Chappie

 CHAPPIE

Director : Neill Blomkamp

Year : 2015

Genre : Science Fiction

Rating : **1/2

 

Having touched upon the matters of apartheid and the health care systems of the world in his previous movies 'District 9' and 'Elysium' respectively, writer and director Neill Blomkamp now turns his sights on the thorny subject of artificial intelligence in his latest science fiction opus 'Chappie'; an ambitious, intriguing but highly flawed techno-thriller that endeavours to explore not only the various ideologies that continue to plague our ever-increasing advances in technology but also our collective thoughts about life, consciousness and what it ultimately is to be human.

Like 'District 9', 'Chappie' once again takes us to the streets of a not too distant future Johannesburg where crime is no longer pursued by police officers but rather highly intelligent and extremely advanced droids. However their creator (Dev Patel) believes that his androids have more to offer than simple force and violence and sets to work on bringing to life the first truly sentient robot. But things get out of hand when both he and his creation are kidnapped by a trio of street-wise gangsters who plan to use the now conscious but oblivious droid christened Chappie (voiced by regular Blomkamp collaborator Sharlito Copley) in an upcoming heist. Becoming his surrogate family, the outlaws (played by South African rappers Die Antwoord) induct Chappie into the gangster culture, stripping him of his child-like innocence and turning him into a violent and potentially deadly ally.

Just as he did with both the aforementioned 'District 9' and 'Elysium', Blomkamp uses his idiosyncratic style of wonderfully barren settings, foreboding sounds and eye-popping CGI visuals to place us firmly at ease in his completely believable future - allowing us in turn to buy into the various scenarios and situations depicted on screen. The robot himself is a marvellous creation who, through both Copleys vocal and motion capture work, manages to emote the same vulnerable, naive mannerisms and wary body language that made Johnny Depps Edward Scissorhands so infectiously endearing back in 1990. His rabbit ear-like antennae, his high pitched robotic voice and his infantile optimism all combine to create an instantly lovable character and while some have found him to be more Jar-Jar Binks than E.T, I found Chappie to be a fascinating and immensely empathetic narrative focus.

 

However despite the impressive visuals and astonishing CGI on show, the robot is the only character worth watching in the movie. The cast unanimously fail to give good performances and only serve to allow certain plot points to happen - most notably Die Antwoord rappers Ninja and Yolandi who provide little in terms of acting talent but expertly manage to shamelessly promote their various albums throughout the picture with not so subtle graffiti work, branded clothing and a soundtrack filled to the brim with their strange and I must say, pretty awful music.

Even the usually brilliant Sigourney Weaver and an unusually mulleted Hugh Jackman are completely wasted as the films focal antagonists. Both are great actors but as the old saying goes, bad writing leads to bad acting and 'Chappie's screenplay written by Blomkamp and his wife Terri Tatchell is one of the worst I have heard in quite a long time.

The film does try to ask some incredibly deep philosophical questions such as what is humanity?, where does the line between consciousness and AI blur? and most intriguingly, if there is a God, should he/she be proud of his/her creation? These are extremely heavy ideas for a mainstream sci-fi and for the first half an hour of 'Chappie', I was completely encapsulated in its contemplative and philosophical tone. But what begins as an interesting story about artificial intelligence and the fragility of life quickly devolves into a pretty bog standard and unnecessarily obscene action film, once again proving that Neill Blomkamp is sadly a one- trick pony. He has now recycled the same archetypes, settings and thought processes  for three movies now and while I admire the artistry that he puts into all of his work, I am becoming rather bored with seeing the same basic film over and over again. Special effects and good looking vistas are nothing without a good story or characters and with both the equally disappointing 'Elysium' and now 'Chappie' on his resume, could Blomkamp be the new M. Night Shayamalan? I truly hope not but one thing is for sure, his upcoming 'Alien' reboot had better be something really special .