Chappie (Neill Blomkamp)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[Henry Gale]

I thought this was mostly quite solid and certainly more thematically refined and executed than Elysium (without the benefit of its vistas) with a weird sense of humour and with enough inventiveness with its assembly of other sci-fi story staples to make up for the swaths of unoriginality and dullness in its progression.

The first act is basically a shot-for-shot remake of RoboCop with different elements in frame, to the point that Hugh Jackman's Moose mech is unabashedly designed like the ED-209 and I'm pretty sure Peter Weller does the voice of all the non-Chappie cop-bots in the same cadence as his original character, and luckily it becomes more of its own thing and strengthens once Chappie (played really interesting by a mo-cap Sharlto Copley, in easily the only remarkable performance in the movie) becomes the central character.

The most weirdly huge takeaway for me was how entranced I was by its gorgeous, throbbing, '80s-basking synth score throughout, and had no idea it was Hans Zimmer until the end credits. It might just replace his Inception work as the temp score directors use on their action movie assembly cuts in coming years. It has its generic action-movie drum-heavy stretches, but the sonics and melodics of its quieter stuff have so many amazingly lush elements in it.

The action also feels more well-staged and easy to feel invested in and navigate than Blomkamp's previous film, but there's not too much of it. Its script has big issues and stenches of familiarity but overall it's Blomkamp's unique palette as a director that makes it all gel more and more excitingly as it goes.

Can't give it an opening weekend theatre recommendation, but as something to catch up with in the Summer on a late night between bigger movies more likely worth our anticipation, it's an enticing little diversion.

**½ / 6.3

[Morris Schæffer]

Going by some of the early reviews, one would almost start to think it was a baaad call to give this dude the alien franchise.

[Irish]

This is a huge mess.

Here's a taste: In a critical moment, a character builds a device to "copy consciousness" using what looks like a raid array of Playstation 4s and a bike helmet with wires sticking out of it.

More:

- Chappie isn't much like the trailers suggest, or even what the premise suggests
- For a movie about robots & ai, Chappie is totally uninterested in exploring those subjects
- All of the characters are grossly underwritten, and yet still manage to behave like complete idiots
- There aren't two scenes that are logical consistent
- Somebody keeps giving Neill Blomkamp money. He must deliver a helluva pitch
- The Alien franchise is seriously fucked if this guy goes anywhere near it

[max314]

Depressing.

[D_Davis]

I didn't even get the appeal of District 9; it was a totally ugly, mean spirited mess. It reminded me of the far better '90s OVA Madox 01 - Full Metal Panic, but that was only 45 minutes and it covered all the same ground.

[D_Davis]

Man, old anime art was the best.

[max314]

I didn't even get the appeal of District 9; it was a [...] mean spirited mess.

"Mean spirited"?

Interesting.

Please explain, Monsieur Davis.

[D_Davis]

I can't recall many details. It's been a long time. But I remember while watching it that it just felt like it was mean - the characters were nasty, there were few redeeming qualities in anything they did, and the whole thing felt really cynical and nasty. Of course, I'm sure the ugly setting and tone of the film didn't help. I guess there's really nothing wrong with those kinds of thematic elements, but they're just not stuff that I'm into any more. I also wouldn't have noticed that kind of stuff had the film engaged me on any other level, but it didn't.

Sorry I can't offer up any more specifics.

[max314]

No problem.

I think I see where you're coming from with the unsympathetic characters.

[Spun Lepton]

Are Ninja and Yolandi Visser any good as actors? Their involvement is enough to keep me curious enough to see it. Maybe I'll wait for home video, though.

[transmogrifier]

Going by some of the early reviews, one would almost start to think it was a baaad call to give this dude the alien franchise.

Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Neil Blomkamp.

At first blush, one of those names doesn't fit. However, the first three directors were relative novices when they made their Alien movie, and look what happened to them after that. Maybe Blomkamp needs the Alien franchise more than the other way around....

[Irish]

Are Ninja and Yolandi Visser any good as actors? Their involvement is enough to keep me curious enough to see it. Maybe I'll wait for home video, though.

Yeah. For non-pros, they're highly watchable and interesting to look at. I almost wish Blomkamp had made a regular movie/ crime picture about the two of them instead of the cheesy, half developed sci fi stuff.

The pros get the shaft here because their characters are underwritten to an absurd degree. Sigourney Weaver is in the movie for all of 5 minutes and doesn't have an actable part. Hugh Jackman's character is severely stupid and he plays it as if he's in a completely different movie from the rest of the cast. Dev Patel is Dev Patel.

The one high mark: The mocap/CGI robots are fucking amazing and totally seamless.

Edited to add: Lemme give you all another taste of the level of imagination in this movie.

- Ninja and Yolandi's character names are ... Ninja and Yolandi.
- Chappie imprints on Yolandi as a mother figure and calls her "Mommy." In the third act of the film, in the middle of a huge action sequence, she's suddenly wearing a tee shirt that says "CHAPPIE," with a child-like drawing of the robot on it. It's both weird & ridiculous.

[Henry Gale]

Yeah. For non-pros, they're highly watchable and interesting to look at. I almost wish Blomkamp had made a regular movie/ crime picture about the two of them instead of the cheesy, half developed sci fi stuff.

Considering the stories about how horribly they acted on set (particularly Ninja), I'm shocked their performances came out as cohesively as they did, As you said, they literally play versions of themselves to the point that they blast their own songs in their warehouse home and Ninja wears shirts with their faces and the Die Antwoord name printed on them that I'm sure are real-world official merch shirts. So it's almost funny to think that this movie is about them falling on hard times in a dystopian near-future.

Their performances are pretty hit-and-miss. Basically, when they're acting in ways you'd expect them to in their personas, they deliver. Once they need to be sincere and emote beyond their comfort zone (the acting in caps lock), they're not particularly strong.

The pros get the shaft here because their characters are underwritten to an absurd degree. Sigourney Weaver is in the movie for all of 5 minutes and doesn't have an actable part. Hugh Jackman's character is severely stupid and he plays it as if he's in a completely different movie from the rest of the cast. Dev Patel is Dev Patel.

I agree that it's hard to tell what exactly Jackman's character is supposed to be both from the script and his own performance, but I found him and his acting oddly alluring and absurd enough to be entertaining..? Sure it doesn't help driving the story's stakes through him, but scenes like his attack of Patel in the office is ludicrously funny enough and he sells it where the film might not.

- Chappie imprints on Yolandi as a mother figure and calls her "Mommy." In the third act of the film, in the middle of a huge action sequence, she's suddenly wearing a tee shirt that says "CHAPPIE," with a child-like drawing of the robot on it. It's both weird & ridiculous.

We see Yolandi's artwork everywhere throughout the film with spray paintings of abstract figures, penises, guns, as well as Chappie, herself and Ninja all over the walls and on the robot himself. Not sure where her drawing a picture of her newly beloved adopted robo-son on a shirt stretches believability.

[Irish]

We see Yolandi's artwork everywhere throughout the film with spray paintings of abstract figures, penises, guns, as well as Chappie, herself and Ninja all over the walls and on the robot himself. Not sure where her drawing a picture of her newly beloved adopted robo-son on a shirt stretches believability.

It's a problem of context. You assume that the audience knows who Die Antwoord is and what they're about. If you go into Chappie without knowledge of their celebrity, the things you mention are meaningless. (And from your references, their playing quasi-versions of themselves seems even lazier than I originally thought).

I didn't know who they were, or that Yolandi made Keith Haring-like art, so the production design in their little bat cave was lost on me*.

We never see Yolandi, as a character, do anything creative. So the appearance of this soccer mom tee shirt in the middle of a battle scene seemed ludicrous. (Like, when did she take the time to have that made? And why?)

* that's another issue with the movie: all the spaces are generic as hell & visually uninteresting. there's an almost complete lack of production design. one could argue that's part of the point in this post-cyberpunk Jo'burg, I guess. but it sure made for a dull looking film. did they blow the entire budget on mo-cap and movie stars?

[Spun Lepton]

Woof, even IO9 hated it. They love everything.

http://io9.com/chappie-is-the-cutest...bad-1689884007

[Dead & Messed Up]

District 9 was about assholes, but I kinda admired how the lead "hero" was a sniveling species-ist coward-prick, and how it took the entirety of the movie for him to become an actual hero, and how his empathy came about only through literally becoming the enemy. I buy it as a depiction of the sheer difficulty of getting people to move past banal, indoctrinated evils.

[Ivan Drago]

This is a mess, but a mess of all things glorious. Between the awesomeness of Die Antwoord, the great special effects and action sequences, and what commentary there is about singularity, this movie is ultra badass GANGSTA NUMBA ONE, BRUH.

[Irish]

Both William Gibson and Ben Templesmith saw this over the weekend & said, publicly, that they enjoyed the hell out if it.

So I don't know what the fuck to make of that.

[TGM]

Huh, well then, surprisingly enough (and contrary to popular belief), I think this may actually be Neill Blomkamp's best movie yet. I'm still bored by his overall aesthetic, but, eh. *shrug*

[eternity]

33% actually good, if not great
33% unbearably terrible
33% so bad it's good, particularly in the third act

After not being crazy for District 9 and hating Elysium, this is the first Neill Blomkamp movie that made me excited about him as a filmmaker. Somebody please stop him from directing movie stars, though. Matt Damon was bad in Elysium, but Hugh Jackman is next-level, hide-under-your-seat terrible in this. Yo-Landi meanwhile is asked to carry almost all the maudlin schmaltzy crap in this movie on her shoulders and she almost pulls it off. I'm actually impressed - asking Die Antwoord to carry a wide-release sci-fi film turned out about as well as it ever could have. Blomkamp borrows a lot from their aesthetic (and Harmony Korine's too) and it works.

Hugh Jackman's khaki shorts, though.

[Ezee E]

This is pretty horrid.

What's a bummer about it is that the special effects are top-notch and seamless. You don't appreciate that a robot is in full motion because everything around it makes for one of the dumbest movies in a while. Truly a, "movie that exists."

Die Antwoord's childish antics, the colorful guns, stereotypical characters in the main cast... Oi...

[Skitch]

Finally got around to this. Wasnt too excited after abysmal Elysium and snorefest trailers. Chappie, I am sorry that my presumptions were so wrong. This was so damn good. This is the follow up D9 fans deserved. Absolutely none of the stupid shakey garbage camera work from Elysium. So much heart. Unpredictable ending. Gah, so much to love.

[Grouchy]

Come on, people, this movie is garbage. Speaking as someone who loved District 9, it's like Blomkamp can't help returning to the same themes, only with less and less artful storytelling and content. Die Antwoord were entertaining, but every major actor seemed to be on a different wavelenght from each other and Weaver's glorified cameo role is one of the thinnest "characters" I've ever seen an actor of that caliber play on a major motion picture.

What's even more damning is that instead of the millenial version of Robocop the opening minutes had promised me, the fucking thing turned into robot Ted.

[Ezee E]

Come on, people, this movie is garbage. Speaking as someone who loved District 9, it's like Blomkamp can't help returning to the same themes, only with less and less artful storytelling and content. Die Antwoord were entertaining, but every major actor seemed to be on a different wavelenght from each other and Weaver's glorified cameo role is one of the thinnest "characters" I've ever seen an actor of that caliber play on a major motion picture.

What's even more damning is that instead of the millenial version of Robocop the opening minutes had promised me, the fucking thing turned into robot Ted.

Yeah, this might be the worst of the year for me so far.