Chappie Reviews

Blomkamp proves he still has a lot to prove since his impressive 'District 9' debut. This movie is a bit misunderstood and under appreciated yet I completely understand the underwhelming positive reactions to it. What I've said makes as much sense as anything in this movie

It came as a little surprise. Obviously I was looking for this film, but not expected to reach at this level. The film was really brilliant despite the influence of plenty of other films. Yes, the ideas were borrowed from the movies like 'Short Circuit', 'I, Robot', 'RoboCop', Real Steel', "Bicentennial Man', 'Transcendence', et cetera. But that did not bother me at all. I would call it an inspiration to make a new product out that already existed.

It was not completely depended on Dev Patel's role, otherwise woulda been a disaster. Its the Hugh Jackman, eventhough his character was not on the frontline, because of his presence, the movie was filled with some exciting and thrilling moment. His role was pretty much same to 'Real Steal', but showed in a different shade.

Silly concept, even dialogues were so stupid. I don't know, maybe because of the South African accent. But the screenplay was very good. Fast and gets the point quickly than wasting time for buildups. One of the best robot movie and it will be remembered. Looks like the sequel will be more furious and going to be an action packed item, if there will be one. Worth to watch it at least once.

7.5/10

Since I was so disappointed by 'Elysium', I kinda lost faith in Neill Blomkamp and I wasn't exactly dying to see his next directing effort. Still, I have to admit that the damned thing was intriguing so I gave it a shot. Eventually, even though not everything did work, I was actually positively surprised but the guy seriously need to try something drastically different because his gimmick is getting old very quickly. Basically, I just loved Chappie, this weird robot. Indeed, of course, it was visually impressive, which was expected with this director but, above all, I just loved his personality and he must be one of the most engrossing characters I have seen for a while. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the only really interesting thing this movie actually had to offer. Indeed, all the other characters were terribly stereotypical and uninteresting and the plot was terribly generic and almost boring. I actually read somewhere an interview of Blomkamp in which he actually admitted that he had a passion for intricate and interesting concepts but that he also didn’t really care much about the plots and would rather focus on those clever concepts. Well, it was indeed pretty obvious in first 3 movies so far and I hope that he will some day understand that a great concept can be pretty much ruined by a really weak story. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I actually liked the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I might have gone into this movie with higher expectations had I not disliked director Neill Blomkamp's previous effort, Elysium. And, between that film and this one, it's starting to look more and more like District 9 was a fluke! This was horrible!
And that's mainly down to the opening. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot! Everything that was being set up struck me as so derivative – especially the MOOSE, which is a blatant ED-209 rip-off – that it immediately tarnished the rest of the movie that followed. As a result, I was in such a bad mood that I just found the storyline clichéd and the scenes with Chappie learning things embarrassing. And the trite scene where Yolandi tells him about the soul actually had me yelling, "Oh, fuck off!" at the screen.
The maddening thing is that this isn't an inherently bad concept. The idea of an AI learning and maturing has been done well before, and it had potential to be done well here, but it's all ruined by the immediately obvious clichés and the ludicrous one-dimensional villains.
I have to commend the special effects, though: Blomkamp and his effects team have always been brilliant at replacing actors with animated characters so that they really look like they belong in the shot. But aside from that, this movie just flat-out made me angry.

My rating: 25%

Initial Thought: Since District 9 Neill Blomkamp has been on the radar and he brought Sharlto Copley with him. This one looked fun although not entirely original. The fun here is seeing the way they go about it. Also when I saw that Die Antwoord was in it I was quite intrigued.

Characters/Acting: Sharlto Copley returns in another feature from Blomkamp. I have to say this guy really does seem to enjoy an expansive amount of unique character roles. Die Antwoord who is one of the strangest bands I have seen seem to play a big role here which I think is pretty interesting. I have a strange crush on Yolandi because she is just so unusually appealing. Hugh Jackman plays the villain here which we don't see too often from him. Slumdog Millionaire Dev Patel returns to the slums in a futuristic setting. Also Sigourney Weaver is in this making me more excited to see Blomkamp's take on the Alien saga. Unfortunately with limited acting experience Yolandi and Ninja aren't the best of actors here, but I have seen much worse. In fact as the movie progresses they seem to do quite a bit better. Chappie is just plain adorable. I thought he really makes you care about him. It's hard to believe it's Sharlto Copley as the voice as it sounds nothing like him. I wouldn't say Hugh Jackman necessarily played a conventional villain. He was more like the outcast nerd who just wanted to get noticed in this worst way possible. Also that hair I wonder if he had it like that because of Die Antwoord or just to show how out of touch he is.

Story: A robot with a personality who grows up in the ghetto. How can this not be a fun and crazy watch? Anyways this is quite a bit like Robocop and even uses the voice from Robocop for the scout droids. The only difference is that Chappie is not human and is working with criminals. I see there are references to Die Antwoord's songs as well as the radios always playing their songs. I have to say this is basically a glorified Die Antwoord movie. For me that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I really enjoy the duo in their music and in this. The problem is most people probably didn't like all the focus on them. They came for a movie about a robot named Chappie. So I can understand why critics and audiences were really disappointed in this movie. For me though I didn't mind it. The ending felt very much like District 9. You will know what I mean if you watched both.

Directing/Writing: Neill Blomkamp is definitely rising up in Hollywood after District 9. I also really enjoyed Elysium despite the average ratings. I am also excited for his upcoming Alien saga entry. This guy is an interesting one to watch. His movies are always so visually stunning and quickly paced. His wife who wrote District 9 returns to write this with him as well. With her this was rated higher than Elysium. I suppose the people are trying to tell him he needs his better half with him to make his films more enjoyable. With or without her I am quite fond of these movies.

Final Thought: I really enjoyed this. I think it's my favorite Blomkamp movie so far. The main characters are pretty likeable even though they aren't all good people. If you aren't a fan of Die Antwoord you most likely will hate this movie. While it is called Chappie they seem to be in this a bit more than him. Visually this was excellent. I feel like Chappie would be awesome to hang around if he wasn't just a movie character. Anyways this may not appeal to the massed, but it sure was fun in my opinion.

I usually agree with critics. I agree that most highly praised movies are good, while low-rated ones are bad. Critic reviews are usually my go-to for movies and what I want to see.

But the amount of criticism surrounding this movie baffles me. Sure, some of the acting is lackluster, but I didn't let it get in the way of me enjoying what this movie had to offer.

One year in the future, robots are being placed among police forces. One of the men working here sees robots as more than just tools, and thinks they can be raised like humans. He manages to create an A.I. program that lets robots learn like humans and to have emotions. After stealing a robot about to be crushed, he gets kidnapped by a street gang who want to use the robot for their own personal gain. Thus, Chappie is born into a dangerous growing environment, while his maker tries to get him to stay clear of the gang's bad influence.

My love of robots lead me to growing fond of Chappie, the titular character. He wants to do what's best for people, even though he has no idea that the gang is negatively influencing him. Speaking of which, I recall reading that the gang was supposed to be sympathetic, but the only one of them I found to be that way was Yolandi, who actually treated Chappie with respect. The others were just cruel, and treated Chappie like he was lower than human (well, he's a robot, but still).

The acting, for the most part, was pretty good, with the exception of the woman who played Yolandi. I felt she was lacking a bit in the acting department. Hugh Jackman, on the other hand, was very good at playing the antagonist. I wanted to punch him in the face the entire time, and that means he did his job well.

If you're looking for a robot movie that's filled with action and emotion, check out Chappie. Don't let the critics be the deciding factor in whether or not you want to see this movie.