Director and writer Neill Blomkamp's third movie is once again a more grounded and believable approach to the sci-fi genre. This time the guy's taking on whether a robotic police force is beneficial and what it means to be alive. They're interesting questions with tons of potential, but the movie never seems to properly capitalize on them. Instead of brilliantly addressing these themes, the approach comes off feeling very familiar. It may not deliver there, but it definitely does provide a solid lead and an entertaining amount of action and comedy.
The biggest selling point here is Sharlto Copley's performance as Chappie; I love the amount of enthusiasm he brings to the role. He'll make you laugh, he'll pull your empathy from you, and he's without question the most absorbing part of the story. Watching him age isn't exactly something new, but his development is handled well and that's largely due to Copley and the excellent visual effects. Not once was I left feeling like Chappie looked fake or didn't belong in the world around it.
Blomkamp's handling of action sequences has improved. Aside from the script, a huge part of Elysium that l didn't like was the atrocious use of shaky cam. It absolutely ruined any potential for those action scenes to be cool. This time around, the action's good fun. Slow motion isn't used often, so when it is applied, it really packs a punch and sells the moment. Additionally, the scene with ED-209 on steroids is a blast. It doesn't carry on for too long, offering just enough craziness, fun, and emotion. It's not quite as over-the-top and brutal as some of the director's other action scenes (nothing will ever top firing a pig from a gravity gun), but the more grounded approach doesn't stop it from being a good time and he once again enjoys showing off some new weapons.
Look, there's obvious parallels to other movies. The Short Circuit franchise, RoboCop, and even Wall-E come to mind. That said, I never felt like this was blatantly ripping off other stories. Unfortunately, it doesn't bring anything drastically new to the theme, but you can tell where its inspiration comes from and it feels like a nod or a love letter, not blatantly swiping an idea.
Ninja and Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord play a huge role in this movie. Like, way more than anyone probably expected. Here's the thing: their performances are fine, but their characters (as well as their friend "Amerika") are pretty unlikable. I understand they're there to show the negative influences life can throw your way (to be fair, Yolandi is way more caring) and this does create some amusing scenes (e.g. Chappie learning about knives, training, and stealing cars was hilarious -- "thief!"), but way too much time is spent on this side of the story and it's almost like they're trying to make you care for people who are blatantly criminals and not good people. I don't mind rooting for villains -- we all have our favorites -- but when Chappie is so innocent and lovable, you pretty much grow to hate anyone who means it harm or doesn't want to legitimately help it. Ninja? Yeah, he's one of those people. A greater focus on Dev Patel's character spending time with Chappie could have gone a long way. And speaking of Die Antwoord, their music is used from time to time and you get a whole lot of their unique style, so that's obviously going to be hit or miss for you. As for Hans Zimmer's soundtrack, I dug it. It didn't drop my jaw like some of his other work has, but it did feel like an organic fit for this world and definitely brought more weight to many of the scenes. It's a little odd having intense electronic music blasting while you watch someone use a computer and test programs, but hey, that's a pretty minor criticism.
Blomkamp's movies always have crystal clear themes. In the case of Chappie, it's asking us to look at what makes us human ("who am I and why am I even here?") as well as question whether advancements in robotics is something that'll benefit or harm society. But the problem is it doesn't really offer anything compelling or all that thought-provoking with either of these themes. When I walked out of the theater, I wasn't thinking about why I exist and what defines me. I wasn't questioning whether our future would benefit from huge strides in technology. It brings up powerful questions, but doesn't really handle them all that effectively. It also felt a little heavy-handed at times (something along the lines of "you're what's on the inside, not outside" is said multiple times).
I found myself questioning the logic in the script a number of times. (The following contains plot details that are revealed in trailers and interviews. If you're trying to avoid story details, skip to the next paragraph.) If a weapon exists that can immediately disable a scout, why wouldn't Sigourney Weaver's character recommend to use that instead of sending in a big robot that she's been so against the whole time? If Ninja is lying to make Chappie do certain things, why not just immediately lie about the most important thing he wants the robot to do? This conflict brought about a moral dilemma, but it didn't feel properly fleshed out. Blatantly lying worked literally every other time, so there's no good reason why he wouldn't effortlessly solve that problem. I still have no idea why Jackman's character needs to connect his mind to his robot. It seems like everything he can do with it can be controlled with his hands and the technology in front of him. Nothing about it made it seem like it requires a mental link. It's also unclear where all of the human officers went. One moment we're told they exist and work with the scouts, the next minute it's a lawless city if scouts are gone. There's room there to tackle corporate greed there (were officers laid off because they saved money on scouts?) but we're left having to form our own conclusions. It almost feels like the moral of the story is a robotic police force is a good thing... as long as there isn't a jealous co-worker who wants to ruin it. These are just some of the questions I was left asking.
It's a very small criticism, but one of the criminals, Hippo, felt like a totally pointless character. I mean, I get how he serves the plot, but his dialogue felt like it was limited to a greedy child and not a fearsome criminal. Maybe it was only a handful of times, but it certainly felt like he was saying "I want *insert new object here*!" a lot. Unfortunately, Sigourney Weaver's character feels underused as well. I was also left the theater calling Hugh Jackman's character "Hugh 'I'm a Creeper' Jackman." Much of his role is dedicated to being a stalker and observing. You'd think part of him would realize his robot has some major design flaws and he'd at least consider modifications, but he never gets that kind of insight, so his anti-A.I. agenda never holds much weight.
I love District 9 (it remains his best feature) and you can tell the way he made that one inspires a lot of Chappie. I mean, we're talking about a movie that opens almost identically to D9 (e.g. interviews to make it feel like this is a real event happening in our world) and, throughout the movie, I felt like the film took a lot of similar beats. So many directors have immediately recognizable styles, but their handling of stories and characters tends to be noticeably different from project to project. Unfortunately, that isn't really the case with Blomkamp. Maybe the Alien movie he's going to write and direct will give him a chance to surprise us and offer something different.
Is this as excellent as District 9? No way. Is it an improvement over Elysium? Yeah, I'd say so. Chappie isn't as compelling and emotional as it's trying to be and I could go on and on about issues I have with the script, but at the end of the day, it's still an okay movie and one which kept me entertained. Copley continues to impress and his character really is the best part of the film. Watching the robot grow, change, and question its existence may not have a profound impact on me, but it is easily the most engaging part of the film. The visuals and directing are solid and there's a fair amount of enjoyable action and comedy in here, too. It's a movie that tries to deliver style and substance, but it mostly just delivers style. Chappie asks significant questions about life and technology, but in the end, it has me thinking about just one question: Will Copley be in the new Alien movie? I hope the answer is "yes."
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