District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp returns to his native South Africa for Chappie. The story takes place in the near future where South Africa has become the first country to use a mechanized police force manufactured by the weapons corporation Tetra Vaal. The company is headed by Michelle Bradley, played ever so intermittently by Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Avatar), who employs the genius engineer Deon, played by Dev Patel (The Newsroom, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), who hopes to someday see his androids become self-aware. Deon’s android project receives more funding than Vincent’s Goose project, a giant tank with legs that is actually manned by a human instead of artificial intelligence but is seen as unnecessary with the great success of the androids. Vincent is excellently played by Hugh Jackman (X-Men Series), a former solider with a grudge against Deon and his androids.
Ninja and Yolandi, the duo that makeup the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord, play gangster versions of themselves and hatch a scheme to steal one of the police androids once they become indebted to the ruling gangster in Johannesburg. Having just created a code to make an android sentient, Deon is forced to use the program on a decommissioned android Ninja and Yolandi steal; the result being the birth of Chappie.
The first act of the film utilizes a somewhat comedic approach to a coming of age story from the eyes of a robot: Chappie is highly intelligent but his sentience leaves him childlike where he struggles to cope with moral dilemmas and accept who he is. While Deon, his creator, encourages him to explore his intellectual interests in things like poetry and art, his criminal “Mommy and Daddy” teach him to walk like a gangster, shoot guns, and collude in ways to corrupt his morality for their own financial gain. Externally Chappie experiences the harshness of the world as Vincent wishes to destroy him, not only for fear of what sentient AI represents but because of his desire for his own mechanized weapons project to succeed.
Desire is the most driving theme in the film as all of the characters have a strong urge to exceed their limitations, including Chappie. After the film’s action gets underway the story begins to take a heavier turn towards sci-fi. Chappie is defective in the sense that his battery cannot be removed or charged; once it dies so does Chappie. As Chappie becomes aware of his mortality he begins to desire life and is determined to continue living and loving by any means.
Visually, Chappie is stunning. Chappie’s robotic animation is seamlessly integrated into the film and with the voice acting of Sharlto Copley (District 9, Maleficent) he literally comes to life. The film delivers consistent comedy with Chappie, Yolandi, and Ninja, moments of heartfelt passion with Deon, and jaw dropping action in a battle with Vincent, all from a stellar script by Neill Blomkamp and his District 9 collaborator Terri Tatchell. The two would be wise to team up for Blomkamp’s next feature as this script yielded a higher quality film than Blomkamp’s previous project Elysium.
Chappie, like the title character, refuses to be contained to one dimension and desires to expand on conventional limitations. It is beyond successful and absolutely entertaining.
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