriting to somebody with a better grasp of narrative and character. Also, pro tip: Don’t hire non-actors for your sci-fi movie just because they look like they low-budget sci-fi movie extras in real life.

1251623 - Chappie

Last Updated: March 13, 2015

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30 Comments

  1. Oh, like the new little review rating tab.
    I’m not going to bother with this movie. They lost me when they put Die Antwoord in there.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      March 13, 2015 at 09:40

      ‘n mens kan se dat hulle is nie die antwoord nie.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the damned

        March 13, 2015 at 09:40

        Haha. Well said

        Reply

  2. Blood Emperor Trevor

    March 13, 2015 at 10:24

    That’s disappointing, still want to watch it though.

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 13, 2015 at 11:24

      And I would suggest you do. There are definitely entertaining bits, and you may not be as critical as I was about the flaws.

      Reply

      • WitWolfy

        March 25, 2015 at 13:46

        I dont think you’re being too critical at all. Even Rottentomatoes gives it a abysmal rating unfortunately…

        Darn shame too. Was really hoping Neill would’ve learned his lesson after Elysium..

        Reply

  3. konfab

    March 13, 2015 at 11:11

    The only way Blomkamp could redeem himself is by including Die Antwoord in the new Alien movie as alien fodder.

    Reply

    • WitWolfy

      March 25, 2015 at 13:48

      Or make a public appearance where he apologizes profusely for ever putting them in to begin with…

      Didn’t he know that the only people who like those guys’ music or style are pilled up jollers in Amsterdam?

      Reply

  4. Willem Grobler

    March 13, 2015 at 11:49

    It’s not THAT bad… Did you miss the point where Blomkamp’s style clearly revolves around having a bunch of stereotypes delivering ham-fisted, on the nose lines? He’s the thinking man’s Michael Bay! 😉

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 13, 2015 at 12:18

      LOL. Thinking man’s Michael Bay!

      One weird thing though that I didn’t mention in the review, is the weird juxtaposition of character and accent. Brandon Auret’s Hippo has a heavy “black” accent, and Jackman looks about as Afrikaner as can be, but speaks in his normal Aussie accent. Dunno if Blomkamp is making some kinda statement about cultural homogenization in the near future, but it’s certainly odd.

      Reply

      • juzzlehizzle

        March 13, 2015 at 13:46

        Were there any significant black characters in the film? The film that is set in Africa? Which has quite a few black people here and there?

        I just don’t see any in the film’s PR, which would seem a somewhat significant oversight

        Reply

        • Kervyn Cloete

          March 13, 2015 at 13:58

          Does Dev Patel count? :p

          Reply

          • juzzlehizzle

            March 13, 2015 at 15:53

            Uhm….no. I mean black as per the meaning in South Africa. A relevant question given that the film is set in South Africa.

            Not to be overly sensitive but if this is a film set in South Africa that doesn’t feature one black character of narrative significance, then regardless of racial sensitivity, that is just horrifically blinkered storytelling.

            Unless, in the universe of the film, most black people emigrated from South Africa elsewhere, though I think that unlikely.

            Were black people just blithely glossed over in this film? How is that not a thing in the media?

            It’s a major film set in a major city in Africa. Surely there’s be one or two black characters of significance

          • Kervyn Cloete

            March 13, 2015 at 15:58

            Yeah, no. Sorry. No blacks here. At least none in any meaningful roles.

          • juzzlehizzle

            March 13, 2015 at 15:58

            Wow

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 17, 2015 at 13:31

            depends, “BEE” black or “black” black?

            They werent overly prominent in district 9 either.
            probably something to do with the juxtaposition Kervyn mentioned and removing emphasis on the generic african culture portrayed in movies.
            (struggled with putting thoughts into words for the last bit :S )

            basically, i agree with the sentiment, but theres probably a reasonable explanation…

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 17, 2015 at 13:23

            depends if the question is honest or about BEE ratings.
            or how Latinos would be placed under our BEE rating.

          • Kervyn Cloete

            March 17, 2015 at 13:32

            Well seeing as Dev Pater is Indian…. :p

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 17, 2015 at 13:43

            soz, was extending it to the rest of the cast aswell
            got sidetracked and responded to the OP as the same time :S

          • juzzlehizzle

            March 17, 2015 at 21:07

            I mean black people, the largest demographic in the country, having no narrative significance in the story whatsoever, and being, at best, furniture.

            It’s not BEE or SJW, just math. If a group of people make up the biggest proportion, shouldn’t they feature in some in the story.

            Unless their absence is some kind of meta commentary. Anyways, whatevs

          • WitWolfy

            March 25, 2015 at 13:53

            Now your sounding like Malema. WTF is wrong with you? Can’t you just enjoy it for what it is, a South African movie?!?!?!

            You are probably also one of those twats that nod towards Eskom firing those 3200 white ENGINEERS too, then replacing them with black engineers in the process. Because of “just math” reasons.

            Grow up man.

          • juzzlehizzle

            March 25, 2015 at 18:12

            I swear to God and Sonny Jesus….

            It is a film set in a country where the predominant demographic is black. Yet no black person features, villainously or heroically, in a narratively significant manner.

            That just strikes me as odd. It’s not begging for BEE or equal representation. I’m curious as to how a people that easily, EASILY, make up the largest percentage of a country, are comfortably absent from the story.

            It’s not bleeding heart liberalism; it’s logic

          • WitWolfy

            March 26, 2015 at 08:26

            Well then go make your own Chappie with black prostitutes and black jack!

          • juzzlehizzle

            March 26, 2015 at 10:25

            Wow

  5. Guest

    March 15, 2015 at 06:38

    What’s interesting that amidst the wave of critical negativity Mr Cyberpunk himself William Gibson adores the film https://twitter.com/GreatDismal/status/575383682833240064

    Reply

  6. Axon1988

    March 16, 2015 at 14:59

    I knew it! When I found out that die antwoord will be acting in this film it felt like things have gone from hopeful to a nightmare. WHO DOES THAT? What makes you think… These guys should act in this film, because they look kind of like thieves/gangsters/shitheads.

    Although Jackman in Khaki does outshine the turd side of things.

    Reply

    • WitWolfy

      March 25, 2015 at 13:54

      Took the words right out of my mouth.

      Reply

  7. WitWolfy

    March 25, 2015 at 13:43

    So basically Die Antwoord killed the movie…

    Reply

  8. James Francis

    July 18, 2015 at 11:39

    It took 25 minutes for me to stop caring about this movie, which is before Chappie is even converted.

    On the other hand, that’s still longer than Jupiter Ascending…

    Reply

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