When District 9 came out, newly touted director Neill Blomkamp showed us a new side of science fiction. He brought aliens and documentary together within the confines of a third world country in the midst of the slums and poverty and showed not only a poignant message, but a compelling movie as well. Since then, however, he's kind of been stuck in the same rut, trying to replicate that magic again instead of trying something else new and inventive. His follow up film, Elysium, was also set in the third world future, but had a different twist than the aliens of the first film. I actually liked the movie, but it was generally panned by critics. Now, his third widely released film is still in the same vein of poverty stricken South Africa, but instead of a bunch of aliens, or a disease that causes Matt Damon to wear a super suit, it's about robots. You've already said everything you need to say about South Africa, Blomkamp... move on. As far as Chappie goes... it's certainly his weakest effort, but it's not without it's merits also.
Chappie is Short Circuit on steroids. In the future, in South Africa, crime is at an all time high. So, a multinational corporation designs robot police so that real human police can stop getting slaughtered. The robot police work exceptionally well, too well, in fact, and crime hits an all time low. However, the robot's creator, a nerdly office worker and computer programmer, has this idea of making a robot with what is essentially a soul. He wants it to be living, feeling, understanding, and evolving (because obviously he hasn't heard of Skynet). So, he takes a malfunctioning police robot home, uploads software into it, and boom, it has a soul. Unfortunately for him, a small group of thugs have screwed up their last job and owe a bunch of money to a South African warlord. So, they steal the nerd and his robot in hopes of teaching the robot how to do a heist. This small group is played by South African wondergroup Die Antword. Yolandi, the girl of the group names the robot Chappie and essentially becomes its mother. Ninja... yeah... his father. The problem is, Chappie has to learn and grow just as a human does, so he's stuck in a child-like state throughout the time that he's supposed to be learning how to shoot a gun, steal cars, and fulfill the requirements of a fully fledged heist. Then, if this isn't enough, Hugh Jackman with a mullet is also a computer nerd and kind of a sociopath has designed super huge police robots, but keeps getting the models rejected because they're considered overkill. So, he installs software that makes all the regular robot police malfunction and his overkill bots are needed more than ever. His character and motivations are definitely the strangest of the film.
So, yeah, there's a lot going on in the movie. At base level, there's Chappie. The innocent, and admittedly adorable, robot who is learning what it means to be human from two pretty heinous individuals. Then, there's Mullet Jackman trying to sabotage robots in order to get his robots sold. Then, there's nerd dude who wants to get Chappie back. Then, there's Die Antword on a time clock trying to pull a heist. Then, there's all out war in the country and it just becomes something of a mess. It's too frenetic and it never really stops to enjoy itself. There are moments of fun and games with Chappie in his developmental stages, but the scene lasts only a short while and it's back to frenetic action and everything hitting the fan all at once.
It's also very Yolandi and Ninja heavy. They're horrible people (who learn from Chappie as much as he learns from them), but if you're not hugely into Die Antword, this is probably going to be a bit of an annoyance for you. It's really difficult to pinpoint exactly what is wrong with the film, but sitting in the theater watching it I just felt that it was missing something, something I couldn't put my finger on. It definitely lacked a focus, and was generally all over the place. But there was something else. And even now, having seen it a week ago, I'm still unsure as to what was missing in the film. If anyone has any thoughts themselves, I encourage you to tell me. But, Chappie isn't a bad movie, it's just an overly-packed movie with similar themes found in Blomkamp's other films-- themes that were better told through better filmmaking. His next venture is an Alien sequel, which, in theory, keeps his film entirely up in space rather than South Africa. If he can use his efforts in perfecting another aspect of the sci-fi genre, I think he'll re-discover his steps and take us back on an another amazing journey. Chappie just missed this mark by too much.
C
No comments:
Post a Comment