Chappie (2015)

In the near future, crime is patrolled by a mechanized police force. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself.

Director:

Neill Blomkamp

Writers:

Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

Stars:

Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sharlto Copley	...	Chappie
Dev Patel	...	Deon Wilson
Ninja	...	Ninja
Yo-Landi Visser	...	Yo-Landi (as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er)
Jose Pablo Cantillo	...	Yankie (Amerika)
Hugh Jackman	...	Vincent Moore
Sigourney Weaver	...	Michelle Bradley
Brandon Auret	...	Hippo
Johnny Selema	...	Pitbull (as Johnny K. Selema)
Anderson Cooper	...	Anderson Cooper
Maurice Carpede	...	Police Chief
Jason Cope	...	Tetravaal Lead Mechanic
Kevin Otto	...	Interviewer
Chris Shields	...	Journalist
Bill Marchant	...	Professor

Storyline

In Johannesburg, the police department reduced the high rating of criminality using robots from the Tetravaal Company, designed by the engineer Deon Wilson. The former military Vincent Moore is envious of Deon, since he has developed another project called Moose, but neither Tetravaal nor the police department is interested. Deon has just developed an Artificial Intelligence but the Tetravaal's CEO Michelle Bradley asks him to abort the project. Deon decides to bring the damaged Robot 22 that was sent to be crushed to test his A.I. However he is kidnapped by the criminals Ninja, Yo-Landi and Amerika that want him to stop the robot cops. When they see the damaged robot in the van, they force Deon to program it to heist banks with them and they call it Chappie. However, Chappie acts like a child and need to be trained to learn and grow. Meanwhile Vincent follows Deon and plots an evil scheme to activate his robot.

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Plot Keywords:

robot | artificial intelligence | future | mind uploading | consciousness | 

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Taglines:

A different kind of family unit.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

South Africa USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Chappie

Filming Locations:

Johannesburg, South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$49,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,346,782, 8 March 2015, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$31,569,268

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$104,399,548, 25 May 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Media Rights Capital (MRC), LStar Capital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color (ACES)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The word 'zef' is an Afrikaans slang word, which roughly translates to the English word 'common'. Also means 'uncool' in Afrikaans. It differs from the Australian term 'bogan' and the British term 'chav' in that it is mostly a positive term for oneself, rather than a derogatory term for someone else. It is also not typical of the poorest classes of the society, but rather a mostly white, lower-middle class subculture.

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Goofs

When Chappie is being taught to speak by Yo-landi at the gang base and Deon arrives in the Mercedes Tetravaal Robotics van, the registration plate on the front reads "FOK OFF GP", in a later shot the plate reads 891TJY GP, yet later when Chappie is taken out to see the real world, the "FOK OFF GP plate is on the grey Volkswagen mini bus that the gang are using and it stays on this van for the rest of the film.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Journalist: Historically, when we look at evolution, it's not surprising that uh... Chappie's left turn... uh... happened.
Professor: It's too early to tell how this is all going to play out. I didn't believe that this would happen in my lifetime, but... but it is happening.

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Crazy Credits

In the closing credits appears "Be Moved" in large font.

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Connections

Featured in La otra película: Chappie (2015)

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Soundtracks

Fire
Written by Jay 'j2' Singh
Performed by J2

User Reviews

District 9 meets Dumb and Dumber

There seems to be vast polarization amongst film viewers on this one. I went to the theater with an open mind despite seeing reviews from both camps. After viewing the movie to the end, I walked out somewhat baffled by what I'd watched.

The first impression, ten minutes in, was that the dialog was written by a twelve year old child, maybe ten. Characterizations likewise seemed so utterly juvenile. Fine. Whatever. So it's a kids movie? Right? Wrong! Blood and guts, adult themes, and really immature gangsters portrayed as somehow likable. Horrible script!

What is this? Disney gone wrong? There was such a discordant note running through this mess. Are film-makers really so desperate for revenue that they stoop to lowly marketing ploys? Are adults dumbed down to the extent of enjoying such ploys? I'm thinking it's decrepit marketing. "Let's just bandwidth the audience to the lowest common denominator,"said the executive producers.

Terri is a much better writer than this...this...train-wreck deserves. District 9 had an adult theme and appropriate dialog. This film did not meet both criteria. Now I understand the critical reviews stating this film as a failure in execution. Insulting to adults, detrimental to kids.

Shame on you Neill Blomkamp. You let us down in many ways. Minus many stars for wasting, insulting exceptional talent. 4/10 only for amazing production values and CGI. Everything else is garbage, including the choice to have Chappie's AI "learn" in a totally absurd manner. That's all.