This is topic Chappie in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-09-2015, 07:56 AM:
 
If you say Chappie, I think about a local brand of dog food and not about a "cute" and "friendly" nickname for a robot.

Chappie, or rather CHAPPiE, as the movie titles itself, is no. 3 in the "Joburg Chronicles" series by Neill Blomkamp. Like District 9, this movie is also based on a short movie, called Tetra Vaal, presumably one of the movies that got him in the directors seat in the first place.

Unfortunately, there's no compelling reason to go see this movie, because you've seen all parts of it before. Only was it called differently then, like RoboCop, Short Circuit, Wall-E or District 9. No, not even a weird Rap and Rave act going by the omnious name of "Die Antwoord" is going to make this bunch of recycled robot junk look like something new and shiny.

I couldn't help it, but this Chappie robot with his misplaced bad boy antics kept reminding me of Jar Jar Binks. I might also have missed the point where this movie turned from a serious action movie into a failed attempt at a comedy.

I guess Neill Blombkamp should go back at what he's proven to be good at: Create kick-ass special effects. District 9 might have been a good idea, but not every brain fart is worth creating an entire movie about, so please let others do the writing and directing.
 

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Posted by Jason McMillan (Member # 5542) on 03-09-2015, 04:23 PM:
 
Ah Chappie... I don't know what to think about this movie. The impression I came off with was it was a 2 hour commercial for Die Antwoord and Sony products. I'm not a huge fan of Die Antwoord, but enough to give it a chance. I came off thinking their acting skills were pretty subpar to me.

I realize it's just a movie, but there were so many implausible things in the movie that my mind couldn't just fall into the story. It kept going "oh.. hey.. he pulled a gun on a coworker with multiple witnesses.. and wasn't fired"... lolwut? And don't even get me started on thumb drive capacity issues.

Seriously.. play spot the Sony product placement... Vaio Laptops... Bravia Televisions... the very obvious "what are these even doing in the movie" playstation 4s ... it's just relentless. I get it, you have product placement to help offset the costs of making movies.. but this was overkill. It just felt like a Sony commercial.

I was disappointed in the amount of screen time Sigourney Weaver had. It's like "blink and you'll miss her". I was hoping she could save the movie.

"The Moose" looks so much like Ed 209 from Robocop that all I could think about was Robocop.

I wanted to like it being a fan of Science Fiction, but sadly, not one I can recommend.

And the huge plot hole (caution there be spoilers here) to me ...

...why exactly did Deon leave the master key in Chappie instead of putting it back under lock and key if it didn't make any difference if he took it out? It affected Chappie none when it was stolen out of him. Why didn't he put it back and then it couldn't have been stolen. I realize this was a plot device, but one (a major one) that had no explanation to me. It felt so incomplete and unnecessary. Maybe I missed something.
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-09-2015, 06:49 PM:
 
Yeah, that scene where he pulled a gun in a cubicle office, threatening to kill someone and this all happening amongst all the co-workers, who simply go back to work after it happened, because you know, ha ha, the gun wasn't loaded also had me slightly scratching my head...

The same regarding this implausible Guard Key drama. I was constantly thinking the same... Why not put the whole thing back in the box it came from? It clearly was only necessary to load the new firmware onto the droids as a security precaution against hacking.

And don't get me started about the whole consciousness reading stuff... Human and robot minds are apparently 100% compatible, with each other, can be read within mere seconds and fit on a simple USB stick. Also, what first required a cluster of PS4 consoles, can also be done with a single VAIO notebook later on.

Regarding this Sony advertisement fest... Apparently the Sony product placement department didn't get the memo: The entire Sony VAIO product line has been terminated about a year go.
 

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Posted by Jason McMillan (Member # 5542) on 03-10-2015, 11:08 AM:
 
hah I see you and I had mostly exactly the same issues with the film.

I was reading online somewhere yesterday that Ninja from Die Antwoord was a nightmare to work with on set. I don't remember the link, but a quick google search should find it. It was an amusing read.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 03-20-2015, 06:51 PM:
 
I hope I'll survive the week with Chappie. That musical soundtrack is grating. I think the last movie that I played with a soundtrack that was this annoying was 8 Mile, and I barely survived that.

As far as the story goes, there are just too many plot holes to allow me to enjoy it. And I like most science fiction movies.
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-21-2015, 07:23 PM:
 
And you'll replace it with what? Insurgent?

Well, story wise, that one is even worse, but luckily you don't have to watch it every night and the music in this one is nothing to write home about, but far less annoying than Chappie's "listen mama, Chappie can make music with feedback-loops!" soundtrack.
 

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Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 03-21-2015, 10:46 PM:
 

quote: Frank Cox

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As far as the story goes, there are just too many plot holes to allow me to enjoy it. And I like most science fiction movies.

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