Thumbs-Down watch - CHAPPIE [2015, SOUTH AFRICA, US & MEXICO - English]
- After his highly-acclaimed sci-fi District 9 in 2009, director Neill Blomkomp decides to reuse the same background of the grubby Johannesburg in his latest flick Chappie. And trust me, the ridiculous title is the least of the film's problems. Lacking sense or eager to find some exciting diversity, Blomkomp recruits notorious South African rave-rap duo Die Antwoord as the main casts (besides Dev Patel & Hugh Jackman). Apart from using their actual commercial names in the film, both Ninja & Yolandi prove to be hopeless actors & seem to be playing exaggerated versions of their troubled selves, whilst at the same manage to irritate most of the cast & crew with their antics (Ninja apparently had to be written out of several scenes just so that he didn't return to the set). Still can't digest why on earth would an actor his calibre would want to be a part of this film, taking on the antagonist role Jackman is seen with an absurd mullet, and for no reason dressing like Steve Irwin even though he is supposed to be a former soldier who designs robots. And guess what, all of these are not even my main issues with the film!
- Still continuing to send the message in his films where humans are the worst villains, Blomkomp somehow incorporates a bit of Robocop (humanoid droids taking over the police force), and some of AI Artificial Intelligence (sentient robot who longs to be human), and wait there's more, a bit of ET (Chappie too starts to develop affection for his newfound "family" & has limited time with them) and why not, some Transformers (huge explosive scenes with hard-thumping scores). The result, a film working on a messy narrative with countless WTF moments
- And lastly, which I felt the film is really testing the audience's patience, is the inconsistent switching of Chappie the robot's emotional precociousness. While capable of downloading the entire internet into his brain in a matter of seconds, Chappie somehow still believes his "parents" when they tell him that when you stab or shoot someone, it just makes them go to sleep. As he puts on gold necklaces and profess more gangsta-attitude by saying things like "Chappie gonna kill y'all motherfuckas", we will also see him going all toddler with his whining of "Chappie scared! Chappie want mommy!" Seriously, I can't blame the audience laughing with ridicule when I was watching in the cinema, and how some critics are saying that at some point, you find yourself wanting everyone in the film dead
Rating : D-
#chappie #neillBlomkomp #hughJackman #devPatel #robots #dieArtwoord #filmReviews #sciFi #movies #sigourneyWeaver #district9
No comments:
Post a Comment