Like so many people I really enjoyed Neill Blomkamp's DISTRICT 9 one of the very best science-fiction films in recent years that fused cerebral social comment with exciting fast paced action sequences . I missed his follow up ELYSIUM but couldn't help noticing from the trailers that it had the same visual look as the director's prior film , an opinion that seemed reinforced by the rather lukewarm reviews ELYSIUM received . With CHAPPIE my spidey senses were tingling that we'd be getting more of the same along with a pastiche of similar films such as ROBOCOP and SHORT CIRCUIT . Add to this a rather poor marketing campaign that saw parents taking their children to the film only to lead them out again when they realised there was violence and very bad language . Even the title CHAPPIE gives the impression the audience are going to be watching a twee Disney type film and you might just be expecting a massive own goal where marketing is concerned
To be fair CHAPPIE isn't a massive disaster but is ill thought out on so many levels . First of all Blomkamp seems unable to leave whatever comfort zone he had in DISTRICT 9 . The film starts with talking head interviews and news reports that we had in D9 and it's only when the characters mention droid cops that I was reminded I wasn't watching D9 . We then get a high octane shoot out in a Jo-Burg slum and again I was left with the impression I could have been watching out-takes from the action scenes from D9 with the droid cops superimposed over the action . To its mild credit the film then does start taking on an identity of its own but here it starts to hit serious problems that have been mentioned - the tone . I can't emphasise how schizophrenic the film starts becoming . The titular droid and its developer Deon get kidnapped by some nasty foul mouthed criminals from the slums and these criminals are often incapable of opening their mouths without a string of expletives coming out . Later on we get a female crim reading Chappie a story like she would a child and it's like watching a mawkish family film complete with incidental music to go with it . I'm unable to emphasise how often this jarring shifts in tone happen or indeed why they happen . I think the angry parents who dragged their little ones out the cinema have only themselves to blame for not researching a film beforehand - this is an era where something can easily be researched via the internet - but by the same token this is by no means a family film yet someone bizarre segments suggest it might be
CHAPPIE isn't a complete dead loss and I did like it in parts . Much of the film is helped by the casting of Dev Patel as Deon and he's always been good at playing sympathetic characters who have no problem getting the audience on their side and he continues in this type of role . Also as in the past director Blomkamp knows how to make great action scenes but at the end of the day CHAPPIE isn't a rip roaring action thriller anymore than it is a family film and one wonders what sort of film the production team were trying to market ?
To be fair CHAPPIE isn't a massive disaster but is ill thought out on so many levels . First of all Blomkamp seems unable to leave whatever comfort zone he had in DISTRICT 9 . The film starts with talking head interviews and news reports that we had in D9 and it's only when the characters mention droid cops that I was reminded I wasn't watching D9 . We then get a high octane shoot out in a Jo-Burg slum and again I was left with the impression I could have been watching out-takes from the action scenes from D9 with the droid cops superimposed over the action . To its mild credit the film then does start taking on an identity of its own but here it starts to hit serious problems that have been mentioned - the tone . I can't emphasise how schizophrenic the film starts becoming . The titular droid and its developer Deon get kidnapped by some nasty foul mouthed criminals from the slums and these criminals are often incapable of opening their mouths without a string of expletives coming out . Later on we get a female crim reading Chappie a story like she would a child and it's like watching a mawkish family film complete with incidental music to go with it . I'm unable to emphasise how often this jarring shifts in tone happen or indeed why they happen . I think the angry parents who dragged their little ones out the cinema have only themselves to blame for not researching a film beforehand - this is an era where something can easily be researched via the internet - but by the same token this is by no means a family film yet someone bizarre segments suggest it might be
CHAPPIE isn't a complete dead loss and I did like it in parts . Much of the film is helped by the casting of Dev Patel as Deon and he's always been good at playing sympathetic characters who have no problem getting the audience on their side and he continues in this type of role . Also as in the past director Blomkamp knows how to make great action scenes but at the end of the day CHAPPIE isn't a rip roaring action thriller anymore than it is a family film and one wonders what sort of film the production team were trying to market ?