Movie Review: Chappie

Sharlto Copley does not get nearly enough credit for his work as an actor. With the exception of a horrid performance in Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, Copley has been consistently excellent in everything he's appeared since his breakthrough role in 2009's District 9. His work as the titular robot in Chappie is one of the most impressive feats of his career to-date. Using just his voice and the magic of motion capture technology, Copley is able to bring a level of innocence and perpetual curiosity to this character that feels very human. The fact that Copley is able to make this character so loveable and emotionally dense without even physically appearing on screen is just remarkable.

Unfortunately outside of the consistently heartwarming and interesting title character, Chappie is an absolute clusterfuck. Writer/director Neil Blookamp's shifts the narrative focus so frequently that it becomes unclear who the main character of the film really is. Chappie, Chappie's creator, a robotics programmer at a large corporation who created the robotic police force that the South African government but really just wants to make a free-thinking robot with unrestricted, human-like emotion (Dev Patel), a pissed-off co-worker of Patel's who wants his massive man-operated drone to replace the robotic police force (a mulleted Hugh Jackman in full overacting mode) and a low-life husband/wife criminal duo who kidnap Chappie and try to turn him into a street-hardened thug (hip-hop duo Die Antwoord, who are the epitome of on-screen poison) all take turns being the center of the film's attention. To say it's exhausting to keep up with all the film's subplots and character arcs would be a vast understatement. As one would probably expect in a film without a true main character, the film shifts tones at the drop of a hat, which gives it a very disjointed, incomplete feel. The implausible ending that somehow doesn't mesh with any of the 6,243,121, tones Bloomkamp explores makes this already scattershot film that much worse. The ending is so hair-brained and insultingly stupid that it makes the rest of the narrative seem competently put together.

Watching an unfocused, half-baked mess like Chappie makes you wonder how the same guy was able to create such a streamlined, original and groundbreaking film like District 9 a mere six years ago. Between this and 2013's good-but-not-spectacular Elysium, it's clear the immense promise Bloomkamp showed on District 9 was a fluke. He needs to scale back on his desire to load his films with half-assed social commentary and convoluted, over-complicated plotlines, and just make a constantly compelling and narratively coherent film that properly showcases the originality and technical competence that made Hollywood take notice of him in the first place. The inept writing and pretty terrible acting from the supporting cast is a huge blow to the overall quality, but Copley's awe-inspiring performance and a few nicely-executed action setpieces prevent Chappie from being a complete failure.

2.5/5 Stars