Chappie review: Neill Blomkamp's latest is Short Circuit meets RoboCop

Director: Neill Blomkamp; Screenwriters: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell; Starring: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman; Running time: 120 mins; Certificate: 15

District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp has the geek world in a tizzy right now over his proposed Alien sequel, perhaps slightly overshadowing the fact that he actually has a new film coming out.

Robo-comedy Chappie is another original blockbuster that blends propulsive action with high-minded science fiction ideas. Whereas the Oscar-nominated District 9 looked at apartheid through extraterrestrials and Elysium tackled wealth disparity, Chappie wears its thematic undercurrent lightly, only scratching the surface when it comes to the growing significance of artificial intelligence.

Familiar faces Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver and Dev Patel head up the cast, but it's actually South African rap group Die Antwoord (members Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er star as versions of themselves) and Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley who serve as the engine for the story.

In the future-set backdrop for Chappie, droids produced by the Tetravaal corporation police the streets in a bid to keep the sprawling criminal underworld in check. Patel's Deon Wilson is the brains behind these combat droids, and seeks to push their evolution further to create machines that can think for themselves.

However, his boss Michelle Bradley (Weaver, all about the bottom line) puts the brakes on this and progress on a giant war machine dubbed 'The Moose'. The latter comes from Vincent Moore (Jackman), a mulleted, khaki-clad robophobe who believes a human mind should be guiding the tech.

Blomkamp and co-writer Terri Tatchell's story, which plays out as a blend of Short Circuit and RoboCop, feels a little tonally muddled, too, wheeling between the broadly comedic and super serious.

When one of Deon's droids gets KO'd in a gunfight, it eventually falls into the hands of Ninja and Yo-Landi who, with the help of its under-duress creator, reboot it with a consciousness in a bid to bail them out of trouble with gangsters.

Playing out as a blend of Short Circuit and RoboCop, Chappie is ultimately a triumph of cutting-edge visual effects over narrative and character. Copley is brilliant as the driving force behind the performance capture, his recognisable voice and physicality amplified by a VFX team to realise a CGI screen persona that rivals Dawn of the Planet of the Apes's Caesar when it comes to creating genuine empathy.

At the heart of the film is the emotional tug-of-war over Chappie between Ninja, who wants the robot to be cool and tough to aid in crime sprees, and Yo-Landi and Deon, who they see as being akin to a young child. This isn't as deeply engaged with AI as, say, Ex Machina - instead Chappie is really a film about parenthood.

Blomkamp and co-writer Terri Tatchell's story feels a little tonally muddled, too, wheeling between the broadly comedic and super serious. When Ninja blings up Chappie and teaches him gangster lingo, this sits at odds with the Paul Verhoeven-style satirical edge Blomkamp seeks to inject into the corporate scenes.

Chappie may not scale the heights of Blomkamp's Oscar-nominated debut District 9, but it's still an enjoyable blockbuster that's stylishly-made and doesn't scrimp on entertainment value.

Simon Reynolds

Movies Editor 

Simon has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, writing on staff and freelance for Hearst, Dennis, Future and Autovia titles before joining Cision in 2022.