Three stars. Rated R, for violence, gore and constant profanity
By Derrick Bang
The best part about Chappie is the title character: not the
robot per se, but the marvelous
motion-control “performance” given by Sharlto Copley, which was built into a
CGI character by the film’s video effects wizards.
We never see Copley on screen, of
course, and there’s certainly no way that he could be concealed within this
robot’s streamlined mechanical form ... but the actor grants this character a
personality, awareness and sense of presence that evoke the similarly brilliant
manner in which Andy Serkis brought Gollum to life, in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.
I only wish that director Neill
Blomkamp’s film were the equal of its star.
The South African-born Blomkamp
burst on the cinematic scene with 2009’s stunning District 9, a thoughtful sci-fi parable that explored racism, class
divides and political skullduggery, while simultaneously building to a
rip-roaring climax: a neat trick in all respects.
But Blomkamp has recycled many of
the same story elements in subsequent projects, to diminishing returns. Its
much bigger budget notwithstanding, 2013’s Elysium
played the same narrative card: the violent efforts of an oppressed underclass
to rebel against a harsh and long-established social order, with the catalyst
being a lone individual who undergoes a spiritual and even physical
transformation.
And here we are at Chappie, Blomkamp’s third sci-fi epic,
and — as in District 9 — our central
character once again is an innocent forced to adapt to horrific circumstances,
while unwittingly becoming the face of social upheaval.
This time, though, Blomkamp and
co-scripter Terri Tatchell have compounded the sense of déjà vu by borrowing heavily from previous cinema sci-fi. The
result too frequently feels like a clumsy blend of Robocop (the 1987 original) and Australian director George Miller’s
savage, post-apocalyptic Mad Max
series, stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster.
Along with elements that have
become Blomkamp clichés after only three films, most particularly the
testosterone-enraged, alpha-male villain who comes after our hero with bigger,
badder hardware: David James’ Koobus, in District
9; Copley’s Kruger, in Elysium;
and now Hugh Jackman’s Vincent Moore, in Chappie.
They’re all the same character: unhinged psychopathic thugs. Been there,
grimaced at that.
But even that isn’t this new
film’s biggest problem. For some reason, Blomkamp and Tatchell have populated
their story with sidebar characters who are shrieking grotesques: gibbering,
saliva-spitting, ludicrously exaggerated lunatics who make Batman’s Joker look
serene. Worse yet, these individuals are played by non-actors — another
Blomkamp trademark — who’ve been encouraged to overact abysmally.
If we ultimately feel something
for any of these supporting players, it has more to do with the narrative arcs
— and the manner in which the always tragic Chappie is victimized by these
events — and absolutely nothing to do with thespic persuasion.
The time is the near future, the
setting Blomkamp’s beloved Johannesburg, which has escaped being wholly overrun
by criminal thugs only through the recent intervention of a robotic
peace-keeping force known as Scouts. The Johannesburg police love the Scouts,
the production of which has been a boon for robotics manufacturer Tetra Vaal
and its CEO, Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver), who couldn’t care less about
this amazing technology, as long as the money keeps rolling in.
But Tetra Vaal engineer Deon
Wilson (Dev Patel, persuasively impassioned) cares a great deal. He’s clearly
disturbed by the pre-programmed, judge-jury-executioner behavior that
characterizes Scouts in the field, and he has been staying up nights in an
effort to perfect artificial intelligence: robotic awareness that would imbue a
Scout with a conscience.
Meanwhile, as the primary genius
behind the entire Scout program, Deon remains Bradley’s golden boy.
This infuriates Moore, a rival
engineer whose scientific brilliance is undercut by galloping insecurity and
the twisted militarism of a former soldier who drank far too many gallons of
fascist Kool-Aid. Moore’s pet project is a much larger and far more powerful
robot dubbed Moose, which takes its orders via a headset worn by a human
controller.
(I should mention that Moose
bears a striking resemblance to the hulking ED-209 in the aforementioned Robocop. Blomkamp, visual effects
supervisor Chris Harvey, and props effects supervisor Joe Dunckley should have
tried harder for something original.)
More than anything else, though, Vincent
hates the very notion of robotic AI, believing that such work goes against God.
Bradley is similarly disinterested, but only because she sees no reason to mess
with the already successful Scout program.
Undeterred, Deon labors
clandestinely and finally cracks the problem ... only to be kidnapped by
drug-dealing punks Ninja, Yolandi and Yankie. Yolandi has decided that, as the
head Scout scientist, Deon must know how to turn all the robots off, so that she and her friends can
resume their criminal ways. That isn’t possible, but — fearing for his life —
Deon offers the next best thing, and builds them a new Scout with his
just-perfected AI chip.
And thus Chappie is “born,”
named, and enters this violent world as the equivalent of a human infant, who
subsequently “develops” via the highly questionable “nurture” coming from his
larcenous companions. (1986’s Short
Circuit, anyone?) Deon, oddly allowed to live, manages to inject a few
moral imperatives, but this seems a losing battle.
The core of the story, then,
follows Chappie’s chaotic emotional growth and transformation, from fearful
innocent to (sadly) ill-taught street ruffian. We bleed for the poor robot,
repeatedly abused and victimized; at the same time, the mimicry involved in
Chappie’s “education” often is hilarious, particularly as he attempts to make
sense of how Yolandi’s gruffly tender approach often conflicts with Ninja’s
profane hostility.
Ninja and Yolandi are played by
Watkin Tudor Jones and Anri du Toit, a popular South African rap-rave duo
better known as (ahem) Ninja and Yolandi. They essentially reprise their belligerent
stage presence here, with uneven results. Yolandi elicits fitful bursts of
sympathy, but Ninja is simply off the rails. I guess we can call this violent
parody, akin to the burlesques who populate Quentin Tarantino films, but that
tone doesn’t work as well here.
Yankie is played by Jose Pablo
Cantillo, an actual actor, and — no surprise — his scenes with Chappie are far
more effective.
The building drama revolves
around whether Chappie’s developing conscience will allow him to find a way
toward redemption, if not some form of salvation. The resulting struggle is
both delicate and vicious, and always fascinating: the part of Blomkamp’s film
that works best, and works at all times.
Needless to say, Moore and his
Moose eventually get involved in these proceedings, as does Hippo (Brandon
Auret), Ninja and Yolandi’s even more insanely violent criminal boss. Bear in
mind, as this story approaches its inevitably brutal final act, that Blomkamp
delights in “wet” and graphic havoc.
That said, nothing in this film
is more chillingly awful than when Moore comes at a restrained Chappie with a
hand-held circular saw.
Blomkamp’s behind-the-scenes
elements are first-rate, starting with production designer Jules Cook’s
way-crazy sets: Ninja and Yolandi’s concrete, abandoned-warehouse hideout, with
all its weird decorations; Hippo’s den, a former upper-class home, complete
with pool (now filled with guns); a huge silo-like dwelling where Ninja barters
for some explosives.
The quieter settings are equally
intriguing, none better than Deon’s modest home, complete with adorable little
robot assistants (which evoke memories of Sebastian’s small mechanical helpers,
in 1982’s Blade Runner).
Although Hans Zimmer’s orchestral
underscore brings dramatic and poignant emphasis to the on-screen action, it’s
too frequently drowned out by screaming vocal tracks from Ninja and Yolandi, in
their Die Antwoord mode. Which do nothing to enhance this film.
Some great ideas exist here, and
Copley’s rendering of Chappie is a highlight throughout, but the execution is a
mess: chaotic storytelling, bad acting and bewildering stabs at social
commentary that Blomkamp’s frenzied directorial style cannot conceal.
2 comments:
Oh how I miss your ability to write a clever headline!
Thank you; I must confess, I was rather pleased with this one.
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