Movie Review: Chappie

The topic of Artificial Intelligence seems to be a major selling point in movies nowadays. Before, we had the excellent Her which explored the possibilities of a computer becoming very much like a human, so much so that a human could actually fall in love with it. Soon we'll have Ex Machina and Avengers: Age of Ultron that will continue to explore the possibilities and consequences of having AI. 

From Neil Blomkamp, the director of District 9 and (unfortunately) Elysium comes Chappie. Chappie is a film about a robot who is given consciousness equivalent to a a humans. Chappie (Sharlto Copley), the titular AI, is able to learn, love, and live. In some cases, it's almost like a futuristic version of Pinocchio in that Chappie is just trying to be a regular human. As with all of Blomkamp's films, Chappie takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa and explores the idea of having a robotic police force being used to combat the rampant crime in the city. This robotic police force, also known as the SCOUTS, are incredibly efficient and effective at apprehending criminals, whether it be through force or not. 

Signourey Weaver plays as the CEO of Tetravaal, Michella Bradley (company that creates and distributes the SCOUTS)

We are immediately introduced to the SCOUT that will become Chappie, his creator Deon (Dev Patel), Deon's rival Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) and the criminals that will become Chappie's family (Ninja, Yo-landi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo). We are also given enough back story for each character to understand their motives and personalities, which I thought was worthy of praise. The amount of exposition was kept to a minimum, and any exposition there was felt natural and didn't interrupt the flow of the movie in any way. We know that Chappie was once a SCOUT robot that was put out of commission after a violent confrontation with criminals, we know Deon is the designer of the Scouts and is working on creating sentient artificial intelligence programs, Vincent is a jealous man who can't get funding for his MOOSE project because the SCOUTS are so successful (he also hates the idea of AI) and we know Ninja, Yolandi and Amerika are desperate gang members trying to get money in order to avoid an untimely death. 

Nothing scream 'villain' more than khaki shorts and polos

In terms of antagonists, Vincent Moore comes off as an almost cartoonish villain in that he has some incredibly strange motives for his actions and doesn't seem to think out his plans very well. Though thematically, it does fit in with the idea of humans being able to do terrible things and also fits in well with the debates over human controlled robotics or artificial intelligence. Hugh Jackman delivers a solid performance as Vincent Moore, but it's nothing special. If anything, he establishes himself as a villain immediately and keeps it that way through the entire film. 

'Do you know who I am...bub?'

What I found to be the strongest part in Chappie was it's ability to tell a complex story with many layers (ranging from creationism, morality, debates over AI, etc etc) and manages to pace it well. You are able to enjoy the characters and you come to understand their motives despite the possibility of disliking them and you will get invested in watching Chappie 'grow up'. Personally, I felt like Chappie  managed to succeed where many other movies have failed, in that it successfully delivers on all it's themes in a complex, yet understandable way. Oh and let's not forget Sharlto Copley's stellar performance as Chappie. The motion capture work that he had done for the titular robot made him feel like a human, and on top of that, the way Chappie spoke was incredibly natural and beyond anything the rest of the cast could achieve. I believe this may be his best role yet, and we don't even get to see his face.

Scenes like these really help you feel connected to Chappie as a human rather than a robot

However, it's not until the last half hour of the film that I felt that the pacing went way off the rails. The ending felt incredibly rushed and showed off one of the laziest deus ex machina devices I had ever seen. I won't spoil anything, don't worry, I just felt that unlike the rest of the film, the last stretch was incredibly rushed and left an overall flat taste in my mouth. 

Once again, Blomkamp manages to impress and amaze with his excellent use of visuals and robotic designs. Like in District 9 and Elysium the technology that Blomkamp shows off are within the realm of reality. The SCOUTS look like a near future version of some experimental robots that you see kicking footballs around and the massive MOOSE looks like something the military could have in the works right now. When it comes to visuals, Blomkamp does not disappoint, especially when it came down to the motion capture of Chappie through Sharlto Copley. Chappie felt like he was an actual human all thanks to the mannerisms he picks up during his time with Ninja and Yolandi. Chappie simply felt...real, and that's something that many other directors and visual artists have had trouble with when it came to robots in their films/projects. 

Scenes that focus on teaching Chappie new things are a highlight of the film

Musical score was headed by none other than Hans Zimmer, and, like many of his other scores, Chappie delivers with emotional tracks and heart thumping epics that fit every scene that music can be heard in. I can't say the exact same with the other tracks done by Die Antwoord, a South African rap-rave group (the group Yo-landi and Ninja are a part of in real life). I didn't mind their music, I just didn't like how it constantly swapped between Hans Zimmers epic tracks to some rap-rave every so often. It reminded me a lot of The Great Gatsby where you'd get music from that specific time period and then suddenly get some Jay Z thrusted into your face. However, unlike The Great Gatsby at least Die Antwood's music fit the time period and general environment of the film, so it was nowhere near as immersion breaking, just perhaps a little jarring. 

Despite not being able to understand most of what he says, Ninja does have an incredibly expressive face

Overall, I would say that Chappie is a decent film that managed to exceed my low expectations. Originally I thought it would be a train wreck simply because Elysium was so terrible. Neil Blomkamp has successfully and pleasantly surprised me with Chappie, even if I felt like the plot started to fall apart near the end. It is a solid sci-fi film with many layers of depth, a solid cast, fantastic musical score and unbeatable visuals. Now if Blomkamp could hurry up with District 10, that would be great!

Verdict: 3.5/5