In the not too distant future robots will soon become part of the police force helping to stave off rising crime rates. But what happens when the machines we program and command can think and feel for themselves? How do we reconcile the human concepts of consciousness and a soul if a robot can feel these things too? When one robot, Chappie, becomes sentient we follow his journey as he discovers life and the world around him.
Set in Johannesburg in the near future we’re introduced to a world that is struggling to retain order. The police force invest in robot ‘Scouts’ that are used in place of human officers to crack down on gang activity and to try to reduce the crime rate. Michelle Brady (Sigourney Weaver) is the CEO of a large weapons and robotics company and thanks to their ‘Scouts’ designed by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) the company is making a lot of money. The ‘Scouts’ are programmed simply to follow the law and the orders from their human counterparts and those that aren’t complying will be eliminated or arrested. Deon however feels that the next step is creating a robotic police officer who has the capability of reasoning and understanding their roles as law enforcement. Despite being rebuffed by Brady, Deon eventually manages to successfully create a program of artificial intelligence and installs it on a decommissioned robot thus creating Chappie (Sharlto Copley). To add to Deon’s woes Chappie ends up falling in with a pair of low-life criminals Ninja and Yolandi (Ninja and Yolandi of Die Antwoord) who are influencing Chappie in all the wrong ways. Then there’s also Deon’s work colleague Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), a fellow engineer convinced that A.I is dangerous and is desperately trying to convince Brady that his much larger robot the ‘Moose’ which is operated by a human is a far safer option. But the dangers to Chappie lie not only with those around him but the world he lives in as it all starts falling apart.
Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) has returned with another film that is not only visually gritty and action-packed but also raises a number of challenging themes. Blomkamp’s previous films have all carried the “us VS them” and “good VS evil” undertones but there’s a slight twist to how it’s portrayed here. The “us” in this instance is Chappie, whilst the “them” is all the external people around him trying to manipulate him for ill or even destroy him. When Chappie is created he is inherently innocent and pure like a child. But a combination of the humans around him and the experiences he has, results in shaping his personality. Deon and Yolandi are the good and nurturing influences, whilst Ninja keeps leading Chappie astray into a life of crime and theft. This also raises the notion of “nature VS nurture” and whether this is something inherent in our conscience or something that is taught and learned. In Chappie’s case all of his behavior is learned or mimicked from his “mommy” Yolandi, his “daddy” Ninja and his “maker” Deon and the occasional bit of television or connecting to the internet. Chappie’s understanding of right and wrong become muddled as he evolves, and in his attempts of pleasing those around him his own moral compass becomes compromised.
Blomkamp as writer/producer/director has brought to the screen a number of distinct characters, from the aspirational young genius in Deon, to the insecure militaristic aggressive Vincent who are like two sides of the same coin. Both are engineers and inventors that see a future using robotic technology, but where Deon aspires for an evolution and sees A.I as a new type of life, Vincent fears the progression and views it as the beginning of human extinction. Both Patel and Jackman are brilliant and convincing in their respective roles, and it’s nice to see Jackman finally play a villain for a change. It’s a surprising choice by Blomkamp to cast Ninja and Yolandi of Die Antwoord to play characters in this film too, however they’re just exaggerated versions of their band personas in a lot of way. I found Yolandi’s performance and her character to be a little more tolerable than Ninja but considering that neither of them are technical actors they do a decent job. What works in their favour though is their unique look and style which makes them look like a pair of gangsters. Sadly though Sigourney Weaver is completely under-utilised, and even though she’s good in the scenes she’s in, there’s just not nearly enough of her and her character is fairly one dimensional. But really it’s Chappie and Sharlto Copley who steal the show entirely. Copley not only provides the voice of Chappie but also suited up a la motion capture style to provide the foundation of all his physical movements. Pay particular attention to the “gangster walk” Ninja teaches him, it’s hilarious. Even if you don’t enjoy any of the other performances, you can’t help but fall in love with Chappie and his development. And maybe this is where the debate for A.I comes in, that it’s the fact that we relate to Chappie’s pain and connect with him emotionally regardless of him being a robot that blurs the line of human and machine.
Story-wise the film is a little generic and there are elements here we’ve seen before. Evil weapons corporation profiting from deadly killing machines. The fight of the good scientist/engineer to protect his creation against the bad scientist/engineer who wants to destroy it. But forgiving this, stylistically Blomkamp always manages to deliver and thanks to some gritty visuals from Trent Opaloch we are transported into this world of crime and violence and its dirty seedy underbelly. This place feels unnervingly like it could be something that happens to us in five or ten years’ time.
Chappie is by no means a revolutionary or unique film about a robot, but what makes it special is how a variety of themes are portrayed through the characters in the film, and that one of those characters is a sentient robot. Whether you’re for, against or on the fence when it comes to developing A.I and the future it holds for us, it’s almost impossible to not fall in love with the robot Chappie.
Review Score: THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 120 minutes
Chappie is screening in Australian cinemas from 12th March 2015 through Sony Pictures
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