Deon (Dev Patel) is a robot designer for a major weapons company called Tetravaal in South Africa who provides police robots to the South African Police.  He wants to test a consciousness program on a soon to be discarded robot unit when he is kidnapped by a desperate couple (played by Ninja and Yo-Landi of music group Die Antwoord who play fictional versions of themselves) that wants Deon to find a way to shut the police robots so they can rob a money truck.  Instead they get a robot named Chappie with a childlike mind that learns at a fast rate and Ninja wants to train Chappie to be the best gangbanger with bling.   Deon has a rival at work- Vincent (Hugh Jackman)- who is developing his own rival police droid (which is controlled by a human mind via telepresence). 

CHAPPIE is director Neill Blomkamp’s second spiritual homage to ROBOCOP mixed in with SHORT CIRCUIT and using the short film of his own called Tetra Vaal as part of the basis for the movie.  It explores the themes of life, consciousness, and people who strive to escape their circumstances to get to their dreams.   You have some mockumentary coverage at the beginning and end of the movie with the middle being in a South African version of ROBOCOP with a police force that is a mix of robots and humans.  Then the movie does take a left turn on how to transfer consciousness since Chappie has a fused battery which can’t be removed and he will die once the battery runs down.  

CHAPPIE has the usual great visual look of a Neill Blomkamp movie and it is the third movie to feature characters fighting to survive in the slums.  It is like the director is trying to create the same movie with variations on the theme and different characters each time.     I have enjoyed each of Neil Blomkamp’s three movies and yet he needs to get out of creating the same type of movie and get away from playing homage to the same stuff over and over.   I didn’t find Chappie to be annoying.   I just found the plotline to be a little dumb in places and yet I still enjoyed the movie despite any narrative shortcomings and Hugh Jackman being on autopilot with his acting. I can’t wait for him to get ALIEN 5 made because it means we won’t see characters in the South African or a future American slum.   However, I do think he is a great visual director and his films are great at least watch on a visual level no matter how the writing turns out.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Alternate ending that is cooler than the theatrical ending while the extended scene doesn’t add much

About 80 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes that provide an extensive look at the making of the movie from the origins of the movie, the pre-production art process with WETA, special effects, the casting, the locations, and more:

FROM TETRA VAAL TO CHAPPIE- how a short film inspired a feature film years later

JOZI: REAL CITY AND A SCI-FI SETTING- a look at the real locations used in Johannesburg, South Africa for the movie

CHAPPIE: THE STREETWISE PROFESSOR

WE ARE TETRAVAAL- focus on the cast who play the three characters within Tetravaal

KEEP IT GANGSTER

ROGUE ROBOT: DECONSTRUCTING THE STUNTS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

ARMS RACE: THE WEAPONS AND THE ROBOTS

BRINGING CHAPPIE TO LIFE: THE VISUAL EFFECTS- a look at the work between WETA and Image Engine to realize the character of Chappie along with using Sharlto Copely’s performance in a grey suit as the basis for the visual effects shots from Image Engine

THE REALITY OF ROBOTICS

THE ART OF CHAPPIE is a series of art galleries: Chappie, Moose, Yobot, Production Design, Storyboards, Director’s Sketches, Poster Art

There is a Best Buy bonus disc that has a featurette called CRIME SPREE: DECONSTRUCTING THE ACTION SCENES (27:03) which is an in-depth behind-the-scnes look at the making of several action sequences in the movie from planning to rehearsing the scenes to shooting them

FINAL ANALYSIS: CHAPPIE holds up on repeat viewings even though Blomkamp gives another variation on a theme (but mixing it with a fairy tale).   The making-of extras are great and very in-depth including the featurette which is only available at Best Buy

This review is ©9-1-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com