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)

Blomkamp the director trying hard to compensate for the incompetence of Blomkamp the screenwriter. Chappie is nice to look at, it has some good moments, but when you start thinking about it… :-( When you take the stories of each of the characters away from the plot, their behaviour is well… a stupidity race with a photo finish. Every single one of the blokes in there do the best they can to excel in this discipline. (21/05/2015)

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)

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)

Once again, it's a story told in a rush and in a hastily made-up world that stands on terribly unstable legs. Just like with Elysium, logic is dealt a heavy blow every few minutes, confirming once and for all that I don't understand the most determined advocate for the Republic of South Africa. It's clear how much he enjoys writing, directing, and perfecting films, but when bloody scenes alternate with infantile ones and a barrage of insults with moralizing, it's all for nothing. That's why all credit goes to undeterred Hugh Jackman, whose villain is boring, illogical, and oddly poorly written – and yet I still enjoyed watching him. But without the final ten minutes, which will surely make pedantic viewers tear their hair out in desperation, it's a downhill journey once again. This is how Neill Blomkamp successfully extracted emotions from me for the first time in his career. Because of this, I have increasing concerns about the fate of the fifth Alien film, no matter what plot lines it follows. (11/03/2015)