Nature vs. nurture, free will – it’s all at the center of Neill Blomkamp’s latest, Chappie, an examination of artificial intelligence that’s on a whole ’nother level, and how this A.I. does or doesn’t relate to man.
Blomkamp’s amusing, if troubled follow-up to the disappointing Elysium revolves around a repurposed robot in South Africa, a former police scout reprogrammed to become self-aware by his creator.
Chappie, f.k.a. Scout 22 of the Johannesburg PD, was on the chopping block (following an op gone awry) before his designer, Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), uploaded onto him this like, breakthrough consciousness program he had been working on for a while, very much going against his boss’ (Sigourney Weaver) command. The software turned the droid into a sentient, thinking, feeling...being – into a newborn effectively. Into a child that needs to be taught the ways, and harshnesses, of the human world.
Except Deon doesn’t get to school his creation.
Right. Did I mention that the movie’s set in Jo’burg? And that it is in a trendy and bleak not-so-distant future in which violence still reigns over there – at least according to native-son Blomkamp – and robots are clearly a thing?
’Cause it is, and that’s what brings the drama to the story.
See, just as Deon is about to break the rules and test out his theories, he catches the attention of the coolest, most ridikolous gangstas ever committed to the silver screen, Ninja and Yolandi, a ride-or-die couple played by two members of Die Antwoord, a South African hip-hop collective. (How very Angelina Jolie of Blomkamp to mine the music world for actorly talent....) They want Deon to hand over what they presume is a remote control that they can use to switch off the scouts, which in turn will allow them to pull off a final score so they can settle a debt with a hella dangerous bad element.
They – of course – get Chappie instead, a quick learner of baby of sorts portrayed in a motion-capture performance by District 9’s Sharlto Copley. Much to Deon’s chagrin and in spite of his objections, Ninja and Yolanda raise the now-curious droid to become a badass “f---er mother.” Which he does, all the while keeping in mind the distinction between right and wrong his maker asked to keep.
Look, Chappie’s that movie.
This is a movie about what it means to be human, or, in this case, human-ish. And it is a blockbuster hopeful about spectacularly bombastic things that go boom, which is where a muletted Hugh Jackman comes into the action. The Awesome Aussie plays a disgruntled colleague of Deon’s who wants their boss to pay attention to his ideas. Alas, Jackman’s character is so underwritten I can’t even remember his name.
And that, my friends, is Chappie’s biggest problems. Nothing can get us truly caring about what’s going on on screen, for Chappie’s all over the place, developmentally (his ability to read is at the whim of the script, for instance); the movie’s big idea is explored but in a surface-only manner; and the lot of the characters feel like just that: characters made of nothing more than unexamined idiosyncrasy.
Droids are meant to be fun. This one’s got soul, though, but he comes off as blah. I blame the parents (all of them, including, if not chief among them Blomkamp – he absolutely coulda done better).
My Rating **
