Film Review: Chappie

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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.

Film Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Days of Future Past. Rated M (science fiction themes, violence and infrequent coarse language). 131 minutes. Directed by Bryan Singer. Screenplay by Simon Kinberg.

Verdict: A hypnotic return to form for the X-Men series.

Boasting ambitious storytelling on an epic scale, matched with superb visual effects and an outstanding ensemble of actors all at the top of their game, this instalment of the X-Man franchise is an often brilliant, and always engrossing, addition to the big screen adventures of Marvel’s X-Men.

Faced with extinction at the hands of an undefeatable foe known as Sentinels, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back to the time these formidable creatures were invented by Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). At this juncture, Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) had shot and killed Trask, which brought about the rise of the Sentinels who were created to exterminate the mutants in revenge for his murder. Charged with altering to course of history, Wolverine must reunite the young Charles (James McAvoy) with the younger Erik (Michael Fassbender) to ensure that Mystique doesn’t make the same mistake again.

Kinberg’s (Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: The Last Stand) screenplay manages to tell what might have been a collision of plots, subplots and character-based exposition extraordinarily well – to the point where even those who haven’t caught up with this successful series won’t be left wondering what on earth is going on. There are even some great laughs, particularly when Quicksilver (Evan Peters), is recruited to help Erik escape from a maximum security prison, deep within the Pentagon.

Singer (X-Men, X-Men 2, Superman Returns) and frequent collaborator, cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, capture every moment of the story with supreme confidence. Unusually for this genre (and this series in particular), there is never a moment where it threatens to take itself far too seriously. Instead, X-Men: Days of Future Past plays out at a furious pace from the first frame, and the emotionally-charged awareness of all that is at stake makes for an extremely rewarding, big screen experience.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: The Wolverine

The Wolverine. Rated M (frequent action violence and coarse language). 126 minutes. Directed by James Mangold. Screenplay by Mark Bomback and Scott Frank.

Verdict: A peculiar romance/superhero hybrid that never quite reaches its potential.

Can too much of Hugh Jackman’s incarnation as The Wolverine be a bad thing? With Jackman bulked up and front and centre in almost every frame, The Wolverine suffers from a frustrating unevenness in tone and a screenplay that veers dangerously toward the repetitive, tried-and-trusted superhero formula. It’s a shame, because when the film is raging against its peculiar ordinariness (the sequences on the roof of a Bullet Train and Wolverine being relentlessly harpooned to standstill are stand-outs), it shows real promise.

It begins, too, with a great set-up as the atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki. Logan/Wolverine, who is imprisoned in a deep, brick-lined chamber, rescues a young Japanese soldier Yashida (Ken Yamamura) from the effects of the blast. Years later, Logan is summoned to the older Yashida’s (Haruhiko Yamanouchi) deathbed – ostensibly to be thanked for saving his life all those years ago. But as Yashida’s ulterior motive becomes clear, Logan must protect Mariko (Tao Okamoto), the heiress of the ageing Yashida’s technology company’s fortune in order to discover precisely what the ailing Yashida is really planning.

Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line, Girl, Interrupted) is at his best in the well-considered, action set pieces, while Bomback (Total Recall, Unstoppable, Die Hard 4) and Frank’s (Marley & Me, Minority Report) screenplay lacks efficiency and only contains a couple of moments of genuine effectiveness. The problems stem from the key relationship between Logan and Mariko – on which film focuses almost entirely – and which is not interesting enough to sustain the film’s dramatic core. We too often find ourselves in a strange Marvel/Jason Bourne/Romantic Drama hybrid world, which is at complete odds with everything we are led to expect from the film’s opening sequences.

Rila Fukushima’s fabulous Yukio (an Anime-inspired character who insists on becoming Logan’s bodyguard), is the film’s saving grace (and the most accomplished performance), while Svetlana Khodchenkova’s toxic Viper simply doesn’t get enough screen time. Viper becomes a cardboard cut-out character, and with less of the Mariko/Logan romantic musings, she might have become a more interesting character – not to mention a fascinating foe for the ever-frowning, and mostly depressed (and depressing) Wolverine.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Rise of the Guardians. Rated PG (mild fantasy themes and violence). 97 minutes. Directed by Peter Ramsey. Screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire. Based on The Guardians of Childhood novels by William Joyce.

Verdict: The picture perfect way to launch into the festive season.

If there is a more perfect way to launch the festive season on the big screen, it’s impossible to imagine what it might be. Rise of the Guardians is not only bravura, ground-breaking 3D animation, but also a story for children that refuses to shy away from the grand themes of fear, belonging and the importance of believing in the quintessential goodness in ourselves and each other.

When the Boogieman ‘Pitch’ (voiced by Jude Law) threatens to replace children’s dreams with horrifying nightmares forever, Jack Frost (Chris Pine), Santa (Alec Baldwin), Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and Sandman (an unspoken role) must band together to defeat the evil spirits of fear and darkness once and for all.