CHAPPIE
By Gary Murray
Starring Dev Patel, Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser
Written by Neil Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
Directed by Neil Blomkamp
Running time 120 min
MPAA Rating R
Selig Film Rating Cable
The story of Frankenstein is subtitled The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus is said to be the Titan who brings mankind enlightenment and power by giving him fire. As a punishment for doing this, Prometheus is eternally chained to a rock and has his liver eaten out by an eagle. At night, his organ grows back and he must endure the torture through eternity. That is his penalty for giving man knowledge.
Today, we give knowledge to computers and we work to craft computers more and more into our image. The goal is to have a thinking working brain and a body that works and looks like a human. In many ways, today’s computer scientists and computer designers are a step away from Dr Frankenstein. Instead of using dead body parts, these scientists use dead medal and plastic to create a live image of man. Chappie, the new film by Neil Blomkamp, is a very modern telling of the tale of making a man in our image.
The story takes place in a future Johannesburg, South Africa. A company has invented a series of police robots called scouts to be a part of the force. The company has also invented a super robot called Moose. Moose looks a lot like the robot guards from Robocop. The idea is to have the robots take over all dangerous police duties.
The designer of the scouts is Deon (Dev Patel). The designer of the moose is Vincent (Hugh Jackman). Head of the company Michelle (Sigourney Weaver) decides that the way for the company to go is with the scout program and to give up on the moose. This upsets Vincent.
Deon has an idea to make the scouts self –aware and more like humans. Late one night, he breaks the code and completes the coding to the next generation of scouts. He just has to test the idea. Michelle shoots down his idea.
On the other side of the plot we have two low-life gangsters played by Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser. They are in arrears to another gangster for a few million pounds and need to make a big score to even out the books.
They hit upon the brilliant idea of scoring the remote control of the machines to be able to turn them off. They kidnap Deon to achieve their goal. He convinces them that there is no on-off switch for the robots but he has another idea.
In Frankenstein like fashion, Deon constructs a new robot from other robot parts. The robot has a damaged power source and will only survive for a few days.
The robot becomes self-aware and is named Chappie. Like a child, it has to discover about life and does so by its surroundings. It dubs Deon as the Creator, Visser as Mother and Ninja as Father.
It begins to learn and adopt the gangster lifestyle of its parents. There is a moral code laid down by Deon but Ninja convinces the robot that misdeeds are done for a greater good. Chappie begins a life of crime with some funny interludes.
The film builds to two events, a major heist and the realization by Chappie that it does not want to die. This, along with the breakdown of the scout and the implementation of the moose system drive the plot to the ending. There is a giant battle between Chappie and the moose robot along with a battle between different low-level gangsters. The ending becomes a special effects shoot’em up.
While there are some interesting ideas going on in Chappie, the entire film is a bit of a mess. As a physical character, Chappie is truly not a hero nor is it an anti-hero. At most, the concept is confused. The audience wants to root for Chappie but finds it hard to root for a low-level thug adorned with bling.
While Del Patel is a good actor, here he is just going through the motions. There is no spark in his acting, no joy in the performance. He seems to be going through the role in a rote fashion.
As actors, Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser are believable in their roles. They are both parents and gangsters, dispensing ill-gotten platitude on the innocent robot while still keeping a solid family unit. In the end, they are just bad parents.
Both Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver have done better work. This feels more like a paycheck for the actors than a dedication to the roles. One expects more from these icons.
Much of the production is shot in documentary style, especially at the beginning, then the tone of the film changes. It is a weird mesh of two styles that weaken the storytelling. The makers should have gone either one way or the other. It feels like they started with one concept then abandoned it.
The film is directed by Neil Blomkamp, the man behind the brilliant District 9 and the horrible Elysium. This film falls between the two and leans toward the Elysium side. The special effects are superb, with brilliant motion capture. But it feels like we’re watching a remix of District 9 with a bit of Robocop into the proceedings. That in lies the problem, the film does not feel visionary as it does redundant. We have seen all this before.
Chappie is not the movie one would think it would be and the commercials do not give an honest representation of the final product. Many who see the ads will be disappointed with the film. It is best to wait and catch it on cable or a live stream.
