9/24/2015 0 Comments 'Chappie' Movie ReviewIn most cases, I hold to the belief that bad movies are just as important as good movies, because they can show us what not to do. In that sense, there's a lot to be learned from bad movies. Chappie, however, is the exception. No movie should be allowed to be this bad.
The story takes place in the near future of South Africa, where a rampantly-increasing crime rate has brought about the use of a robotic police force. The designer of the police bots, an engineer named Deon Wilson (Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel), wants to take the program to the next level by building a robot with artificial intelligence - a machine with the ability to think for itself and express emotions. Enter Chappie, the titular android created by Wilson with the curious mind of a child. Unfortunately, the circumstances weren't quite in line with the creator's vision: kidnapped by a group of thugs who assume he has an "on, off" switch for all of the robots, Wilson was forced to activate his test robot for the violent gang, who name thier pet machine "Chappie" and seek to train him to pull off heists. No beating around the bush here: this movie's a total mess, so I'm just going to get the one positive right out of the way. That one positive element would be the highly impressive computer-generated effects used to create Chappie. Motion capture actor Sharlto Copley (having starred in all of director Neill Blomkamp's films to date) provides the voice and movement for the character, which is then animated over. The technique is an ambitious one, and it definitely pays off, particularly during scenes where it's impossible to tell you're seeing a computer effect. The results offers easily some of the most photo-realistic visual effects work since last year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and unfortunately, the only bright spot of the picture. While he may look like the real deal, Chappie himself just isn't that much of a character, because he has no personality of his own. Everything he does is something he learned from another character imprinting on him, but none of his thoughts or actions are original. And if you're waiting for the movie to delve into how the mechanics of Chappie's artificially intelligent mind works, don't hold your breath, because the spotlight is reserved for the the rest of the cast, who offer no signs of hope. Those spotlight-hogging characters would be the thugs who repurpose Chappie, played by Ninja and Yolandi Visser, of South African hip hop group Die Antwoord. Now, it's clear what South African-born director Blomkamp is trying to do: show some support to an underground group from his home. And while that's all good and fine on its own, we're still left with two faults. For one, they're cast with playing two characters who represent the living opposite of the word "likeable." Never once did their actions make me care for them in the slightest, because they don't grow as characters. When they're in the line of fire, I was waiting for them to die so that the movie would end. The second problem with these characters is that, well, their actors can't act. Again, I recognize that Blomkamp's casting was well-intentioned, but every frame of film that they fill is a moment that could be focused on talented supporting actor Hugh Jackman. Although it really isn't that much of a loss, considering Jackman's talent is severely wasted on the most one-note, uncharismatic villain since Mulan. Tell me if this sounds familiar: the villain is disgruntled because his bulky police robotics model is shut down in favor of a sleaker design, so he attempts to destroy the protagonist robot with his own version. That could be considered original if you've never heard of RoboCop. And it's that kind of unoriginality that grossly dominates the plot. The script is essentially an ugly blending of clichés from RoboCop, I Robot, Short Circuit, and a little bit of Iron Man thrown in there. Two of those that may have stood out to you were RoboCop and Short Circuit, a couple of movies that have generally the same premise (a robot becomes self-aware of his own existence and takes control of his own destiny), but are starkly different in terms of tone. One is a hard-hitting, blood-splattered satire of consumerism, the other is a fun and cheesy '80s family comedy. The problem with Chappie is that it wants to be both of those things at the same time. The result feels like someone dumped five different jigsaw puzzles onto a table and tried to make one big puzzle out of them. Not one piece fits together with another, and what you're left with is an ugly, disjointed mess. I enjoyed Blomkamp's other films (District 9 and Elysium) for their social commentaries on modern issues, but Chappie is hardly about anything. The story is an unfocused blending of multiple better films, the acting is forgettable at best, the characters are tragically unforgettable in the kind of manner that haunts you after it's over, and aside from the striking visuals, this is one sci-fi feature I wish I could erase from my memory, and the worst movie I've seen so far this year. I'm giving Chappie a generous one and a half out of four stars.
0 Comments
9/8/2015 0 Comments Best Summer Movies Of 2015Another summer movie season has come and gone, but has it brought any offerings for those seeking beyond the expected amount of high-budget, explosive spectacles? Absolutely. And while spectacle was certainly in season, the 2015 summer season has offered a surprising amount of variety, and here are my recommendations, in order of top priority.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road The best action movie since The Dark Knight? Absolutely. Everything, from the on-location stunt-work to the surprisingly resonant feministic themes, fires on all cylinders, with those very themes being personified by Furiosa (the excellent Charlize Theron), portraying the best female action movie hero since Terminator 2''s Sarah Connor. The action is gritty without being gory, the music is pumping and perfectly tuned to the perfectly orchestrated chaos, and the story is deep without being heavy-handed. Can you really ask for much more? 2. Inside Out While kids will certainly enjoy this movie for its exciting and imaginative world, the characters and themes definitely make it a movie more for the adults in the room. And not because it's in any way crass or vulgar, but rather because it's rich with deep and emotional thought behind it. Contained to the world of a child's mind, the main cast of characters are her emotions, so naturally the story covers how to deal with a fluctuating emotional state (something that we all go through). By writing the story first and letting the theme tell itself, Inside Out is a visually engrossing, musically enchanting film that's enjoyable at a surface level, but loveable below the surface, warranting multiple revisits as its audience gets older and picks up on its subtle nuances. 3. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Sometimes, a movie doesn't need to be a game-changer to be good. Sometimes, it can just be fun, and that's exactly what the fifth Mission: Impossible film was: a crash course in "hey, just in case you forgot, this is why you like this series." All of the series trademarks were there - Tom Cruise's dedicated commitment to authentic stuntwork, the comedic commeradery between the members of the IMF spy agency, and, of course, that swelling theme song - and none of these things feel stale or overused. Featuring a sure-to-be-talked-about breakout performance by supporting actor Rebecca Ferguson as a criss-crossing double agent, Rogue Nation cemented why I not only love this series, but love it more than James Bond. 4. What We Do in the Shadows Imagine the setup for MTV's The Real World (documentary-style filming focusing on roommates living together) mixed with The Lost Boys (a timeless tale of youthful and rebellious vampires). The result is What We Do in the Shadows, a delightfully odd dark comedy about widely generational blood-suckers (ranging in ages from 183 to 8,000). Their regular activities consist of paying rent, sharing chores, and the occasional violent crossing of paths with a rival gang of werewolves, all of which are injected with amusement by the group's vibrant and contrasting personalities. If you don't think What We Do in the Shadows sounds like the film for you, give it a shot, and your reaction will probably be the same as mine: "I'm not sure what I just saw...but I liked it." 5. Slow West Be not discouraged by this film's title. While it can be slow, it's not in the sense that it's poorly paced, but rather that it takes advantage of every opportunity to throw an obstacle in the way of its main characters. This not only distinguishes it from most other westerns (which, while mostly entertaining, tend to keep its protagonists on the straight and narrow without time for distractions), but it also does an effective job of giving the audience a feel for living in the time period. You feel just as frustrated as the main characters do on their stumbling journey, and the effect is entirely deliberate. Michael Fassbender shines as a scene-stealing outlaw who assits a young man (Kodi Smitt-McPhee) in search of the woman he loves, while secretly seeking to claim a bounty on the young woman, and the music and costumes only add to the world feeling all the more authentic. 6. Ant-Man I said it all the way back when I made my "most anticipated of the year" list in January: yes, the movie looks silly, and yes, it probably will be. But why should that be a bad thing? Once again, Marvel shows how to keep the stakes genuine, but still have a lot of fun with an outright absurd premise. A superhero who can shrink, increasing his strength as he decreases his size? Seriously? But, because Paul Rudd brings his comedic chops to the role, the action feels like a perfect cross between Iron Man and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the story is an incredibly refreshing change from the superhero cliché of saving the world from destruction in favor of a simple heist movie - not to mention the inclusion of veteran star Michael Douglas and a script penned by Hot Fuzz's Edgar Wright - it all just naturally works together. |
|