Chappie

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver
Directed by: Neill Blomkamp
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The first sentient robot, Chappie, is adopted by thieves who want to use him in a heist, while his creator (Dev Patel) fights to save him.

Review:

Tim: Director Neill Blomkamp blew everyone away with his incredible directorial debut, District 9. He immediately became a director I waited impatiently to see what he'd do next. His follow up, Elysium was good, but it was saved by Matt Damon. Compared to his auspicious start, Blomkamp's second film could only be a bit of a disappointment. His third film, Chappie looked bad to begin with, but I approached it with an open mind- I hoped it would be a return to form for Blomkamp. Unfortunately, it is by far his worst film yet. This downward trend is troubling- Blomkamp has now made a great movie, a good movie, and a bad movie.

There's so much wrong with this film that it is hard to know where to start. I hated Chappie almost from the beginning. He's naive and childlike, as you would expect a brand new sentient being to be. The problem is that with the ridiculous criminals he's with, he takes on a personality that is unbelievably annoying. He reminded me of Jar Jar Binks... that's how bad we are talking. His incessant whining of "Daddy" and "Mommy" and absurd attempts to act like a thug- I have no idea why Blomkamp thought this would be compelling cinema. Chappie is the most frustrating, obnoxious creation I've seen in a long time. Why on earth would we care at all about what happens to him? The whole movie depends on us investing in Chappie. I honestly hoped he would have died and gotten broken down for scrap metal. I had to sit through two hours of boredom derived from not caring a fig about the main character. Sharlto Copley deserves a great deal of blame for playing Chappie so poorly, but I place the majority of the blame on Blomkamp for this horrendous creation.

I thought Dev Patel overacted far too often in this movie. He does have the intelligence to make his scientist believable, but for every strong scene he had, there was another where he was just so hard to believe. Hugh Jackman was well cast in an against-type villain role. His hair was absurd but his character was a lot of fun to hate. Sigourney Weaver's talent was completely wasted in an overwhelmingly cliched role. It was just embarrassing. I don't even want to mention Ninja or Yo-Landi Visser, two rappers (part of the South African group Die Antwoord) who deliver absolutely atrocious performances. I hated them both in every scene in the film. Why on Earth Blomkamp would cast these two buffoons is beyond me. They were beyond terrible and ruined the movie for me. The casting in this film was truly abysmal.

Now, while there was so much I hated about this film, there's a few elements that save it from a much worse fate. First, Blomkamp does play around with some fascinating, heady ideas here. He has a knack for science fiction and asking thought provoking questions. I especially liked the ideas he raises about consciousness. I thought the ending of the film was quite interesting. If I didn't hate nearly every character, I might have wanted to spend some time thinking about it. Secondly, Blomkamp does have a knack for visuals. The special effects here were impressive and worked to pull me into the film (otherwise I'd have been totally checked out). While these are positives, they aren't nearly enough to save this film from its myriad flaws.

It feels to me that Blomkamp is at a crossroads. He went from a director I was so excited for, to a director I'd meet any film with some level of trepidation. His next film needs to be a return to form or I'll be close to writing him off. Regardless of what comes next, though, Chappie can only be described as a total disaster.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: District 9, Elysium