Chappie ***½ (2015, Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver) – Movie Review

Co-writer/director Neill Blomkamp’s AI movie is set in a wasted-looking Johannesburg in the near future when crime is rife but it is patrolled by an oppressive mechanised police force.

The movie stars Dev Patel (last seen in the very different Second Best Marigold Hotel) as a computer geek called Deon Wilson who invents a programme for the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. He goes to his tough boss Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) for permission to develop it and, when she refuses, just goes ahead anyway and creates the robot.

But three spaced-out lowlifes – Ninja (Ninja), Yolandi (Yo-Landi Visser) and Amerika (Jose Pablo Cantillo) – grab hold of Deon and his still-learning police droid Chappie (Sharlto Copley) with a plan to get the robot to help them in a heist. Howeverm Chappie is programmed to behave well, oh and his battery’s going to run out in around five days. Meanwhile, Deon’s viciously nasty co-worker Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) susses out what he’s been getting  up to and he doesn’t like it.

Blomkamp’s AI movie borrows from Robocop and Mad max a bit, which makes it a tiny bit deja-vu, and the plot is plain and straightforward. But it has lots of quirky stuff and energy to keep it flying for nearly two whole hours. It is co-written by Blomkamp’s wife, Terri Tatchell.

The effects are brilliantly done, especially Copley’s Chappie, giving the actor’s non-appearance the top billed star part, even though Patel has the main role, an unlucky mirror image of his marginalisation in the credits of Marigold Hotel. Copley makes something of a character out of Chappie, but it’s really Patel’s film in an appealing performance as the computer science hero, nerdy but nice.

Ninja, Visser and Cantillo also makes something out of their characters – at first you think they’re going to be really annoying, then they grow on you as they go from crazy apparent villains to sympathetic hero’s friends. Weaver is wasted as usual these days in a stereotype role she could have phoned in, and, more surprisingly, so is Jackman in a supporting role as a cocky, nasty villain. Though, it must quickly be said that bot these actors have true class and are definite, strong assets to the movie.

The fight action is also well done, exciting, full-on and pretty continuous. Hans Zimmer’s score is also full-on and pretty continuous, too much so maybe, but it helps keep the adrenaline level high. And there’s a music from its stars, the controversial South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord. Both rappers Ninja and Visser are fans of Blomkamp’s work – indeed Ninja has a District 9 tattoo on his inner lip.

I don’t have any quarrel with the movie, other than its slight lack of originality and freshness. Blomkamp gives it the great blasting attack it needs to entertain and be vigorous, filming on the right seedy locations. Despite its big budget, it’s only a B-movie really, but that’s not a bad thing, and indeed it’s a very good one. How does it rate against District 9 (2009)? Come to that, how does it rate against Elysium (2013)?  Opinions will differ, so check it out.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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