Chappie (6/10)

Finally found time to go back to the cinemas. And finally caught Chappie.

This was one of my more anticipated films of this year, from director Neill Blomkamp and a script by Blomkamp and writing partner Terri Tatchell (who also wrote District 9, as well as a credited thanks on Elysium).

However, Chappie was the weakest of the three. I'm not sure if it was because of the disjointed writing, too many characters, bad dialogue, the weaker acting from the sub-cast against a thing that wasn't there during shooting, or perhaps the movie was missing Sharlto Copley who has been Blomkamp's heart in District 9. Probably a combination of all of the above.

There's no doubt that visually Blomkamp still got it. From the robots and their interaction with the humans in the beginning, which were seamless; to the final showdown and the intense action. The way Chappie moved and his mannerisms were all great.

But the problem came when Chappie was developing from a child to a teenager and then an adult. A lot of things didn't seem logical, from what he learned in those few scenes we saw to the words that he picked up. It all just seemed a bit too convenient.

And that's one word which I would use to describe the plot points. A lot of time the scenes were not drawn out to their fullest, and that made the things that happened in each plot all too convenient.

I think this was where the writing of Blomkamp and Tatchell showed their weakness. In District 9 and Elysium, the character development and storytelling were not an issue. But when it came to creating a robot into a sentient being, the smoothness was no longer there.

I found nothing wrong with the more experienced stars like Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver, even Jose Pablo Cantillo. And especially Dev Patel who gave another great performance here. But the two newer actors, Yo-Landi Visser and Ninja, weren't as convincing.

And is it a coincidence that Blomkamp started pushing for an Alien project while promoting Chappie? In that final showdown, there were elements of Aliens; like the mech that Jackman was controlling, and also the scene with the torso (that's all I can say without spoiling anything).

For what it's worth though, I understood and could see what Blomkamp was going for. He tackled a little on the issue of nature versus nurture, but again also touched a little bit on the issue of social discrimination.

But when it finally came to the final plot point, that was when Blomkamp lost me completely and I wished he didn't include that bit.

I was quite disappointed with this movie, but it's also because I've set up a high standard for Blomkamp. Let's hope his next movie with the Alien franchise will fare much better.