Chappie English Movie
The problem with having made a path-breaking and completely original sci-fi film like District 9 on your debut is that it's shadow will continue to linger over all your subsequent work till you manage to outdo it with an even better film. Director Neill Blomkamp's sophomore feature Elysium faced the brunt of the awesomeness that was District 9, despite being another totally harmless yet totally fun original sci-fi film.
Blomkamp's third and newest film Chappie is likely to get burnt too, but unlike Elysium, it isn't undeserving of it.
Chappie, adapted from his own 2003 short film Tetra Vaal, is set in Johannesburg in the year 2016, when it boasts of the world's first completely robotic police force. The film sees Blomkamp united with his frequent collaborator/muse Sharlto Copley, who this time plays the first artificially intelligent robot in the world.
His AI software has been written by Deon Wilson, who he calls his maker. Deon has an array of small robot slaves at his home for different chores, since robots are the new black in the future. But even though he crafted an army of robots, he apparently couldn't manage to give them a voice that is even remotely understandable or decipherable.
Chappie is taken hostage by a trio of drug-dealing 'gangstas', two of whom he calls mommy and daddy. Even though mommy comes to love Chappie like her own child, the daddy and his friend want to use Chappie to pull off a heist, so they can repay their debt to an even bigger, perpetually shirtless, trash-talking gangsta.
Also in the mix is evil scientist guy Vincent Moore, who does evil things simply because the film needs a villain. He struts around the office with in shorts and a bad haircut, because apparently that's what South African villains of Australian origin do.
The film begins in a hurried manner, with a quick setup of the base and a haphazardly shot action scene. At this very point, you know in your mind that the next 2 hours of your life will comprise of lots of hair pulling and frustrated sighs.
The sad part about Chappie (the film) is that at its core, it has a really interesting concept and raises some thought-provoking and profound questions about what separates humanity from machines. But it's just such a poorly written, poorly constructed film that just fails to make its point with any sort of clarity. Writers Blomkamp and his wife/frequent collaborator Terri Tatchell, who did such a brilliant job on District 9 in creating layered characters and a complex world, just didn't put in enough effort into this one. The incidents are forced, too much of the film relies on plain coincidence, and much of the screenplay (the timeframe in the film, for example) is just for the sake of convenience.
What's sadder about the complete misjudgment that is Chappie (the film) is that Chappie (the robot) is actually a great character. His characterization is the only thing that the writers seemed to have paid any sort of attention to while writing the film. He's just this very complex, yet very humane robot who's just impossible not to love.
To add to the fact, there's just limitless number of possibilities in the child-like evolution of his character. Whether it's cowering away from the sight of guns in the beginning or his wish of becoming the 'baddest motherf**king gangsta in town', your heart is warmed right down to the cockles at just the sight of him. Even better, he has been played and voiced so beautifully by Sharlto Copley, a wonderful actor in his own right. He brings the right amount of innocence and vulnerability and eventually heartbreak in voicing the character.
But the saddest thing about Chappie (the film) is that much like an innocent Chappie (the character) is caught in the middle of a bad, bad world, he is also trapped in a film full of dead-end, dud, one-dimensional characters that are played not-so-ably by their respective actors. Dev Patel simply sleepwalks through the film in the role of Deon The Maker; the less said about Hugh Jackman and his evil scientist character, the better; Sigourney Weaver shows up just to collect a paycheck for a small part; Ninja, Yolandi Visser and Jose Pablo Cantillo are half-decent as the native thugs who forcibly take in Chappie.
Overall, Chappie is a film with a big idea at its center, but is let down by some insipid writing and haphazard execution. Sharlto Copley as Chappie manages to keep you seated till the end with his heartfelt performance, but that isn't quite enough compensation. This is one misfire that Neill Blomkamp would love to forget and quickly move onto his next project, the new film in the Alien franchise.
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