Chappie (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 120 minutes
Directed by: Neill Blomkamp
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja, Yolandi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman, Anderson Cooper, Brandon Auret
KRS Releasing Ltd

In Johannesburg, Robocop has become a reality. Human cops have been replaced by robots named Scouts.

This leads to Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver), the CEO of Tetra Vaal – the weapons company making the robots – becoming richer, and Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), the scientist behind the project, more successful.

The company is in direct competition with Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), who had designed his own model tagged as Moose, which was more military in approach.

Obviously enough, the criminal underworld is not happy with this change in the status quo. Ninja (Ninja) and his girlfriend Yo-Landi (Yolandi Visser), together with their partner Amerika (José Pablo Cantillo), are neck deep in debt with mob boss Hippo (Brandon Auret). They cook up a plan where they kidnap Deon in order to get him to effect alterations in the system’s programming. He says that safeguards have been placed against such intrusion.

The focus falls on a damaged Scout to whom Deon had tried to give artificial intelligence. He succeeds and the resulting creation is named Chappie (Sharlto Copley) by Yo-Landi. The robot is like a baby exploring the world.

Chappie finds himself having different teachers, with Deon and Ninja providing different viewpoints of the world.

Meanwhile, Vincent is ready to enter the scene and use every possible opportunity to capitalise on any eventual mistakes and sell off his unit as the option to go to for automated policing.

South African director Neill Blomkamp had exploded on to the scene with the groundbreaking District 9 (2009) and followed it up with the big-budget sci-fi action satire Elysium (2013). Here he returns with another genre film.

The basis of Chappie is Blomkamp’s short film Tetra Vaal (2004). Here he brings a sort of RoboCop crossed over with Short Circuit, with the latter’s sensibilities at times taking over. Like in his previous films, Blomkamp tries and mostly succeeds in bridging the commercial aesthetics of the popcorn entertainment blockbuster and the thinking man’s sci-fi film.

An interesting concept here is that of having a sentient being, like a baby, awakening to the world and starting to explore its many possibilities. The robot is suddenly immersed in a society that veers towards fascist tendencies as it tries to crush out crime.

Chappie also shows off Blomkamp’s love for the genre as he pays homage to various movies, most of all RoboCop especially in the way The Moose is brought to the screen.

As the story progresses, one gets to follow Chappie through his various steps and as he becomes more real, more human. This has some comical moments to it. For the most parts, Blomkamp manages to balance out these moments with the action sequences to good effect.

The highlight of the film has to be the special effects, including Chappie himself. These are simply superlative and they define and form the film and give character to whatever is happening on screen. It’s the way Chappie is made to look real and possible that adds layers of dimensions to this film.

By the end of the film, one may get the feeling that the future may not be all so bright and rosy for human actors. Chappie looks more real than his human counterparts on screen and outperforms them all with a very strong consistency.