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Comments 1 - 15 of 22

MarkE89's avatar

MarkE89

An engaging and hilarious film, Chappie - much like Spring Breakers - suffers from a marketing strategy pitching it untruthfully, when in reality, it's one of the funniest films in a long time. And so, like the character itself, Chappie is destined to be misunderstood. Particularly, by the people who expects that IMDb genre assignations are final. A thriller? To no extent.
It's a gritty, thoughtful, sci-fi comedy. Something film companies would never expect you to buy.

Perhaps because people have become too accustomed to "fun films" being stupid, superficial, suburban and starring Seth Rogen. Or, when trying to escalate scale, are only successful in scapegoating for a major hacking scandal. So, when Die Antwoord babysits a sentient gangsta robot and Wolverine is a megalomaniac with a mullet, it's naturally a thriller...

Watch it as such, and if you - for unfathomable reasons - don't get the joke, you will be disappointed. Watch it with an open mind and you're in for a real treat.

Bloomkamp again delivers stunning visuals where the technology is downright dirty and actually seems to be used and purposeful, rather than impractical and ornamental. Though the plot is mainly derived from classic B-films and general science fiction lore it still manages to present an interesting take on artificial intelligence. It does so brilliantly, without detailing the hows and whys, by simply posing it as a matter-of-fact ("Consciousness downloading...") - which brings back memories of film hackers accessing anything, like Sony, simply by trying enough different passwords. The score, a mix of Hans Zimmer and Die Antwoord, is equally great and the performances of the latter are surprisingly appropriate.

9/10 - Rarely, has a cinema experience been as thoroughly engaging, immersive and laugh-out-loud funny.
9 years ago
corchap's avatar

corchap

Don't take this film TOO seriously-- its a gangster robot. And I enjoyed every single minute. Die Antwoords soundtrack, along with Hanz Zimmer was really fitting and exciting. Yo-Landi and Ninja play themselves, if you've seen them live or in their videos, that is exactly what you get in this film.
I had fun with this one and lots of laughs.
9 years ago
Siskoid's avatar

Siskoid

Neil Blomkamp's Chappie doesn't really deserve the contempt it's attracted, but it's not a great film either, mostly because it doesn't know what tone it should strive for. Part Robocop, part Short Circuit, I'm fairly sure this robot with a soul movie was meant as a tribute to 80s sci-fi films. It's got "futuristic punks" right out of Max Max, Max Headroom and The Dark Knight Returns, slow motion action shots, etc. But it also wants to be a thoughtful meditation on sentience, an allegory about growing up, and an examination of nature vs. nurture. While I appreciate this brand of SF, Blomkamp is always very overt about his metaphors and brings no subtlety at all. Regardless, the film is at odds with itself because it tries to be too many things at once - action film, sf fable, social commentary, goofy robot comedy (this is what it is, mostly) - and it betrays its own narrative with its attempt at a feel good ending. And while I like Hugh Jackman as a villain, he's written as a cartoon, just like the gangbanger punks (who, I understand, are playing themselves, something that doesn't feel cute outside South Africa). When your villains are thoughtless and stupid, it doesn't make your heroes shine too brightly. I would have been more interested in a tragic movie about artificial intelligence - Chappie IS a sympathetic character, well realized in terms of voice and effects - and kept growing bored with its screechy action beats.
6 years 2 months ago
neocowboy's avatar

neocowboy

Who are these all these people that have the gall to accuse this movie of being heavy handed only to then enlighten us about all the RoboCop references?

I personally found Chappie to be an affable fellow.
8 years 9 months ago
Blade22's avatar

Blade22

Excellent movie...i liked it
8 years 1 month ago
Metalmidget's avatar

Metalmidget

Very good movie! Really funny and thought-provoking. I mean, a gangsta robot?! How does someone even conceive that? That's f'ing brilliant!

Actually, with all the "Big Boys" (Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk etc.) trying to put the fear of God in us regarding strong AI, i was wondering how that would unfold. Turns out, i was thinking the exact same thing like Blomkamp. Something along the lines of a scared child-robot that has to learn from us humans (however faulty we may be ourselves). I loved the dramatic performance of Chappie. He's like a little kid in the big bad world, just trying to make sense of it all.

Admittedly, the music from Die Antwoord is not my style, but boy, was it spot-on for this movie. Really beautiful! Also, Die Antwoord gave good acting performances. I mean, they're supposed to be gangsta's, right? So a question to anyone criticizing them: "Was that not gangsta enough for you? Did you expect Oscar-worthy performances or something?".

Definitely one of my favourites of recent years.
8 years 9 months ago
KPND's avatar

KPND

The CEO and Moose guy characters are so dumb, they blow the whole movie for me. Straight-to-video '80s action movie cliche dumb.
8 years 10 months ago
crcurran's avatar

crcurran

Johnny 5 can suck Chappie's capacitor.

An impressive movie that puts Hollywood's lazy shake-and-bake movie recipes to shame.
7 years 4 months ago
Pauljt1980's avatar

Pauljt1980

Absolutely brilliant film. Chappie has to be my favourite robot on the silver screen
8 years 3 months ago
danisanna's avatar

danisanna

Not sure about this one. I expected more.
5 years ago
Earring72's avatar

Earring72

Unappealling characters in this futuristic cross between robocop and frankenstein. Dissapointing! Weaver is totally wasted
7 years 10 months ago
oulosvie's avatar

oulosvie

I dig this. Yes it's like a Robocop tribute but done very well and I love Robocop 1 and 2 too so...
8 years 9 months ago
Bayushiseni's avatar

Bayushiseni

Chappie is a good idea gone South...
Bad Hip-Hop meets Robocop.
Sad.
8 years 9 months ago
DisneyStitch's avatar

DisneyStitch

I loved District 9. The grittyness, the style of storytelling, the plot, even all the fake interviews which made it seem more realistic. Then came Elysium which rehashed so many of the same ideas and made me start wondering that Blomkamp was just a one trick pony. After watching Chappie there is no doubt that he has reached his limit. Chappie is bad, really bad, so bad you end up laughing at the sentimental sob story parts and then shed tears of anguish waiting for the movie to just be over. So much of District 9 is copied in this movie. The robots look the same, it takes place in Johannesburg, and there are tons of people who you can't understand a single word they're saying. District 9 on the other hand had a fresh plot and good story which let it glide past it's misfires. Chappie displays its faults in your face and even tries to shove them down your throat at some points.
9 years ago
DaniloFreiles's avatar

DaniloFreiles

Finale molto romantico ma anche molto duro. Merita di essere visto, ma solo una volta, poi va buttato.
4 years 1 month ago

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