Chappie is the new sci-fi film by Neill Blomkamp. It stars Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, a rap group from South Africa (more on them later), and Sharlto Copley as Chappie. The film is set in the near future. Android robots are being deployed to control crime in Johannesburg. The creator of this program is Dev Patel, and he is working on making a robot that actually has a consciousness. A robot that can have emotions and morals. This robot ends up being Chappie. Hugh Jackman´s character on the other hand is the creator of the Moose program. This are huge robot but they are controlled by humans via a neuron helmet back at the base, and he isn´t getting the funding he needs since Dev Patels´program is already working With this two characters the film presents two different stand points. Letting humans continue to do the work with technology aiding them, or letting technology take control over the situation in a more efficient way since they don't really have morals and won´t get emotional over any situation at all.
You would think the movie would actually have Dev Patel and Hugh Jackman going at it with their ideologies. That´s not the case. Here´s where the rap group I mentioned comes in and basically ruin what could have been a very different movie. They play gangsters, and they need to do a heist to pay off this other gangster or they will get killed. So they get control of Chappie to help them do this. Since Chappie is like a kid, everything that he is told is what he will learn. The gangsters basically teach him to fight, how to talk, and how to steal. So firstly this gangsters are extremely annoying. You just want them off the screen, but the movie focuses mainly on them. This whole plot derails the movie completely and also affects action scenes later on in the movie. When the action is going on you don´t really care if anyone gets killed because the people get screen time are basically huge ass holes for having what´s basically a kid do the dirty work for them. The action is entertaining but you just don´t care for the people involved, so there really is no tension when things are blowing up. And if you are at least expecting a lot of action to entertain you, just know that there are really just 2 action sequences in the whole movie. Jackman´s character is potrayed as an ass hole too, even though he does have some pretty valid points and it would have been interesting to have his character be more than just the bad guy. The only characters that you really care for are Patel and Chappie. Sharlto Copley as Chappie is really the best part of this film. All of the body language and the way he speaks really makes you feel for him when bad stuff happens to him. You forget he is a robot and actually feel like he is just a kid, which is pretty impressive.
Another strong point are the visuals in this film. Blomkamp really knows how to shoot a movie, specially action sequences, and it keeps showing in this film. The visual effects are also amazing, and every single robot looks like it´s actually there. The acting is also good, except for our annoying rap duo. This really could have been an interesting movie if it wasn´t for the weird plot choice Blomkamp chose to follow. I hope that he gets his shit together for Alien 5, because if this movie tells us something is that he is not headed in the right direction as a writer at least. 2/5
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