Chappie (Rated C)
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver
Genre: Science Fiction
Dwight's Rating:
Artificial Intelligence or AI is said to be the intelligence exhibited by machines or software, or the study of the goal of creating intelligence.
The new film, "Chappie", is theoretically a look at some of the potential pros and cons of a future with AI. But instead of "Artificial Intelligence", the AI here might as well stand for "Absolute Idiocy", "Actual Insanity", "Absurdity Incorporated", or "Asininity Infinite".
I'm not sure if it's what Director Neill Blomkamp and his co-writer wife Terri Tatchell intended, but I found myself laughing heartily several times during this movie. Blomkamp and Tatchell teamed up before with great success with smart science fiction that takes a critical look at society in 2009's spectacular "District 9". Blomkamp again held up the magnifying glass in the slightly-less-critically-acclaimed, but still reasonably entertaining "Elysium" of 2013. But while "Chappie" appears to want to put societal attitudes and prejudices under the microscope, it ends up being nothing but a big joke on all fronts.
The premise: in the near future in South Africa, human police officers have, for the most part, been replaced with robots that patrol the streets and deal with lawbreakers. But eventually some of the lawless people in Johannesburg decide to rise up. And one group of mentally challenged criminals (that's my description for them -- not the official movie line) decides to kidnap one of these police droids along with its nerdy creator, Deon (Dev Patel). Deon is forced to reprogram the droid, giving it the ability to feel and think for "himself".
The robot is nicknamed "Chappie" (Sharlto Copley), and we follow him as he, in child-like wonderment, discovers the world and the nature of (often cruel) human beings, all while being led into a life of crime by his human handlers.
There is great promise in that premise. But it is mostly squandered through a series of missteps by the writing-directing team.
Blomkamp is of South African and Canadian decent, and quite successfully set his masterpiece "District 9" in South Africa. It was a refreshing change of pace from the typical setting of New York City for most alien/sci-fi flicks. But while that setting worked in that movie, it seems to have been the wrong choice for "Chappie". And unfortunately, some of the characterizations in this film end up feeling awfully racist.
First of, those three nincompoops who decide to use the police droid to help them with a big heist to pay off their debts, are replete with all the stereotypes of ethnic gangsters -- or at least, those that today's movies tell us they possess. They hold their guns sideways, and use words like "illest"! Two of these are South Africans, and the other American of Hispanic decent. And as our poor robot Chappie is like a baby, he learns to speak English from these fine folks. As such, Chappie ends up speaking in a graceless manner with a horrific mash-up of international accents -- a little bit of South African here, Middle Eastern there, Caribbean too. He sounds like an immigrant who has just learned English.
And because these three clowns apparently think they are rap video superstars, they adorn poor Chappie in gold chains and spray paint "tattoos" all over him.
So picture: an awkward robot with a weird accent wearing gold chains, carrying guns, on a crime spree, carjacking and assaulting people! It's as bad that those two dingbat "ethnic" robots that so riled up audiences back in 2009's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". At least those silly Transformers were only occasionally on screen, and were supposedly there to provide "(not-so) comic relief".
Chappie, on the other hand, is the star, and is on screen with his constant hood-rat imitation.
It doesn't take much to realize the film is preaching against these generalizations. It is hoping you get the message about treating people who look and who are different from us with respect. But it comes across as making fun of folks, adding fuel to the same incendiary stereotypes it's supposed to be fighting.
The other big problem: the bad performances. In fact, the only tolerable performance is that of Patel ("Slumdog Millionaire"), which can best be described as "not objectionable", given the questionable work material. On the other hand, Academy Award nominee Sigourney Weaver is wasted in a superfluous role. And all the criminals (not just our three dim-wits) are overly ridiculous and cartoonish. But surprisingly, the biggest cartoon and biggest waste of talent and time is Hugh Jackman. Either he lost one helluva bet, or the director or screenwriter saved his life at some point, or he's doing this as a tax write off, but this is arguably the worst ever performance of Jackman's entire acting career.
As a jealous, rival scientist to Patel's Deon, Jackman acts as if he is the ultimate 1980s Saturday morning cartoon villain, or at least the bad guy on a very bad 1980s Australian soap. Speaking of the 1980s, the musical score feels like an homage to most of the bizarre action or sci-fi movies of that decade, like "Terminator" or "Robocop". But it's more weird than flattering.
In the end, the movie takes a sharp turn into examining the transference of consciousness -- territory last ventured in 2013's fantastic, "Her" and 2014's atrocious, "Transcendence". You don't have to possess much intelligence (artificial or otherwise) to figure out which one "Chappie" handles this topic like. So, if you are planning on spending your hard-earned money to watch a film, "Chappie" is not the movie to see. It is far too ludicrous. The only place "Chappie" fits in our film-going world is to be used as a tool to firmly establish a standard of what should not be acceptable in a film.
o Dwight Strachan is the host/producer of " Morning Blend" on Guardian Radio. He is a television producer and writer, and an avid TV history and film buff. Email dwight@nasguard.com and follow him on twitter @morningblend969.
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