CHAPPiE - A Movie Review...

"I'm consciousness. I'm alive. I'm Chappie."



Neill Blomkamp, you are on the clock.

With the announcement that he would helm the new Alien movie featuring Sigourney Weaver, all my hopes were (somewhat unfairly) placed on how he brought CHAPPiE to life. The initial negative reviews scared me to death, but I chose to largely ignore them. Frankly, I'm glad that I did. CHAPPiE is, for lack of a better term, a return to form for Blomkamp. He has crafted a more relevant tale here than in any of his previous two movies, and his most memorable character to date.

CHAPPiE occurs in South Africa in 2016 as robotic "scouts" have taken over public law enforcement to the delight of their parent company Tetravaal. The creator of the scouts, Deon, breaks the code for AI conscienceness and begs his boss, played by Sigourney Weaver, to let him try it on a slagged scout unit. Of course she says no, Deon does it anyway and CHAPPiE (voiced by Sharlto Copley) is born much to the chagrin of military hound Hugh Jackman. His mobile tank police unit (MOOSE - quite the ED-209 nod) has been sidelined in favor of Deon's scout project and he searches for any way to remove Deon and his bastard creations.



Enter a group of South African gangsters fronted by real-life South African rap group Die Antwoord. I'm not much on any movie that casts RAPPERS as main characters. But for some reason, they are weird / authentic enough to lend a credibility to their roles as underworld hooligans.



They kidnap Deon and discover CHAPPiE can be their avenue to money and big time heists. Instead of learning what Deon would have him learn - the arts and scholarly things, Ninja and Yolandi teach him how to "be cool" and wear bling bling. CHAPPiE grows from an infant encased in titanium alloy to an opinionated teenager over the course of his interactions with his human companions.





As CHAPPiE himself grows, so does the movie in its consequences. Blomkamp structures his narrative to further envelope the viewer as CHAPPiE's conscience learns and becomes more aware of his world. There are some hard questions left out in the open here, most left to the viewer to decipher from his or her own point of view. Can a machine become a living thing? When do we defer to A.I. and quit living ourselves? These are things our world and our technology are dangerously close to confronting.

CHAPPiE himself becomes the focus of the movie, which is Blomkamp's likely idea from the beginning. He is funny, curious, and capable. Copley is far better than he has any right to be here. He is the modern day C-3PO. Only C-3PO didn't have graffiti and carry an assortment of assault weapons...heh.



One note on Blomkamp's practice as a filmmaker is important here...I would like to see a bit of shake up as he approaches his next project, Alien notwithstanding. It is obvious he enjoys his native South Africa, as well as the talents of several familiar faces, especially Copley. You know what you are gonna get with established talent, but I want to see a more original approach. Weaver and Jackman were nice additions here, but mostly as background. At times, CHAPPiE looks like a companion piece to District 9 and I think Blomkamp is more than capable of crafting different worlds for different films. Not a detriment to CHAPPiE per se, but could become a hindrance in Blomkamp's future. Not that he cares what I have to say.

With that being said, I hope that Blomkamp returns us to the world of CHAPPiE one day. I enjoyed getting to know him

An easy 4 out of 5 Khans!