Movie Reviews

Following District 9 and Elysium, South-African director Neill Blomkamp once again drags our asses into the sci-fi realm with Chappie, a delightful mix between Robocop, A.I. and Short Circuit. This time around we are dropped headfirst in the violent streets of Johannesburg where the police uses robots to restore order. Things go wrong though when one of those robots ends up in the hands of Die Antwoord’s Yolandi and Ninja (playing white trash-ier versions of themselves). They want to turn the robot in the ultimate gangsta, but then proceed by naming it Chappie… which is anything but gangsta, yet it fits because Chappie thinks and acts like a little kid at first. To help them with the reprogramming, they kidnap a designer (Dev Patel), who actually wanted to turn this robot in the very first robot with a consciousness.

What follows is the obligatory clash between nature verus nurture and between man versus machine. Not that Blomkamp is too interested in digging really deep, leaving plenty of room for jokes and explosive action. Oh yeah, Sigourney Weaver and Hugh Jackman are in this movie as well, respectively as the ultimate corporate bitch and the baddie. Both of them don’t really contribute much of anything, other than the kind of haircut that belonged on Bundesliga players in the 80ies in Jackman’s case.

It’s silly at times, sure. But the movie flies by, the action is awesome and Blomkamp’s love for B-movie trashiness shines through in every shot, which made Chappie an absolute pleasure to watch.

The Blu-ray contains a bunch of behind-the-scenes featurettes, an alternate ending, and one extended scene where Chappie snaps Hugh Jackman’s leg in half over a desk. Probably because of his haircut.