Critics rating: 2 Stars

Cast:  Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Yolandi Visser, Watkin Tudor Jones Sigourney Weaver.

Direction: Neill Blomkamp

Produced: Simon Kinberg

Written: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

Genre: Action

Duration: 120 Mins

Neill Blomkamp could have been the thinking man’s Michael Bay after the unprecedented success of District 9. Instead, he chose the low road which only sloped lower with Elysium (though he did have the grace to admit that he went wrong with that one) and presently, with Chappie. It tries to hark back to a District 9 opening with documentary-style interviews and montages, which is only a gimmick as the story progresses.

To battle the rising crime rate, Johannesburg’s police department deploys armoured robotic cops as the Scout Program, the first of its kind, manufactured by Tetravaal. Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) gets the applause for the innovation while fellow engineer Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) seethes at the lack of funding for his own human-controlled attack bots. Scout #0022, a soon to be scrapped robot is salvaged by Deon who is compelled to leave it in the care of three gangsters (starring members of Die Antwoord), to be raised as Chappie (Sharlto Copley). After this promising beginning, the rest of the running time drags on as an overkill in mawkishness and poor scripting.

 

The thematic elements are repeated in Chappie too: the protagonist who has to adapt to his renewed sensibilities for a higher purpose, the have-have not divide, bridging said divide and having the marginalised rise to the occasion. All of these, including the E.T.-Robocop mishmash would have worked if there was a plausible story, no one-note characters and a greater complexity than simply raising an A.I. model to adulthood.

Die Antwoord’s Yolandi Visser and Watkin Tudor Jones/Ninja along with Jose Pablo Cantillo take up the bulk of the screen time, as if it was the group’s music video. Dev Patel coasts in and out as the plot device allows. His character does so in an official Tetravaal truck to the gang’s hideout, which seems like a terrible idea. It is really Hugh Jackman whose long absences will make the viewers feel shortchanged. What is supposed to be Chappie’s journey devolves into petty office politics and heists. The film, despite being Blomkamp’s happiest ending till date does not feel like a high note.

 

In spite of a few beautiful frames and a high concept idea, Chappie winds down a beaten, repetitive path which falls prey to the blockbuster clichés of slow motion action and bullets whizzing past characters (who are well within range).If Neill Blomkamp is unsure about being cut out for the job (as he confessed in an interview), it is in this film that his shortcomings become glaringly obvious. Then again, there always is another movie, in this case Alien 5. What could go wrong?