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Friday, March 20, 2020

Chappie (2014)

Chappie is the third film from Niel Blomkamp, the director of District 9 and Elysium. This movie is filled with messages regarding the Earth and its future but unlike District 9, the messages in Chappie ultimately come off as hollow. 
Chappie is an AI robot built to learn and grow.  Like a child but more metallic.  According to the faux-news reports that open the film, the police force in near-future Johannesburg, South Africa has been replaced with human-sized and heavily-armed robots that, while not indestructible, are powerful enough to have inspired a steep drop in the crime rate.These are not thinking robots, and they are easily outwitted.  So as a pet project, Chappie is created under the radar, and is a dangerous combination of easily manipulated and a deadly warrior.
The script is a bit heavy handeded, and the actors cannot save it.  Sigourney Weaver is a cardboard cut out of a corporate executive, Hugh Jackman lacks his usual charm, and Dev Patel is good.  The film is diversionary but not quite deep enough.

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