Director Neil Blomkamp has delivered a highly-entertaining, amusing and original foray into the world of artificial intelligence with Chappie.
This fast-paced, frequently humorous and often-touching tale stars Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver, but it is the titular robot himself, played using motion capture by Sharlto Copley, that steals the show.
Set in the not-too-distant future in a crime ridden Johannesburg, Chappie follows super-genius Deon Wilson (Patel), an employee at the Tetravaal Corporation. He's the brains behind the unstoppable droids which are used by the police force to keep the ominous criminal underworld in the city in check.
However, his dream is to create a robot which has artificial intelligence and can think and feel for himself. The severe CEO of the company he works for, Michelle Bradley (Weaver), has zero interest in his ongoing experimentation, and also halts funding on the giant war machine, dubbed 'The Moose' which has been created by former-soldier employee Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), leaving him bitter and out for revenge.
Deon finally manages to crack the code and create AI, installing the software into a written-off droid, but gangsters Ninja and Yo-Landi (played by South African rap group Die Antwoord) decide to kidnap the newly sentient robot to use it for a massive heist.
The tug-of-war between Deon's expectations for Chappie to do good and Ninja's training of him to be a badass makes for entertaining viewing, while the high-octane action scenes coupled with the pounding soundtrack from Die Antwoord means your attention never wanes.
The heart of this film comes from Chappie, which is testament to the excellently-rendered motion capture performance from Copley, leaving you rooting for him throughout.
3.5/5
Sarah McIntyre
