The Peter Molyneux of film?
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Neill Blomkamp's Chappie (2015, Hugh Jackman, Sharlto Copley, Die Antwoord)
- Thread starter Zombine
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The Peter Molyneux of film?
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I assume these reviews are heavily Eurocentric based. I bet the people of Australia find the movie a welcome reprieve from typical, LA based movies that saturate the global market. If you can't open your eyes and try to see the movie from an Aussie point of view I don't know what to say. You should try to understand how others live before criticizing.
Messofanego
Banned
Ex Machina is excellent, great sci fi. DO NOT MISS OUT.
KillerStar
Member
I saw it yesterday (in France), the film is really bad. I even preferred Elysium...
SolidChamp
Banned
Ouch, it's reviewing poorly. Is this basically Short Circuit, South African style?
Yes, with more 'tude, man!
The Antwoord guys were always a wildcard for this movie, too bad they drag it down into the shitters.
KillerStar
Member
Yes, and the entire plot with the character of Hugh Jackman is so stupid , incoherent and forced.
roosters93
Member
That is some new level of racism I haven't seen before.
fierrotlepou
Member
He's being sarcastic and/or it's a reference to some idiotic opinion made in the past.
I hope.
Messofanego
Banned
JetBlackPanda
Member
Damn 'Chappie
The movie was slow at the start. I was fine with the start up of the film my buddy wasn't but I blame that on him not being around children much. Ninja and Yolandi did a great job I thought, with Yolandi being the best out of the two. Thought it seemed like the film could pick exactly what archetype ninja was supposed to fill and the ending kinda isn't teed up properly. I was also surprised at how much the message of the film is made out to be "teach your children well". If I were to be reductive I'd say the film is Robocop meets Short Circuit 2.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
It's at 50% on RT now. I guess it's not a total disaster like it seemed at first.
SolidChamp
Banned
Is the movie some kind of manipulative tear-jerker like Short Circuit was?
I found that it had more uncommon with Short Circuit 2 then short circuit 1.
SolidChamp
Banned
Could you elaborate on this a bit more?
This scene is pretty much made into a whole movie.
http://youtu.be/_lmlXZ_-320
Chappie is not about a company trying to get a robot back which SC1 is about.
It's not a tear jerker.
Sounds good to me lol.
Hey I liked Chappie
Neil BlomKamp is the Paul Verhovan of our time and you need to accept some jankiness in his films to really like them.
Messofanego
Banned
He was very Verhoeven-esque with District 9 cause of its satirical tone in the first half, but now is only similar cause of the gore. A bit too self serious. Do want more directors who ape that kind of sci fi satire stuff.
JadedWriter
Member
Showgirls aside Paul Verhoeven knew how to direct a film. He didn't need to rely on sci-fi elements either, proven by Basic Instinct. Blomkamp is never touching anything as competent as Robocop or Total Recall.
Being serious and being self serious are separate things.
Chappie is a movie that has scenes that welcomes you to laugh at how ridiculous it is that a bunny earred robot is doing something silly or contextually silly. Is it cramming it your face with cataphrases like "I'd buy that for a dollar!"? No. But the movie is certainly a distorted mirror to make us look at society while still being entertained by the reflection we see in the mirror.
33 %
Chicago Tribune/Reader and Village Voice tend to be quite brutal.
I saw the movie as the only person in the theater at 11:30 last night, which was kind of nice.
Spoiler-free thoughts:
I'll post other spoilery thoughts and actor impressions in the reviews thread. Overall it actually wasn't as bad as I expected, and I liked it better than Elysium, even though there was still a scene with nursery music playing and a children's book being read that reminded me unpleasantly of Elysium's hippopotamus and elephant scene.
Spoiler-free thoughts:
- If you don't like Die Antwoord's music, bad news, there were apparently a bunch of their songs in this judging by the credits. The names were even censored because of the obscenities, for some reason, though the movie itself is full of obscenities.
- Yolandi was generally tolerable, but Ninja is indeed INCREDIBLY unlikable. I don't know if this was the case, but I could almost imagine one of the early scenes where everyone else is telling him to get out and let them act like semi-decent humans, being somewhere Blomkamp decided he needed a break from the guy.
- The tone wasn't actually QUITE as heavy-handed and preachy as Elysium, which was nice.
I'll post other spoilery thoughts and actor impressions in the reviews thread. Overall it actually wasn't as bad as I expected, and I liked it better than Elysium, even though there was still a scene with nursery music playing and a children's book being read that reminded me unpleasantly of Elysium's hippopotamus and elephant scene.
Fudgepuppy
Banned
I went in expecting to be disappointed and horribly frustrated with the movie, the reviews made it sound like it leaned towards juvenile and stupid antics. I was however, pleasantly surprised, very much so.
The script has some really contrived and convenient plot-points that felt forced in the grand scheme of moving any plot along. But, the emotional core of the movie was substantial enough for it to feel unique and interesting. I really enjoyed seeing the language and structure of the scenes evolve with Chappie himself. The movie starts out very slow and aimless, but as Chappie grows, it becomes more intense and more precise in what all scenes are trying to convey.
The big part I really enjoyed, is that the movie dares to be unique and odd. Nothing is held back, Die Antwoord are in full effect and the soundtrack jumps back and forth. The movie could've been incredibly annoying and juvenile, but it allows the weirdness to flourish and convey what the movie is trying to tell, rather than holding it back to be used as visual gimmicks.
Only part I didn't like was Hugh Jackman's character, which was only written as the antagonist with nothing else added. Much like the plot-points, he too is horribly practical and contrived. Nothing he does or says makes any sense in the universe the movie has built, he's just conveniently evil and shortsighted.
I also actually really liked Ninja, I thought he felt natural in the role. During some scenes, I was thinking "I'm pretty sure he did this scene a lot of times just to get the facial expression right".
I can totally understand if people aren't sold on it, but I can definitely see this becoming a cult-movie. I also saw it with a friend who loved it to heaven and back. She couldn't stop gushing when we were walking home.
The script has some really contrived and convenient plot-points that felt forced in the grand scheme of moving any plot along. But, the emotional core of the movie was substantial enough for it to feel unique and interesting. I really enjoyed seeing the language and structure of the scenes evolve with Chappie himself. The movie starts out very slow and aimless, but as Chappie grows, it becomes more intense and more precise in what all scenes are trying to convey.
The big part I really enjoyed, is that the movie dares to be unique and odd. Nothing is held back, Die Antwoord are in full effect and the soundtrack jumps back and forth. The movie could've been incredibly annoying and juvenile, but it allows the weirdness to flourish and convey what the movie is trying to tell, rather than holding it back to be used as visual gimmicks.
Only part I didn't like was Hugh Jackman's character, which was only written as the antagonist with nothing else added. Much like the plot-points, he too is horribly practical and contrived. Nothing he does or says makes any sense in the universe the movie has built, he's just conveniently evil and shortsighted.
I also actually really liked Ninja, I thought he felt natural in the role. During some scenes, I was thinking "I'm pretty sure he did this scene a lot of times just to get the facial expression right".
I can totally understand if people aren't sold on it, but I can definitely see this becoming a cult-movie. I also saw it with a friend who loved it to heaven and back. She couldn't stop gushing when we were walking home.
I think that the biggest issue is that the film can't pick one theme to deal with. The Die antwoord hate is astounding but also his character is hard to grasp it seems like they can't decide if he's a nice guy or a dick or something else.
Fudgepuppy
Banned
What I interpreted as the main theme, is growing up and finding your own voice and stride. The movie is about those who wants to control Chappie, those who wants him to be free and those who wants to destroy him.
Ninja in my opinion, was a bit of a bully who's been raised in a hard world, being taught how to be "tough" and "cool"; a self-defense mechanism.
He's an asshole throughout almost the entirety of the movie, but then he starts "warming" up to Chappie when he realizes he needs to be on his level for him to follow orders. After warming up for a while, he realizes Chappie is no longer just a robot to him, it's at this point he starts feeling regret and sadness for tricking Chappie. His character wasn't so hard to understand in my opinion, he's just a bully that lets someone through his thick exterior.
Fudgepuppy
Banned
Yeah, but once you warm up to them, they become very enjoyable.
I can't imagine that being possible, was kinda interested in this before but I don't know anymore.
Fudgepuppy
Banned
I have a hard time seeing how people who dislike Die Antwoord, will dislike them in the movie. If you like them, you'll like all the details of their characters and the soundtrack, but if you don't like them, their personas aren't what controls the plot or point of the movie.'
When a scene with a lot of exposition and themes of conveyance has either of them in it, they do their lines pretty well and don't make it about themselves.
Messofanego
Banned
You're overselling the hate Starship Troopers got. There were plenty of critics that liked it at the time and got the point of the satire. It's not as much a critic/public split.
I don't see Chappie having that kind of staying power. Heck, not even like Speed Racer, which just because of its visuals, still stands as a benchmark.
They are almost literally playing themselves, lol.
I strongly disagree with this. It's going to come down to how a viewer personally reacts to Die Antwood's Ninja acting like a screaming scumbag weirdo for most of the movie, probably. Some may not mind that, and some mate hate it.
Very minor spoiler regarding his character near the end of the movie:
Yes he's a tiny bit less of a scumbag at the end, even though that felt pretty prima-donna-esque with the shot of his face sideways, screaming while waiting to die.
Audience rating being that low so close to release is horrible, as it will drop as time goes on, it always does.
Decided to watch it, and it was actually fairly enjoyable. But the ending was just way out there and I don't know how to really take it.
The movie itself played out (at least based on my memory) like District 9. Not sure if that's lazy writing or coincidental. In any case, it really came to that point during the climax.
Ninja and Yolandi were inoffensive, acting wise. I have no prior exposure to Die Antwood other than knowing them by name, so I don't have any judgement coming in.
The movie itself played out (at least based on my memory) like District 9. Not sure if that's lazy writing or coincidental. In any case, it really came to that point during the climax.
Ninja and Yolandi were inoffensive, acting wise. I have no prior exposure to Die Antwood other than knowing them by name, so I don't have any judgement coming in.
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