WHAT South African director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) does best is place his stories in a realistic setting, giving zest to his futuristic films about robots and aliens.
Chappie is no different.
Set in the slums of Johannesberg instead of the west, Blomkamp’s predictable storyline is situated in a gritty subculture of South Africa.
Amid crime and poverty, lead engineer Deon, played by the peculiarly-cast Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), is enjoying success as his team of robots make up the majority of the Johannesburg police force.
Blomkamp’s trademark ‘live’, documentary-style footage opens Chappie, including interviews with scientists and news anchors (such as Anderson Cooper), which work well to add an element of voyeurism and give us context.
His soon-to-be-nemesis Vincent, a mullet-haired Hugh Jackman in another odd casting choice, works alongside Deon but is on the warpath as his project for bigger, more battle-hardy machines has been continuously rejected.
Incensed at his own failings at the expense of Deon’s success, Vincent sets out to sabotage his robotic police force, but his work is done for him when a gang kidnaps Deon, intent having on him shut down the entire police force so they can perform a heist.
What the gang, played convincingly by rave-rap duo Die Antwoord who bring an effective mix of trailer-trash and endearing qualities to their roles, don’t realise they have interrupted Deon as he attempts a new project, inputting consciousness into a robot.
What results is Chappie (voice and motion-captured by Sharlto Copley), a childlike robot with all the learning capabilities of a human at an advanced speed.
For sci-fi fans there is plenty going on, but Blomkamp’s focus is on the socio-political, which is Chappie’s backbone, along with some big philosophical questions about playing God.
In the scenes between Deon, Chappie and his ‘parents’, the film frequently steps over the mark with its emphasis of nurture over nature in the context of class.
It suggests the poor can only raise criminals, and bumbling engineer Deon is heralded for trying to save Chappie from that path.
All in all, Chappie is a take on Robocop, awkwardly situated between a sweary script, gun-toting violence and explosions and a more sensitive, childlike take on sci-fi.
The context works, and the idea of the characters, but largely due to poor casting the film comes off as second-rate.
