Review of Chappie (2015) by Stephen L — 12 Jul 2015

Neil Blomkamp's third feature film was, for the most part, a pretty fun ride. But at the same time it's not nearly as good as I wanted it to be.

Chappie more-a-less takes place in a modern day Johannesburg, South Africa. The only major difference in this world is that the cops out walking the beat in the dangerous city streets have been replaced by fearless combat robots. With these machines on the frontlines of the crime war, Johannesburg is a city almost entirely devoid of criminal activity, and things actually seem to be looking up. Meanwhile, the scientist dude who created these droids in the first place seeks to create a machine who can think and feel like a real person. A whole bunch of stuff happens, and Chappie is brought into the world as our lovable machine hero goes on a quest to discover who he is....... I think. Not gonna lie, this movie was a bit of a mess in a few ways.

To start with the good, Neil Blomkamp proves once again that he has some big ideas that are both creative and have truckloads of potential. His action scenes are fun to watch and intense, and his visual flare when it comes to sic-fi I think is second to none. The actors, with two exceptions, all give fantastic performances, but for me, Dev Patel and Sharlto Copley really stood out. They absolutely killed it with their roles, and I'm pretty sad the film didn't revolve around their growing relationship as much as I think it should've. There were a few scenes that were fun to watch, and even touching at times. But in all honesty, this film is a big pile of wasted potential.

Seriously! The whole concept of the film is this sentient robot thrown into a completely new world that's full of moral trials and turbulations. This could've been a great and unique coming of age story! Like Forest Gump, but with more violence and a robot! This derpy, innocent robot, who with the guiding hand of his big hearted creator must rise to the occasion to find out what kind of person he is! This film could've been a sic-fi, action packed rollercoaster of feels! I won't spoil anything for you, but none of that happens...

While the plot is disjointed as hell, and doesn't nearly live up to the potential of the fantastic premise, I found the movie to be fun enough, and often enough to at least register as decent popcorn fun. A guilty pleasure if there ever was one. Fun scenes, a great character in the form of Chappie, and a disjointed plot. Maybe check it out!