Chappie...

[Owain Taggart]

one as a filmgoer who's sick of seeing hundreds of millions of dollars and extraordinary filmmaking talents wasted on incoherent and unsatisfying plots. There's a longstanding pattern of films that succeed on every level except the writing.

Ohh, I so agree with you, Christopher. I can't count how many times I've been disappointed in a movie that's dazzling on every other level, but falls apart in terms of the writing. I like mindless action just as anyone else, but sometimes I need substance. But at the same time, I can't see why there can't be a bit of both in a movie. It shouldn't have to be exclusive to one or the other.

 

[Christopher]

^I never said it should be exclusive. What I want is a balance of all elements working together. Even "mindless" action can have a decent story and characterization at its core, e.g. in Raiders of the Lost Ark or Pacific Rim. Just because something is lightweight, that doesn't mean it requires no talent.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

p.s. after re-watching Elysium....how much do the robots in Chappie look like the Elysium security robots? i can't tell from google searches

They're very similar:

(click to enlarge)

 

[Owain Taggart]

^I never said it should be exclusive. What I want is a balance of all elements working together. Even "mindless" action can have a decent story and characterization at its core, e.g. in Raiders of the Lost Ark or Pacific Rim. Just because something is lightweight, that doesn't mean it requires no talent.

No, I know, and I agree with you. Those were my words, and never meant to imply otherwise. I guess I was just adding on to my comment by saying there's no way they should be mutually exclusive, that they can work together with the right mix and under the right circumstances. There should definitely be more of a balance between the two.

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, I saw the movie today. It's not bad, but it could have been a lot better. It's essentially a rehashing of District 9 but with robots instead of aliens.

But what really gets me is so much of what goes on could have been avoided if the Evil Corporation just had better security procedures.

Spoiler: could be a spoiler, I guess

Basically, there's a master control circuit which is the only way to make changes or upgrades to the police robots. It's kept within a bullet proof containment case, but beyond that, there's next to no protection. The human protagonist in the movie is able to retrieve this circuit simply by signing it out, and no one stops him taking off premises. After keeping it for a few days, he gets a phone call from corporate security politely asking him to return it. That is unbelievably accommodating for an Evil Corporation regarding the device which can control their pride and joy. I've seen high-up managers in the company I work for fired for far less severe security offenses.

 

[DWF]

I haven't seen Chappie but the danger of emerging AIs seem to be something of a trend this year, along with Chappie we're getting Ex Machina, Terminator Genisys and even The Age Of Ultron. Strangely enough with the movie's budget it's already made a profit.

 

[Mr Light]

I loved Chappie. I might rank it just a tick under his previous two movies which I both loved, but it was still excellent. Chappie was adorable and hilarious and I want a figure of him on my desk.

 

[Gepard]

I thought it was, if not great, then very close to great. Sure it reused some fixations and tropes from District 9, but it did new things with them. It was a weird, sometimes unconventional movie and I think it deserves a chance just based on it not fitting into an easy-to-classify mold. (Which seems to be one of the things the critical consensus is holding against it - the odd mashup of tones and styles, the crazy, over-the-top characters, and so forth.)

Chappie was adorable and hilarious and I want a figure of him on my desk.

The theater I was in LOVED Chappie. The first time he spoke a full sentence people were laughing and clapping and the positive response continued all the way through the end.

IMO, the drama around the creation of the movie – that is, Blomkamp coming off the sophomore disappointment of Elysium, the rumors about the movie having a troubled production, topped off by Sony refusing to screen the movie for critics – may have poisoned the well, so to speak. It feels like the kind of movie that , ten or twenty years down the line, could end up reevaluated as a cult classic in the vein of other initially panned movies like John Carpenter's The Thing or Clue.

 

[Mr Light]

the more I think about it, the more I realize that Chappie copies the plot of District 9 in oh so many ways. But I still like it!

 

[Kelso]

The wife and I loved it. It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was tremendously fun. My concerns about Die Antwoord's involvement proved to be utterly misplaced- they were the heart of the film.

But I will say that I've seen grocery stores with better security than this weapons company.

 

[Mr Light]

I was surprised to learn Ninja and Mommie were rappers. I thought they gave a very good performance. I thought Mommie's relationship with Chappie to be particularly touching. And she just looked so bizarre with those ridiculous get-ups!

 

[Christopher]

I was surprised to learn Ninja and Mommie were rappers. I thought they gave a very good performance.

By now, we've seen quite a few rappers achieve successful acting careers, such as Will Smith, Mos Def, Ice-T, Mark Wahlberg, LL Cool J, etc. It's actually quite common.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I was surprised to learn Ninja and Mommie were rappers. I thought they gave a very good performance.

By now, we've seen quite a few rappers achieve successful acting careers, such as Will Smith, Mos Def, Ice-T, Mark Wahlberg, LL Cool J, etc. It's actually quite common.

Unintentional, but apropos.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

p.s. after re-watching Elysium....how much do the robots in Chappie look like the Elysium security robots? i can't tell from google searches

They're very similar:

(click to enlarge)

The design goes back further than that, to this short film:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WVQ3yxR_xQ[/yt]

Blomkamp seems to be especially fond of that robot style.

As for Chappie, I will quote my own trailer review:

I saw a trailer for it--one that tried to encompass everything the movie is about--and it just seemed like there was way too much going on. There's something with autonomous police robots, OK. Then somebody comes up with a remote-controlled(?) mech. Then the kid from Slumdog Millionaire teams up with Die Antwoord to make a self-aware robot? I guess? People react poorly to this. Things blow up and the robots start rebelling(?) but I'm not sure. People are mean to Johnny 5 because we want to get to the part where he's gold-plated before the sequel. And it seems to end with a face-off between Johnny 5 and ED-209, except I can't take Johnny 5 seriously in this because the movie is all grimdark grimdark grimdark but he talks like a confused child and whoever edited this stuff for tone doesn't seem to know what they're doing. Oh, and Wolverine plays the role of "guy who is afraid of stuff that's different."

I'll be there on day one.

The last part is a lie. I was not there on day one.

Probably watch it when it comes to Netflix or whatever. Sad to see that the reviews are so dismal.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

There's a pretty heavy manga/anime influence in the design too (and with all of his stuff, obviously), but there's especially a lot of Appleseed in the head design and general armament/appearance:

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, what's with the bunny ears?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

It helps him get better reception?

I just figure they're radio aerials. Although it looks like one is red and one is blue, so they possibly also act as police warning lights to be used along with sirens when stopping someone or to increase visibility. And serve as visual markings to symbolize that it's a police robot.

 

[Christopher]

^I mean metatextually -- why the designer of Appleseed (was that Shirow?) made that choice.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

^I mean metatextually -- why the designer of Appleseed (was that Shirow?) made that choice.

They're sensor masts that allow the cyborg Briareos Hecatonchires to look around corners without exposing his whole body. The character is named after Greek myth, but I'm assuming Shirow played on the Briar part of the name to give him a rabbit look.

He has eight eyes mounted on his head, four in his face (the large sensor in the middle is actually his nose) two at the bases of his "rabbit ear" sensors facing rearward, and two at the tips, which allow him to safely look around corners.

Oh, and it turns out Blomkamp did base it on Appleseed:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/GraphicCity/news/?a=115377

 

[Trekker4747]

I was surprised to learn Ninja and Mommie were rappers. I thought they gave a very good performance.

By now, we've seen quite a few rappers achieve successful acting careers, such as Will Smith, Mos Def, Ice-T, Mark Wahlberg, LL Cool J, etc. It's actually quite common.

Vanilla Ice, oh wait...