Review of Chappie (2015) by Spangle — 22 Jul 2015

After the largely negative reviews, I figured I would wait to catch Chappie until it came out on DVD and I am bummed to have waited so long. I have no idea why the critics hated it so much. No, it is not as good as District 9, but it is still a good action science fiction movie from a guy, Neill Blomkamp, who seems to be quite adept at making socially conscious action movies.

But heck, don't listen to me, I liked Elysium too. To me, Blomkamp is a very good director who is very ambitious in his films. They do not match his ambitions more often than not, but the end result is also quite positive.

The themes here are similar to the rest of his films and Johannesburg will certainly continue to be viewed negatively worldwide due to its portrayal here, but all the same, it is a very fun and well made film.

The cast as a whole is good and quite believable in all of their roles. I know Die Antwoord got a lot of criticism for their performances, but I truly believed them and they did not stick out at all. The development of Chappie was great and he is certainly one of the best characters in a film in recent times, in my humble opinion.

The film really delivers in the heady sci-fi elements viewers come to expect from the genre (as well as a ton of Biblical elements, such as "genisis" and referring to the guy who created Chappie as his "maker", plus some characters being obviously religious).

The action is well done and the film can be quite adorable (thanks to Chappie) and funny throughout. It is also oddly touching, as it always amazes me how much I can be made to care about a robot. Overall, Chappie does have flaws, namely in the way of plotholes or points where it feels like the story just skipped ahead a bit.

It also manages to cram a lot into a short time period, which is a unique criticism, but one I feel is justified. All the same, Blomkamp's films always are very sleek and stylish and the way the robots are designed is super cool (just as the aliens in District 9's design was great).

As a whole, Chappie was unfairly torn apart for some of its flaws, while many ignored the many positives it delivered. Not as good as District 9, but Blomkamp certainly took a step back in that direction here, as it is better than Elysium.

Definitely looking forward to his Alien film (hopefully set in Joburg, because why not).