Chappie

This review may contain spoilers!

A fantastic film that is hampered by it's weak and strange ending. I would give Chappie a 7.5/10.

Chappie had a brilliant original story that was classic Blomkamp to watch, we had themes of poverty, the soul, society and conformity and a great many other important concepts. This was all done through the great medium of this intelligent robot 'Chappie', who we came to see humanity and the world through. The use of CGI and animation around Copley's movements meant that the special effects became some of the highlights of this film and once again showed that Blomkamp's style thrives upon science fiction. The cinematography and editing has some great attention to detail in the way this was filmed and put together; the pace of individual scenes moves effortlessly well thanks to this. The music within this film was also incredible, a powerful score combined with some genuine South African music.

Dev Patel, who played Deon Wilson, was incredible in this film, his drive and resolve in his quest to create what is deemed the impossible is a real strength of the film. Ninja, who played Ninja, really did a great job playing this modern 'gangster' role; he became a symbol for the reality of the world in a really significant way in this film. Yo-Landi Visser, who played Yolandi, was a really charming role onscreen; her nurturing and caring mannerisms made her the heart of the film. Hugh Jackman, who played Vincent Moore, was a fantastic Blomkamp antagonist; he bordered the comedic yet psychopathic line that is so noteworthy of these films.

The best performance of the film was absolutely Sharlto Copley, who played Chappie. We see a really human element in how Chappie moves, as such Copley balances the line between a role that is fictional with a natural movement style. His voice work is really what makes the film, we see this robot evolve in his childhood and conscious awareness due to this work that Copley does. Chappie and therefore Copley is really what makes this film, it's a performance of innocence, comedy, tragedy and incredibly intelligent exploration of what it means to be alive.

This film's plot suffered from some pacing issues, scenes dragged on for too long or events took so long to happen that you started to feel like the film was losing it's sense of purpose. Which brings me to the significant problem with this film, the ending. The end of Chappie was so convoluted and undermined so many of the film's themes and messages that you were left wondering if they had ended on the right note at all. The film by any means should have ended with tragedy and not this weird 'everyone lives but the Latino guy' twist.

Jose Pablo Cantillo, who played Yankie (Amerika), was just a backing character to Ninja and lacked a strong presence in this film. Sigourney Weaver, who played Michelle Bradley, was one of the worst performance sof the film, her monotone drawl was ahdr to listen to and her role in the film felt incredibly minor. Brandon Auret, who played Hippo, was one of the most basic antagonists I've seen and did not need as much screen time as he got.