CHAPPiE (2015) - Review

2/5 RATING

A

fter the refreshing "District 9" and the disappointing "Elysium" comes Blomkamp's third outing, "Chappie". Not much has changed. Let's talk about the good before this review turns sour: Blomkamp has the privilege to cast Dev Patel and the Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman in "Chappie" and they pull great performances like usual. With a great forefront cast like this, "Chappie" can't turn out too bad, right? But this isn't their movie ,it's Ninja and Yolandi Visser's. The duo are marketed as the supporting cast when in fact, they're the face of the movie -- quite possibly even more so than the titular character, Chappie. And boy, what characters they play. They are, hands down, one of the most annoying characters in cinema history. The two are clearly presented as antagonists, always becoming a stumbling block for Dev Patel's character and always steering Chappie in a direction that is clearly destructive. But near the third act of the film, Blomkam forces viewers to have a change of heart, a different perspective, and feel empathy for these two characters when in fact, they have done absolutely nothing to prove otherwise. The duo continue to live a reckless life and have no regard to how much of an annoyance they are to Patel's future endeavors. Blomkamp does the worst possible sin that a filmmaker could make: force a view on viewers without any other choice. To boot, "Chappie" also has none of the spectacular action sequences "District 9" or "Elysium" had and it once again, has a preachy message. The storytelling is sloppy with annoying characters and a confusing bait-and-switch that leaves viewers dissatisfied.

After the disappointment that was 'Elysium', this was a return to form. It's not perfect, but it was entertaining. CHAPPiE is a bit too personal and a bit too uneven to be the great film it had the potential to become.