Chappie

Science fiction live, or another escapade by Neill Blomkamp, a lover of craziness. But while District 9 was original and Elysium was at least technically opulent, Chappie is neither. It cutely and at the same time quite stupidly winks at the viewer, but essentially offers clichés and average emotions. You will sympathise with the robot protagonist only when he cutely says "fuckmother" and philosophises with his equally cute father and mother. Otherwise, it's just an ordinary film that doesn't have much to offer. There’s not much action, Hugh Jackman is in a strange role that doesn't give him much space, and Sharlto Copley, instead of running around the set and throwing his brilliant psycho lines and crazy faces, is in a metal box. (16/03/2015)

Neill Blomkamp lived up to his standard and finally added a static camera, which makes Chappie his best movie in terms of technologies. The fact that he cast the gang from the band Die Antwoord into some of the leading roles is also a big plus for me. I cannot think of anybody else from Johannesburg who could play bigger gangsters and creeps than Yolandi and Ninja. They are so extremely crazy, rotten and their music is so aggressive that nothing could fit into this movie better. I am a bit surprised that the director once again portrays Johannesburg as the worst place to inhabit, where not even the craziest Scandinavian murderer would want to live, as in Scandinavia, they treat murderers in prisons better than what the inhabitants of this town get on a daily basis. That is the only thing that bothered me about this film and the only reason why I didn’t rate it with five stars. Watching this city full of cement lots overgrown with thicket, teeming with human filth, is not really the peace and quiet my brain needs. Everything else was almost flawless. (20/05/2015)

Why? Because Die Antwoord, that’s why. Throw in a bit of wacky comedy, a bit of fatalistic sci-fi drama, add a dash of Deus Ex Machina and a few ideas from The Matrix on top, season it with a pinch of clichés, stir it up and you have a fun, inconsistent mashup of genres that one moment is laugh-out-loud hilarious and the next is naturalistically ripping your body in half. Blomkamp is a misunderstood filmmaker doing things his own way, the antithesis of the California dream factory of today. And that’s good. And one thing is certain: Die Antwoord are aliens whose cute non-acting is amusing. Although I believe those two didn't have to play much, they're fucked up in real life añready :o) (21/03/2015)

The anarchic visual firepower, which suited Blomkamp more than I was reluctant to believe after all the trailers, is carried primarily by Opaloch's eccentric cinematography, which sells the wannabe documentary style as well as few other films, and by the bizarre cast starting with Die Antwoord and ending with Jackman's hairstyle. Charlto Copley milks tears from only doing the audio. Elysium is forgiven. Even with the dramaturgical leash tightened very short, even Alien could have succeeded. (19/05/2015)

Pretty bad. The great technical aspects and a titanic protagonist who really looks 100% real unfortunately can't balance the extremely annoying characters, the disappointing barking of Sigourney Weaver and a shoddy script that makes a fool of even poor Hugh Jackman. Oh dear. Neill Blomkamp has a lot to fix in his next film. (02/06/2015)