Chappie

I was impressed with Neill Blomkamp's "District 9". It was one of those movies that emotionally overwhelmed me. Not so with "Chappie". I thought the movie was going to be a statement on society like "District 9". The trailer for "Chappie" seemed to indicate that at least. Instead, this movie was a sci-fi action film that had some strong themes but they were not played out as dramatically as they could have been. One thing the movie did right was special effects. The actors also deserve some praise.

Blomkamp is back in South Africa using South Africans actors. For "District 9", his subject matter demanded that kind of a setting. He even justified the setting of that film. "Chappie" could have taken place in any American city and I can also see this movie happening in an Asian city. I think that Blomkamp has too great a love of his home city for his own good. This is evidence that the focus of this film was not on the story. The plot felt rushed and should have been better developed. The basic narrative was fine but its final structure felt flawed. I have a question. Why was Chappie's lifespan only 5 days? You become emotionally invested with a character when you can relate to them. It is established that Chappie is very intelligent but you could say the same to a robot that learned to paint a masterpiece in just one month. Compared to a human, that is still fast. The five-day lifespan feels too unrealistic. The movie could have taken place over a five-month period and attained more plausibility. Deon's kidnapping felt forced upon the audience. The filmmakers could have found other ways for Chappie to be raised by gangsters. Another piece of evidence for the lack of attention on the story has to do with Hippo. You will notice that all his lines are subtitled. I think it was just as hard to understand Chappie as it was to understand Hippo but yet only Hippo was given subtitles. Blomkamp appears to have valued casting over the film's ability to tell a story. I also had problems with the transfer of consciousness. It felt weird when compared to the realistic atmosphere that was established at the start of the film. A child-like robot is plausible for a film like this but not the transfer of a human brain into a robot. I also did not enjoy the amount of profanity. It appears that many online websites were confused by how many swear words there were in this film. I trusted one website that said "Chappie" had 20 f-bombs where in fact the film had more like 40. As mentioned, the themes of discrimination and personal identity in the movie could have really added to the drama but this is one case where they were too subtle. The balance must be found between being too preachy and too understated. I felt like the MOOSE robot was too easily defeated. This mechanical beast was hyped up throughout the show only to come up short on the durability.

The best characteristic of this movie is the special effects because they were quite believable. When you consider that Oscar-winner Richard Taylor was working on this film, it is not a surprise. Ninja and Yolandi are two South African rappers and while they did well with their characters, the better performances obviously came from Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver and Hugh Jackman. Sharlto Copley's vocal and motion capture performance was also noteworthy. The premise of this show was sound but wasn't executed or played out as well as it could have been. Decisions for the film seem to have been made to satisfy Blomkamp's own personal eccentricities and the storytelling and drama took a back seat.

3 Stars