Chappie Review

     In 2009, South African director Neil Blomkamp broke onto the film making scene with his directorial debut "District 9." Noted for its small budget, complex themes, unique plot, and world class CGI, it became a huge critical and commercial success. Four years later, Blomkamp's follow up film Elysium was released; while the film was met with much less positive reviews it still garnered many fans and made even more money at the theater than "District 9." Since "Elysium" many have wrote Blomkamp off as a one hit wonder, a director whose ambition is greater than his skill and that "District 9" was a fluke. I never believed that, I saw a visionary director who is only trying to find what works for him. I've always thought that he has the talent to be the next great science fiction director. And considering he has been slated to write and direct the next film in the "Alien" franchise, it looks like I'm not the only one who thinks he has talent. He had a hit and then a miss and now with his third science fiction film "Chappie," it might actually be time for me to give up on Blomkamp.

     In the near future Johannesburg, South Africa has descended into chaos. With a crime rate through the roof the local police department is looking for anything to help. A private military comes forward to show a type of defense robot called the scout. Programmed to help the police, they make the company an instant success. The robots were designed by a brilliant young programmer named Deon Wilson, who hopes that he can create artificial intelligence. One day while programming at home he thinks that he has finally created a self thinking program and wants to be able to upload it to one of the robots, but is quickly shut down by his boss. He decides to take one of the robots himself and upload the program at home, but while leaving the factors he is kidnapped by some local criminals. They want to know a way to be able to shut down the robots. Deon claims they can't be shut down and promises that in exchange for his life he will give them the robot he has. Working quickly he uploads the program, and surprisingly it works. While it essentially has the mind of a child, it learns quickly. And from then on, Chappie was alive. 

     Like I said earlier, I have faith in Neil Blomkamp; I think he is a talented director with a lot of potential. That being said, "Chappie" is an overwhelming let down. One thing Blomkamp always does right with his movies is the CGI and cinematography, both of which are highly featured in this movie. The film looks phenomenal, and has some of the best CGI you'll likely see in a movie this year. It also takes place in a very interesting world. The run down Johannesburg shown in the movie is reminiscent or Detroit in "Robocop." Probably the highlight of this movie would be the character Chappie. He is the most lovable character we've seen in a movie since Baymax from "Big Hero 6." Watching him grow from what is essentially an infant into a hero is really cool, and he is the best party of the movie. Another thing this movie does well is that it will make you think about what constitutes as life. Just like the movie "Her" this AI thinks and feels like any other person, so would you say it is alive or not. I like movies that make you step back and think about things like that, it adds an extra layer to the movie. Unfortunately though, those few things are all that this movie did right. Arguably the biggest problem with this movie would be the characters, other than Chappie you never care about any of them; several major characters you won't even like. By the end I didn't care who lived or died; and that brings us to another serious problem, the ending. It can best be described as disappointing. I can't go into detail without spoiling it, but if you see this movie you'll watch the last 20 minutes and say "well that was kind of stupid." "Chappie" is an underwhelming movie, it had so much potential but it was wasted; and Neil Blomkamp is the one to blame. Not because of his directing, he's pretty good at that, it's his writing. He co-wrote this screenplay and it's pretty poorly written at times. The dialog and story arcs just didn't work a lot of the time, and his future movies would benefit if they were written by someone else. I really wanted to like this movie, but I didn't. This movie had so much potential, it could have been something special, but it was just sub-par. Blomkamp has a lot of talent when it comes to directing, it is obvious he has a vision of what he wants his movies to be, and I think the best thing he can do is let someone else write them. Blomkamp reminds me of George Lucas; they're great at creating interesting worlds, unique stories, and have some very good directorial abilities. But they lack what is needed to pen a great script. "Chappie" was one of my most anticipated movies of the year, but after sitting through it I can say with confidence that it is not a movie I feel the need to watch again. 

Pros: Great CGI, very nice cinematography, presents some questions about what life really is, takes place in an interesting world, Blomkamp has directing skills, Chappie is a lovable character.

Cons: Several unlikable characters, poorly written, disappointing ending, ultimately underwhelming.

2.5/5 Stars