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Neill Blomkamp's Chappie (2015, Hugh Jackman, Sharlto Copley, Die Antwoord)

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C

chadskin

Member
Just can't take this movie seriously.

chappi.jpg
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
FTF said:
The lack of reviewes/review embargo is concerning...I'm still probably catching it this weekend, as the only other 2015 movie I've seen so far is Kingsman (which was awesome btw), but not a good sign.

And hopefully Die Antwoord didn't totally ruin the movie: http://www.themovies.co.za/2015/02/27/pure-evil-die-antwoord-made-filming-on-chappie-a-nightmare/
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Wow, that sounds like a really bad situation. You know it's bad when a director rewrites part of the movie so they don't have to spend as much time around you.

I'm also kind of pessimistic about the release night review embargo. I plan to go see it, and after Elysium I kind of expect to be annoyed, but I'm curious enough that I'm seeing it anyway.
 
R

Replicant

Member
The trailer looks cheesy and preachy and the title sounds stupid. Definitely not seeing this in cinema despite wanting to see Jackman and Weaver playing antagonists.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
A review.

http://twitchfilm.com/2015/03/review-chappie-thug-life-doesnt-pay-off.html

Ever since District 9, Blomkamp has shown a tendency to depict the conflicts in his script in a very simplistic way. There's a scene in Chappie that perfectly encapsulates this, when
the thugs are trying to come up with a quick way to make tons of money. As they're talking about the robotic police force, Yo-Landi suddenly formulates a thought out loud: the police are machines; machines can be turned off by a remote; the police robots can be deactivated with such a device.

This rather childish syllogism around which Chappie builds most of its premise is very representative of Blomkamp's writing style. Although the depiction of social inequalities in Elysium was one of the most negative aspects of the film, it remained naive enough to be left out and not to interfere with the kind of hardboiled entertainment the movie was. Sadly, there's a qualitative loss in Chappie that eventually transforms the director's former naivety into proper silliness, which tends to ruin the film's qualities.

This problem mostly comes from Die Antwoord's band members, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja, whose stage characters are teleported straight into the science fictional concept of the film. As funny as it could have looked on paper, the idea of contrasting the South African rap band's gangsta universe with the seriousness of Chappie's premise is not convincing at all. The character's pinky, flashy paraphernalia mixed with the scenes showing Ninja training Chappie to be a proper low-life gangster (from the alleged quick-draw to the shooting attitude) prove to be moments of pure ridicule and are funny on rare occasions only (the Grand Theft Auto montage).

These silly moments constantly counterbalance the better elements that the film has to offer.

One cannot avoid feeling haggard after watching Chappie: it has great potential but sacrifices it for the sake of silly ideas, so much so that the result looks almost like an extended video clip of Die Antwoord rather than a Blomkamp film. Although the uneven performances -- Blomkamp doesn't seem to know how to direct his female idols -- and the scrappy script are forgivable, it's hard to overlook all the inappropriate gangstiness deployed here.
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On the plus side, it says WETA's effects work on the film is stellar.
 
E

enigmatic_alex44

Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
Yikes, I'm not liking these lack of reviews. I'm so psyched to see this and I've already convinced my friend it's worth seeing this Saturday with me >_<

I'm REALLY hoping this is closer to District 9 in quality (which was fantastic) and further from Elysium in quality, which is one of the most disappointing films I've ever seen. What a trainwreck.
 
C

CherryWoodFuton

Member
This totally sucks. I loved District 9 but found Elysium to be pretty mediocre. Looks like Chappie will continue this trend

Blomkamp is starting to look like a one hit wonder filmmaker. I hope his Alien film fares better. He might just need to lay off screenwriter duties and just stick to directing because he's a visually stunning one
 
IbukiLordSA

IbukiLordSA

Member
I won't go see this based solely on the fact that Die Antwoord is in it, every time I hear their music on radio it goes off and their stupid retarded accents are the cherry on top. People here don't talk like that.
 
P

Poimandres

Member
Blizzard said:
Neither was Blomkamp, judging by that link saying he rewrote part of the script to spend less time with Ninja.
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Still hoping that's not true! I really hope they're not actually dick heads, especially when working with genuinely cool people like Hugh Jackman.

Floex said:
Did you actually read the review?
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Yes I read the review, I was just making light! I really enjoy their music but not sure about their "acting" chops. I'm a huge fan of Floex too by the way. Fingers crossed for a new album this year.
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Hmmm, I wouldn't mind it being a bit silly. From the trailers I thought its biggest problem would be being too heavy-handed and preachy about it all.
 
B

Busty

Banned
Frog-fu said:
Please be good.
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You'd better lower your expectations.

How does 'Please be.., not excruciatingly terrible' sound?

Replicant said:
The trailer looks cheesy and preachy and the title sounds stupid. Definitely not seeing this in cinema despite wanting to see Jackman and Weaver playing antagonists.
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Agree totally. This is film that has a ROBOT as it's protagonist and I am not interested in seeing it at all.

That's quite an accomplishment Mr Blomkamp.
 
F

Fret

Member
Busty said:
Agree totally. This is film that has a ROBOT as it's protagonist and I am not interested in seeing it at all.

That's quite an accomplishment Mr Blomkamp.
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You're saying this like any movie with a robot protagonist would immediately get you to watch it, its much harder to make a good movie with a robot as the main character
 
B

Busty

Banned
Fletch said:
You're saying this like any movie with a robot protagonist would immediately get you to watch it, its much harder to make a good movie with a robot as the main character
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Soooooo you're saying that Blomkamp was 'handicapped' from the start because he had a robot for a main character?

Please.
 
F

Fret

Member
Busty said:
Soooooo you're saying that Blomkamp was 'handicapped' from the start because he had a robot for a main character?

Please.
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Are you serious? How is it easier to make viewers care for a hunk of metal than an actual human being?
 
V

v1oz

Member
Alienous said:
Do you think Copley works at reduced rates if he gets to use a silly accent?

That's the only way I can comprehend that he still gets acting roles.
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Do you want him to speak with an American accent? Remember both this film and District 9 are set in South Africa. That is what real Afrikaners sound like.
 
V

v1oz

Member
amar212 said:
Why is robot speaking broken pidgeon English?

It is blatantly STUPID.

If there was self-consciousnes AI - ONE thing it could do PERFECTLY from the first second, it would be speaking and language comprehension.
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I'm guessing because of the way it was programmed it has to learn to speak with correct grammar.
 
W

WarrenMax007

Member
A

Anton Sugar

Member
Fletch said:
Are you serious? How is it easier to make viewers care for a hunk of metal than an actual human being?
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I don't necessarily think it's easier, one way or another, but at least with a robot you can design it in a specific way to give off a specific impression. Just look at Wall-E.
 
G

Gloam

Member
Not great. Hard to say who this movie is for. It's too violent and sweary to be aimed at kids but all the comedy and plot are straight out of a Short Circuit. Some nice moments with the robot here and there but very dull from a narrative perspective.
 
F

fierrotlepou

Member
Him making Alien just makes all this worse. Elysium wasn't good.

He'll probably say he "fucked" this one up as well.

Come on, Neil.
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
eravulgaris said:
Him making Alien just makes all this worse. Elysium wasn't good.

He'll probably say he "fucked" this one up as well.

Come on, Neil.
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Hey, maybe this will get him to pick up a co-writer. He seems like he has a great idea for visuals, less understanding of how tone and character.
 
C

CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls

Banned
I still can't believe he decided to put Die Antwoord in the lead role(s). Yolandi is bleh, but Ninja is awful in nearly everything. If they take casting and most of the writing duties out of Neill's hands, maybe he can churn out another District 9. Maybe...
 
S

shadowstar

Member
Anton Sugar said:
I don't necessarily think it's easier, one way or another, but at least with a robot you can design it in a specific way to give off a specific impression. Just look at Wall-E.
Click to expand...

And we've seen it done successfully (Short Circuit, Wall-E, The Iron Giant, Star Wars) so it's very apparent when it fails.
 
M

Mass_Pincup

Banned
Say this today, it wasn't what I expected from the trailer but ended up enjoying it anyway. It doesn't take itself too seriously Sigourney Weaver is really underused though.

I laughed when Chappie used the PS4s to develop the program to transfer consciousness.
 
F

FantasticMrFoxdie

Mumber
FTF said:
The lack of reviewes/review embargo is concerning...I'm still probably catching it this weekend, as the only other 2015 movie I've seen so far is Kingsman (which was awesome btw), but not a good sign.

And hopefully Die Antwoord didn't totally ruin the movie: http://www.themovies.co.za/2015/02/27/pure-evil-die-antwoord-made-filming-on-chappie-a-nightmare/
Click to expand...

holy shit.

orgies and poisoning fellow actors. how did blokamp even think bringing them on board was a good idea.
 
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