Stuart:

After the crushing disappointment that was Elysium, Neill Blomkamp delivers a much better film, even if it still falls short of his debut feature, District 9.

It’s hard to ignore the similarities to the likes of Short Circuit (with aspects of Robocop thrown in) but Chappie shows us a Johannesburg that is so overwhelmed with crime that the police have added some robot officers to their ranks. One of these automatons gets an upgrade courtesy of creator Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), but unlike his kin ends up spending most of his time with a couple of down on their luck crims, Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser (played by, um, Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser.)

This is where I get unnecessarily distracted by the casting. Ninja and Visser, of course, are from Die Antwoord. For whatever reason, their character names are the same as their ‘real’ names. Okay, fine. But then their characters seem to be listening to Die Antwoord frequently during the film. *Squints…takes a step back. Furrows brow* I guess that makes sense; after all, Ice Cube’s character in Anaconda listened to Ice Cube at one point. But then we see that Visser and Ninja are also wearing Die Antwoord merchandise. With their names and faces on their clothes.

So are they also superstar rappers? If they are, why are they desperate to scrounge up enough cash to pay back the money they owe to gangster Hippo (Brandon Auret)? And why aren’t there really robot police officers in Johannesburg? I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S REAL ANYMORE.

Okay, so perhaps I’m thinking about this a bit too much. If this kind of meta stuff doesn’t bother you, then their performances still might. The fact of the matter is that Ninja and Visser aren’t actually that good, and too much of the film rests on their shoulders. The opening 20 minutes are painful, with some really awful exposition delivered by the rappers-turned-actors (scenes which could have easily been excised.)

The good news is that I eventually adjusted to their performances. And the general tone of the film too, for that matter. Chappie has far more comedy that one might expect, and it works rather well.

Towering above these admittedly minor concerns is the film’s true asset: the character of Chappie itself. Played by Sharlto Copley and then brought to life with the help of computers, the character is incredible. Blomkamp is one of those directors who actually shoots with visual effects in mind, so his movies always have top notch CGI, but this is by far the best-realised example I’ve seen in years. I really did feel for the character, despite the lack of facial expressions. A combination of a script that’s determined to make us feel sympathy, Copley’s great performance and incredible post-production wizardry means that the robot’s plight really hits home.

Overall, the film is one classy looking and sounding package. Hans Zimmer’s score is…well, derivative, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad per se. If the TRON: Legacy score sounded like Daft Punk doing Hans Zimmer, the Chappie score sounds like Hans Zimmer doing Daft Punk doing Hans Zimmer.

Finally, the supporting cast do an excellent job (and outshine Ninja and Visser). Dev Patel proves that he’s once again a fantastic actor, whilst Hugh Jackman has fun with an over the top accent, ridiculous colloquialisms and a non-ironic mullet. Sigourney Weaver is sorely under-utilised, but apparently her turning up for filming means we’re getting Alien 5 with her and Blomkamp, so it’s hard to complain.

A definite step up from his last effort, Chappie is a much more enjoyable film if you ignore a couple of dodgy performances and a less than stellar script.