At The Movies: ‘Chappie’ Strikes An Emotional Chord

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‘Chappie’

By John Lyons

chappie_2015_movieI’VE been writing film reviews for TraleeToday.ie on a weekly basis since last summer, and I’ve known that a day would probably come where I’d wind up singing my praises about a film that most folks seem to dislike.

Today is that day.

What I wasn’t expecting however was that the film in question would be ‘Chappie’, a film which I had previously listed as one of my most anticipated films of 2015.

‘Chappie’ comes from the mind of Neill Blomkamp, a filmmaker whose 2009 sleeper-hit ‘District 9’ was not only one of the best science fiction films in recent memory, but one of the most impressive and promising directorial debuts in a long time.

Blomkamp’s 2013 follow-up, ‘Elysium’, however, was beyond disappointing. It felt like a watered-down Hollywood remake of ‘District 9’.

The same skeletal plot, the same ideas, and the same themes of class division. Those things may have worked in ‘District 9’, but they didn’t work in ‘Elysium’, to the point where just last week Blomkamp admitted that, in hindsight, he dropped the ball at some point during the writing process.

Regardless of all this, I refused to believe that Blomkamp had peaked early. ‘District 9’ was such an inventive take on the sci-fi genre. It was this genius merge of high-minded futuristic ideas with modern socio-political issues, resulting in a very intelligent politically charged science fiction thriller.

When the trailer for ‘Chappie’ was released last year, it seemed like a return to form for Blomkamp.

But just as he had done before with ‘District 9’, Blomkamp had adapted ‘Chappie’ from one of his old short films, he’d co-written the script with his writing partner, set it in the South African city of Johannesburg, and cast Sharlto Copley in the lead role.

Instead of mimicking the story this time around, was he just mimicking the development process?

‘Chappie’ is set in the near future, with a premise vaguely reminiscent of ‘Robocop’. The film opens with a montage of news reports on the overwhelming amount of crime plaguing Johannesburg.

In order to combat the onslaught of street violence, the police force have been replaced with a fleet of armed robots – known as Scouts.

The Scouts are the brainchild of Deon Wilson (played by Dev Patel), the lead programmer of a local robotics company, Tetra Vaal.

Yet despite his success with the Scouts, Deon’s mind is focused on much bigger ideas. In his spare time he is working tirelessly on creating the world’s first fully artificially intelligent robot, ie. a sentient being. A robot who can think, feel and learn by itself.

Shortly after getting a hold of a deactivated Scout to use as his test subject however, Deon is kidnapped by a group of low-life wannabe-gangsters (played by Die Antwood).

But upon discovering Deon’s experimental robot, the thugs decide that an obedient police droid would be an ideal companion to assist them in an upcoming heist they’ve planned.

There’s a number of basic flaws in logic storywise, some of the plot developments are a bit far-fetched, and a lot of the supporting characters are given very little to do, but ‘Chappie’ works so well thanks to Sharlto Copley’s flawless motion capture performance as the titular character.

The newly activated robot, nicknamed ‘Chappie’, is a sweet-natured soul with the body of a killer and the mind of an impressionable child.

He demonstrates an innocent disposition, a child-like curiosity and gleeful affection for learning.

But Chappie’s rapid development and world view are shaped by the beliefs, actions and behaviour of this group of vicious thugs, two of which he lovingly presumes to be his ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy’.

The film tackles many broad themes, not the least of which is the loss of innocence, and Copley manages to bring a surprisingly affectionate tenderness to the film that gives it a solid emotional foundation to build upon.

At first it’s sweet to observe Chappie discover and interact with the world, but once he’s introduced to violence, fear, and betrayal, your heart goes out for the innocent creature.

By the time Chappie is wrestling with complex emotions such as love, heartbreak and death, it’s absolutely heart-breaking to watch. It’s difficult not to well up at certain points.

The characters are wonderfully vivid, the action scenes are beautifully choreographed, and powerful scenes which are rife with agonising moments of inner turmoil add to this tragic tale of an impressionable mind corrupted by a hellish environment.

‘Chappie’ is a much more intimate film than ‘District 9’ or ‘Elysium’, but though the scope may be smaller, the range of emotions are wider.

9/10

Follow John Lyons on Twitter: @Fireinthelyons

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