Bullet Points: Chappie

While director Neill Blomkamp hasn’t made more than a fistful of movies since his feature debut in 2009, each one has done a tremendous job of infusing the science fiction genre with a taste of real life topics like race, immigration, and the widening gap between rich and poor. Normally I’d make some sort of joke, call him a communist, and gaze deeply at my framed copy of the Declaration of Independence. But I have to admit that I’m a big fan of Blomkamp’s. There is no doubt that he has a specific style, and if there is something that the sci-fi genre has lacked for a while, it’s a director who can take any story and mold it into something bigger than just another film. Is he our very own modern day James Cameron? We shall see…

Synopsis: In a futuristic society, mechanized robots have been used to uphold the law and keep the peace. A damaged robot named Chappie is reprogrammed by a brilliant engineer, and he becomes the first robot with the ability to learn and feel.

• The Cast: Chappie has an incredible cast of actors. Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, and Sigourney Weaver all lend their talents to the film in different ways, but the majority of the “heart” of the film comes from the robot Chappie, played by Sharlto Copley. The worst part of having your movie being led by a boyish robot is that it’s difficult to get the same performance from a CGI robot as you would a person. Visually, it’s very impressive seeing the robot move. My biggest problem with the way the cast was handled was that the only character that I really felt a human connection with was the villain. The controversial South American rap-rave group Die Antwoord play the “adoptive parents” to the robot and I can’t say that I enjoyed their characters. What I would really like to ask Blomkamp is whether he thought that people would like or care for the two ridiculously terrible people. Yeah, at some point they seem to take a real interest in Chappie as more than just a way of making money, but it’s still not a fairy tale kind of story for the innocent young robot.

• The Villain: As I said, the only character that I really empathized with was weapons designer Vincent Moore, played by Hugh Jackman. I’ve always liked seeing Hugh playing characters not named Wolverine in movies and I think that he’s the strongest part of Chappie. No matter that the character had faults of his own, he did want to destroy the law enforcement robots in order to press his own creation into service, at least his motivations were clear and understandable while those of the crazy ass “parents” of Chappie and the creator played by Dev Patel seem no less villainous by comparison. Plus, Jackman sports an amazing mullet!

• The Action: Several points during the film we’re suddenly and unexpectedly thrown into the middle of some really good shootouts. The very beginning of the film gives us a glimpse into the possibilities of having robots take the brunt of the damage in a firefight, and the rest of the film was just one long wait for the battle between Chappie and the monstrous creation of Mullet Jackedman. Speaking of which, the robot was clearly inspired by the ED-209 design from the original Robocop. In my opinion, inspiring your work on anything from that classic film is the perfect place to start when making your own movie.

• The Verdict: More than any other movie by Blomkamp to this point, Chappie had me torn between my love for his style of filmmaking, his casting, and his brutal action scenes; and the unfortunate but undeniable flaws of the film. Sharlto Copley is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors to see in a film that will probably never be a big tentpole star and there is clearly a place for Neill in this landscape of poorly made sci-fi movies. How many Star Wars and Star Trek movies will be made before someone finally steps up and makes a new franchise? I think that this universe of films that Blomkamp has created is one that he’ll continue to revisit and one that fans can both relate to and embrace as a potential future (bummer). Overall, Chappie is a decent watch if you’re a fan of Blomkamp’s other movies but don’t expect it to “blow your socks off”.