"Enough, Already. Subtract. Not Add. All right?"
Watching “Chappie” is a frustrating experience, not unlike watching a small child being sat on by his fatter older brother. You get the sense that the poor kid had important things to do that day, but now he’s going to spend his time on the floor with the wind knocked out of him, powerless to stop this unfair treatment, protests largely ignored.
“Chappie” is actually, as evidenced by its bipolar marketing campaign, two different films. The first (and better) film is a modern day Pinnochio, following the rapid growth of South Africa’s first robot with independent A.I and the wildly opposing forces who teach him the bare minimum he requires to suit their selfish needs. The strongest points in the film center around Chappie’s weeklong upbringing in the hands of Ninja and Yolandi Visser from Die Antwoord (who have a fun time playing fictionalized versions of themselves) and Jose Pablo Cantillo, three characters who embody the soul of what the film seems to WANT to be. At its best, “Chappie” seems to struggle to say important things about national identity, about how difficult it is to form personal identity in the midst of violence, about the torrid relationship between law enforcement and the criminal underground they police. Unfortunately, all of these themes are barely touched on. They require a deft hand and pathos, both of which are present in the film, proven by the superb cinematography and the bombastic score (Hans Zimmer with a sprinkling of Die Antwoord’s greatest hits).
Ultimately the problem lies in the script and the intention of making this a stereotypical “action” movie. Everything bogging down this movie is tied to attempts to make the film more commercial and palatable. Hugh Jackman’s character, an impossibly psychotic engineer, takes the film in his meaty hands and throws it wildly off course, careening into a climax filled with explosions, heavy-handed sentimentality and just plain nonsense. In the first half of the film the script already felt clunky and overly expositional, but during the second half all pretense of subtlety and introspection goes out the window, and we’re left with the South African version of “Transformers”.
It’s disappointing, to say the least, because the high points of this film are pulled off with aplomb. Chappie’s engineers put a lot of time into making the guy seem likable, and the robot’s physicality and personality are heartwarming to watch develop. It’s interesting that Chappie is the only character in the film with a complete story arc, and the only character who manages to sound like they’re invested in what they’re saying. Many characters’ motivations, especially Dev Patel’s Deon, seem contrived or forced (there’s a part, I shit you not, where he decides to ignore directives from his supervisor because he looks at a cat poster that inspires him to believe in himself). Chappie’s arc is traceable and relatable, up until that damned last half hour, where everything falls apart.
I’m not sad I saw “Chappie”; as I said earlier, parts of the film made me feel deeply for its central character and think about the possibilities independent AI could offer. But like its namesake, the film was too fragile to fight for its own ideals, and was influenced by the wrong people before it learned what it wanted to be. Its failure will go unnoticed and un-mourned, and science fiction films will continue to not be taken seriously, which might be the saddest part of all.
DRINK:
Is it weird that my first impulse is Jaegermeister? It looks kind of like motor oil. But the best choice would be the cheapest, trashiest beer in the biggest bottle you can find.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink when a newscaster speaks.
-Drink when the film uses subtitles (annoying, because most of the time this is done when someone is speaking English).
-Drink when Chappie learns something.
-Drink for gunshots (woof)
-Drink for profanity.
Ultimately the problem lies in the script and the intention of making this a stereotypical “action” movie. Everything bogging down this movie is tied to attempts to make the film more commercial and palatable. Hugh Jackman’s character, an impossibly psychotic engineer, takes the film in his meaty hands and throws it wildly off course, careening into a climax filled with explosions, heavy-handed sentimentality and just plain nonsense. In the first half of the film the script already felt clunky and overly expositional, but during the second half all pretense of subtlety and introspection goes out the window, and we’re left with the South African version of “Transformers”.
It’s disappointing, to say the least, because the high points of this film are pulled off with aplomb. Chappie’s engineers put a lot of time into making the guy seem likable, and the robot’s physicality and personality are heartwarming to watch develop. It’s interesting that Chappie is the only character in the film with a complete story arc, and the only character who manages to sound like they’re invested in what they’re saying. Many characters’ motivations, especially Dev Patel’s Deon, seem contrived or forced (there’s a part, I shit you not, where he decides to ignore directives from his supervisor because he looks at a cat poster that inspires him to believe in himself). Chappie’s arc is traceable and relatable, up until that damned last half hour, where everything falls apart.
I’m not sad I saw “Chappie”; as I said earlier, parts of the film made me feel deeply for its central character and think about the possibilities independent AI could offer. But like its namesake, the film was too fragile to fight for its own ideals, and was influenced by the wrong people before it learned what it wanted to be. Its failure will go unnoticed and un-mourned, and science fiction films will continue to not be taken seriously, which might be the saddest part of all.
DRINK:
Is it weird that my first impulse is Jaegermeister? It looks kind of like motor oil. But the best choice would be the cheapest, trashiest beer in the biggest bottle you can find.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink when a newscaster speaks.
-Drink when the film uses subtitles (annoying, because most of the time this is done when someone is speaking English).
-Drink when Chappie learns something.
-Drink for gunshots (woof)
-Drink for profanity.
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