So this is
like a gritty South African 'Short Circuit 2' with the bad guy from
'Robocop'.
It's another one from Neill Blomkamp, who did 'District 9' and...
um... remember 'District 9'?
It's fairly
sloppy narrative-wise, and the actual science elements are at first a
little off but soon become increasingly nonsensical. I know it's
science fiction, but it should at least stick to the rules that it
initially lays out, right? Otherwise it's just a mess.
I also have a
problem with the cheapness of the d'awe factor. Chappie has bunny
ears, and wakes up cowering, and is generally adorable (the "you go sleep-weepy" and acting gangster bits were particularly cringy). I'm no
expert, but I'm pretty sure it would take ages to develop a seamless
AI, to the point where it would be difficult to draw the line at
where it becomes “alive” (to be honest I think there's only
something special about consciousness because we're looking out from
inside of it, but whatever). He would probably just be a normal
supercomputer for a while, then emulate human emotions increasingly
well until it becomes impossible to tell that he's emulating them,
right? I mean that's what we do. Have you seen a baby? Cats are
closer to me or you than a fresh one. And cats are idiots. It bothers
me because I sort of fell for the cutesy crap (more than I would if
it was coming from a human child, in what is possibly a bad sign) but I don't want to be your cuteness whore, movie.
Oh and a lot
of the story elements are re-heated from other works. Some of the
character motivation was also questionable, the plot often moving
it's pawns around in order to reach action packed conclusions. Oh and
the ending was extremely sappy and the massive jump forward was
unbelievable.
It wasn't all
bad though. The effects were both excellent and seamless (obviously)
and most of the acting was pretty spot on (though none of the
characters felt that much like real people, but this was more of a
scripting problem). Sigourney Weaver and Hugh Jackman are weird
additions, and both seem kinda bored, but Dev Patel does well. It was
also a fairly compelling watch, keeping my attention despite
misfiring with it's pacing several times. I was gripped towards the
end though, but that was ruined by the dumb ending.
Chappie: 36.1