Chappie has all the sheen and explosions of a big blockbuster but importantly it throws up some interesting questions that elevate it beyond the crashing of metal and sweary tattooed gangsters.

It’s set in Johannesburg in more-or-less the present day, except that the police have a new weapon to keep control of the particularly violent scumbags causing crime – robots.

Dev Patel’s engineer Deon miraculously appears to have more-or-less singly designed these titanium droids who can fight crime all by themselves and they’re pretty effective.

Deon, however, cracks the key to real artificial intelligence at his bungalow, fuelled by red bull.

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The trouble is his boss (Sigourney Weaver) of the weapons company isn’t interested in the science or creating a robot that could actually decide itself whether it likes art or learn to write poetry.

So he steals a battered old droid with a dodgy battery and plans to do it solo.

Only he’s kidnapped by a gang of clueless South African gangsters (rap trio Die Antwood’s Ninja and Yo-Landi alongside Jose Pablo Cantillo) who are planning a mega raid to pay back a ruthless kingpin.

They force Deon to set up the robot for them. And you can imagine they don’t want it to write poetry either.

“You turn that robot into the illest gangster on the block,” Ninja tells Dion.

Bookended by mega action, there’s a fun strand about a dysfunctional family trying to raise a robot who is learning his way like a baby under the influence of the most dysfunctional family imaginable.

The talk leading up to this movie’s release has been of its director Neill Blomkamp (also of District 9 and Elysium) reuniting with one of this movie’s stars, Sigourney Weaver, helming the next Ridley Scott-produced instalment of the Alien franchise.



On the evidence of Chappie it’s a good move, but this film which actually bears more in common with another Ridley Scott picture.

The way it throws up questions about how far artificial intelligence can go and what it means to be alive and conscious is reminiscent of Blade Runner.

Both films reach different conclusions, though they both leave you with plenty of questions.

Sigourney Weaver will certainly have a big role (at least we hope so) in Blomkamp’s next project and her name be on the posters here but she really only has a bit part.

The role could have been played by any number of actors. Similarly, Patel fails to ignite much passion as a by-the-numbers computer boffin. He may have created genuine AI in his Jo’burg bungalow but he’s barely sentient himself.

Jackman is entertaining as Vincent, the muscly jealous soldier-turned-engineer who works a few desks away from Deon. His big, bad police robot that relies of a human control was superceded before it was even finished by Deon’s design and he’s got an axe to grind.

The movie belongs to its South African stars, though. The Die Antwoord members swerve deliciously between dim and deranged crims to dodgy but loving parents.

In the title role, regular Blomkamp collaborator Sharlto Copley really grabs the movie by the scruff of the neck, inspiring audience empathy despite his lack of human features.

Visually, Chappie is quite brilliant. The motion capture and effects used to create the robots is totally believable and the juxtaposition of high tech robots in down-and-dirty Johannesberg is arresting and another call-back to both Blomkamp’s earlier movies and Ridley Scott.

Blomkamp keeps the action flying along too. There’s an explosive exposition and a slower funnier middle section which sows the seeds dramatically and emotionally for some real carnage in the final third.

A great-looking, high-octane action romp with a heart that also makes you think – what’s not to love?

FOUR out of five stars. Chappie (12A) is out tomorrow (Friday, March 6)