Chappie [DVD]

I've never seen a movie like Chappie before.

Arrived in good condition and on time. I thought the film was good. Having Die Antwoord in the film was a nice touch considering the film takes place in South Africa.

I missed this the first time around in 2015. At the time, I was a parent to a 5 yr old with no help... so I forewent going to the movies often. I'm now trying to catch up - lol. My child is now 12.5 years old. We sat down to watch this movie tonight and loved it! Interesting concepts, fun characters, and great music. As much as I love Hugh Jackman, all the other actors held their own beautifully, so he wasn't needed as a supporting character - lol. Fun movie!

Very good movie. Glad I have it now

Chappie was another futuristic film by Neil Blomkamp. Previously he’d done District 9 and Elysium. The film is about the interaction between technology and humans.This film borrows from both of those earlier releases. First, there are interviews with people and news reports just like District 9. The focus is upon new police robots to deal with the high crime in South Africa. District 9 was also set in that country and the robots look very similar to the ones in Elysium.The movie has an unlikely start. On the one hand there is a desperate street gang made up of Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones), Yolandi (Yolandi Visser), and Yankie (Jose Pablo Cantillo) who owe a huge amount of money to a gangster named Hippo (Brandon Auret). They decide to kidnap a technician that develops the police robots named Deon (Dev Patel) hoping that he will aid them in getting around the authorities so they can carry out a robbery to pay off Hippo. Deon on the other hand, has developed an artificial intelligence for the androids, but his company is uninterested because they only want weapons systems, not weapons that think. Together they put the artificial intelligence into a police scout that becomes known as Chappie.The movie then takes a very interesting turn. Chappie is like a newborn who has to learn about his environment and those people around him. Deon wants to develop Chappie’s intelligence. Yolandi treats him like a baby who needs to be nurtured. Ninja wants to turn him into a criminal. Additionally there’s Hugh Jacksn as Vincent who only wants robots to be tools and thinks that one with a consciousness like Chappie is an abomination. The theme is what are the uses of technology? Is it just there to be used by humans for their own means or can it develop into something new? Technology is obviously developing at an increasing rate and there is talk about creating artificial intelligence raising all kinds of ethical questions. Blomkamp takes the position that it is the humans who are the problem because they aren’t ready for this level of advancement which will likely lead to all kinds of mistakes.C

THE FILM: Neill Blomkamp has yet to live up to the promise displayed in DISTRICT 9, which still holds up as one of the best science-fiction films of the last decade. CHAPPIE, while still featuring some awesome special effects and lightly touching on important AI-related themes, feels rather commercial in comparison. It's as if the strong reaction against the overt social messaging in ELYSIUM caused him to back further in the other direction. That's not to say that what he created here isn't good. It's quite entertaining actually. The problem is that the film lacks focus for a good portion of its running time, and also gets a little too cartoonish for its own good at times. The basics of the plot is that a scientist/programmer (Dev Patel) who works for a a weapons company comes up with a program for consciousness. Under the nose of his boss (Sigourney Weaver), he tests it out on a defective police robot scheduled for destruction, but only after it is stolen by a pair of a gangsters (played by Die Antwoord) who want to use it to commit crimes. The setup for the plot is probably the most interesting part of the whole film, with the potential to discuss the meaning of consciousness, what it means to be alive. Instead, it opts to spend a lot of its time devoted to teaching Chappie (Sharlto Copley) how to emulate its "parents" (Die Antwoord), who have a serious acting deficiency and are gratingly profane at times. Then there's the rival co-worker of Dev Patel's character (Hugh Jackman) who is saddled with playing a cartoonish villain more suited to a ROBOCOP movie than this one. Also, Sigourney Weaver is wasted as the company boss. Even still, the film manages to pull itself together in the final 30 minutes and salvage what, up to that point, had been rather mediocre at best. In this final act, however lightly, it delves a little deeper into themes I wish had been the central focus all along as Chappie is faced with the choice to do good or evil, and "his" own mortality. There's also some well-done action as well. The film's undeniable strength comes from its impeccable production design and visual effects, as well as the performances (save Die Antwoord: please don't let them act again), despite the characters lacking depth outside of Chappie. The film also has a decent score courtesy of Hans Zimmer. As far as AI-related films go this year, CHAPPIE is hardly the best, but it is quite enjoyable and watchable. If you go in with reduced expectations, I don't see why you wouldn't have a good time.THE EXTRAS: Compared to a lot of high-profile releases, CHAPPIE actually gets a decent amount of special features that provide an interesting look behind the scenes. The centerpiece is an 80-minute collection of featurettes that look at the development process from the original "Tetravaal" short to the finished film, stunts and special effects, and the visual effects. Since the film is more solid from a design and effects perspective, the supplementary material understandably focuses on these elements. In that collection, there was also a short featurette about robotics which I found to quite interesting. Die Antwoord also shows up for one of them, and essentially confirms that they were playing themselves, but it was cool to find out that they (or at least Ninja) did the artwork for their hideout. There was also an alternate ending and an extended scene. Without giving away spoilers, the alternate ending is basically the same in function but larger in its scale and global implications, while the extended scene just adds a little more violence/gore to an already decent action setpiece. To top things off, there is an enormous gallery of art that has character and robot designs from the pre-production process.OVERALL: CHAPPIE is probably Neill Blomkamp's weakest film yet narratively, but it continues his interest in technology and robotic design. While the story is quite unsatisfying for a large portion of the running time, the film is watchable and entertaining.. For the Blu-ray package and film enthusiasts, there are a decent amount of extra features that cover a somewhat narrow portion of the film's production. If you're a Neill Blomkamp fan, or like science-fiction in general, this will be a solid purchase. Everyone else would be better served by starting with DISTRICT 9.

NINJA and ¥O-LANDI , Jeez God only knows why these two Idiots were cast to ruin the film, maybe South Africans can relate to SA music Culture and using what are probably Minor SA celebrities to add something to the film, Imagine a VERY poor mans Eminem and OMG The Women Sounds like she sings on Helium or Melvin and the chipmunks, NOT since Lucas had a breakdown and put in Jar Jar Binks has there been a REALLY Annoying (Filler character) till now, Really spoils a potentially good film

Ultimately I really enjoyed the movie. It has a really good idea and it really new what its final message wanted to be. As with District 9 and Elysium the Director had a big point to make - and ultimately he made it. The reason why it gets 4 stars rather than 5 is that although he knew what the point was that he was trying to make (I can't say what it is without a massive spoiler) the movie didn't seem to know how to get there. So it starts off as a bit of a Robocop clone - loads of gangster types shooting s*** out of each other and a bunch of robo cops turn up and win; rival to the robo cop inventor has a clone of ED 201 in the background and want to show it off. It then goes through a bit of pathos as one of the robo cops gains AI but comes under control of a group of gangsters and we finish with a coming of age bit. I like the fact that it goes back to the gritty SA landscape complete with less then likeable characters (on both sides). I not so keen on the neon painted guns (really this ain't a kids movie) and some of the 2D dialogue that kicks the movie off. This is a slow burner thats really worth sticking out with - I watched in 2 parts because I was so turned of by the first 45 I stopped watching and only watched the rest because I had nothing left to watch - I really glad that I did because this movie all about the last 30min.

How could Hugh Jackman & Sigourney Weaver 2 accomplished actors lend there names to this film.? I watched it to the end to see if it would improve but it only got worse, this film should have been confined to X Box or PS4. Another one for the charity shop.

A surprisingly good feel-good film. Humour, adventure, sadness, happiness. Just don't expect it to be Hollywood polished, because it isn't. Missing obvious things like GPS and use of mobile phones at points does occur and, in some ways, adds to the charm. Quite how a helmet designed to measure the neural processes in the brain also works on robots is also a mystery. But ignore the omissions, plot holes, blatant impossibilities and you end up with a good fun Sunday afternoon film. Oh- and getting used to a South African accent will help

Since the brilliant District 9, director Neill Blomkamp has rather lost his way. Elysium was awful and Chappie is only marginally better.In Chappie, the action scenes are poor and the characters totally unrelatable. It's only saving grace is the emotional connection you make with robot Chappie. It is basically a story about raising a child, with much child abuse.Disappointing overall.