Review of Chappie (2015) by Douglas L — 16 Jan 2016

Chappie has not received very good reviews probably due to how bad the plot of this film is and how over the top and unrealistic many of the situations unfold. Characters make awful decisions over and over despite the level of intelligence they appear to represent such as Deon. As much as the viewer may want to relate to the characters and sympathize with them, to simply understand them, we face continuous blocks. Vincent Moore played by Hugh Jackman is a total loose cannon and acts without any motivation save for testing out his prototype. His only real function is to add a disturbance to the plot which is super thin. We can blame all of this on the writing.

I will say however that the film breaths with a great level of originality towards how one might attack the Robot AI and consciousness topic. We all want to know what it would be like to talk and interact with an artificial intelligence. We all are interested in what it would be like to learn and store information in our minds without forgetting things. We would love to be able to function with the precision of a super computer. At the same time we want to function well in society and push our creativity, create, and ultimately be unique and an individual. With the help of Ninja and Yolandi Visser from South Africas Rap Rave group Die Antwoord this film definitely addresses that. We see Chappie develop into a sensitive young gangsta robot.

The true entertainment of the film is from the learning curve of Chappie with his violent surroundings of Africa crime and gang violence. Grand Theft Auto and throwing ninja stars is a lot of fun. However, the violence is spread throughout the whole of the film even in spots where it really doesn't seem necessary. Moments are forced on us and we cannot take them seriously as they just seem too surreal (the office sequence with Deon and Vincent with a Gun, for example).

A Fun movie, but not reaching its full potential. Would be excellent as a miniseries I think.