MOVIE REVIEW: “CHAPPiE”

Running Time: 2 hours

Rated R for violence, language, & brief nudity

Directed By: Neill Blomkamp (Elysium)

Starring:

Sharlto Copley as CHAPPiE (Elysium)                             

Dev Patel as Deon Wilson (Slumdog Millionaire)

Ninja as Ninja

Yolandi Visser as Yolandi

Jose Pablo Cantillo as Amerika (Elysium)

Johnny Selema as Pitbull (District 9)

Sigourney Weaver as Michelle Bradley (Alien)

Hugh Jackman as Vincent Moore (X-Men)

  Anything you wanna do in your life, you can do. Write poetry, have original ideas…

  In the near future, Deon Wilson is a robotics engineer who is responsible for creating the mechanized police unit for Johannesburg. Even though it was proven that Deon’s efficient police robots have reduced crime and saved human lives, Vincent Moore (competing engineer in his company) is jealous because his ‘Moose’ robot project is slowly dwindling out of existence. Deon has a break-though with hopes that he can create a robot that has consciousness and can learn. When the CEO, Michelle Bradley, rejects the possibility of using the new technology, Deon rescues a ‘scout’ that has been irreparably damaged and inserts the new program into it’s CPU. At first, the robot behaves like a child that is learning its environment so Deon inserts morals into the robot’s learning. The conflict comes in when a gang of thugs steal Chappie with the goal of using him to perform a much needed heist.

I am consciousness. I am alive. I am Chappie.

​ Neill Blomkamp’s latest visionary creation provides an interesting take on the future of robotic engineering. While some of the scenes were painful to watch, Neill balances the film out with a multitude of sentimental scenes. I must say that it was also difficult to watch Hugh Jackman play Chappie’s main protagonist, but I am grateful that he cast in the movie as he excelled as the crass bad guy. Relative newcomers to the big screen and South African rap-rave band-members (Ninja and Yolandi) were a treat to watch especially in the scenes that they shared with Chappie. The spectacular visual effects used to create Chappie’s movements are only rivaled by the outstanding voice performance of Sharlto Copley. The script is sharp and witty with enough comic relief lines to off-set the brutally serious nature of the plot. Chappie is more than just a machine, go check it out for yourself! ~Movie Buffette