Chappie. Rated MA15+ (strong violence and coarse
language). 120 minutes. Directed by Neill Blomkamp. Written by Neill Blomkamp and
Terri Tatchell.
Verdict: Much,
much more of the same from Blomkamp and Co.
When Blomkamp
burst onto the scene with District 9 (2009), science fiction fans rightfully
celebrated the arrival of a new hero. The Oscar-nominated, box office smash hit
(powered by the themes of corporate corruption, racism, segregation and
militaristic over-policing) from a director on debut was practically unheard
of.
With Elysium
(2013), Blomkamp revisited similar themes, working his disdain for class
differences into a frenzy by having the wealthy, privileged population circling
Earth in a gigantic, disease-free space station, liberated from the poverty of
lesser mortals who remained on a toxic Earth.
The problem with
Chappie, is that the director and his partner, co-writer Tatchell, appear to
have run out of original ideas. What saves it from being as much of a fiasco as
it constantly threatens to be, is the naïve title character’s heart-warming
journey.
Chappie (Sharlto
Copley) is a robot policeman destined for the junk yard. His ‘maker’, Deon (Dev
Patel), has developed a code that will see the robots thinking for themselves
and assuming other human qualities. When Deon successfully implants the code
into Chappie, the robot begins a journey to an exclusively kind-hearted
maturity before being trained by a group of mercenaries to help pull off a
dangerous heist.
The
always-reliable Patel is great as the neurotic Deon, while Hugh Jackman (with
an awe-inspiring mullet), storms through the film as the inventor of a giant,
human-controlled robot that is designed to destroy everything and everyone in
its path. The presence of Sigourney Weaver only reminds us that she is
reportedly to star as Ellen Ripley in Blomkamp’s heavily signposted Alien 5.
We can only hope
that their next film together doesn’t end up resembling Alien vs WALL•E.
This review was
commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.
