Chappie can be best described as Johnny-Five 2.0. If you have no idea who Johnny-Five is, he’s the living robot from the infamous movie called Short Circuit. On a side-note, if you have no idea who Johnny-Five is, that means I’m showing my age. There have been many movies made about a robot gaining a conscious, or getting a brain; all which have been great for the most part. Chappie though, is a little different as it’s a bit more honest.
Neil Blomkamp, the director and writer for Chappie, approach to sci-fi is very simplistic. His technique utilizes taking real world conflict, changing the characters, scenes, and settings, and playing the characters and scenes out honestly in-front of the camera as though it’s a raw documentary. District 9 was very much about the Jews, their struggle with anti-antisemitism, the holocaust, and their current conflict with the Palestinians (not to mention the Gaza strip). Elysium was much about Obamacare, and the growing mantra from Occupy Wallstreet about the 99%. Chappie, on the other hand, is not political. It’s a very honest version of a dysfunctional family dynamic, filled with extreme violence, and its hopeful evolution for the better. That’s as much as I’ll say without ruining the movie for you.
See Chappie. It’s definitely worth it. Great writing, superb directing, awesome action.
P.S. THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR KIDS