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I saw it, and liked it. I thought it an interesting plot point to bring the eponymous main character under the immoral influence of Ninja & Friends, rather than his "maker". The social commentary says more about Joberg as a modern day/near future dystopia than any tolerance message concerning Chappie. The visuals are awesome; Weta Workshop does some amazing work. Really makes me wish the live action Evangelion would have been realized, if only for the visuals. Anyway, I love Blomkamp's style and mechanical designs, and while I still like District 9 best of his films, this was still good sci-fi. And Sharlto Copley is a damned good actor.

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From the member's reviews here that's a positive sign the film isn't that all bad. I'm still just gonna have to wait till it comes to FIOS or Netflix.

While certainly everyone has their own tastes and opinion on what is good and what is not, have you read what some of the people around here like? We aren't exactly a bastion of good taste, lol.

Netflix sounds like a safe bet on this one.

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While certainly everyone has their own tastes and opinion on what is good and what is not, have you read what some of the people around here like? We aren't exactly a bastion of good taste, lol.

Netflix sounds like a safe bet on this one.

LoL. Hyperbole.

History has shown that reviewers can, and do, miss the point. Wait for Netflix if you think that is the better risk for your pocket book, or if your home system gives you a better experience than the cinema, but have your own opinion of the film regardless.

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LoL. Hyperbole.

History has shown that reviewers can, and do, miss the point.

Except that this movie is being panned by those who otherwise love Blomkamp's work. Plenty of members here liked Elysium too, a movie that Blomkamp himself said he "f_cked up."

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Except that this movie is being panned by those who otherwise love Blomkamp's work. Plenty of members here liked Elysium too, a movie that Blomkamp himself said he "f_cked up."

You may be right about the critics when it comes to Chappie. Personally, I think they are being very hard on Blomkamp because of Elysium. Not that this is empirical evidence, but in reviewing the percentages on Rotten Tomatoes the two films tell an interesting story. It's as if the critic and audience scores have flip flopped.

I did read Blomkamp's comments on Elysium. I appreciate his candid opinion of his work and I understand his point in wanting to make it a better film and wanting to reach more people with its satire. Even so, as a viewer I didn't think it was all that bad (one of the few, I guess). The final act could have benefited some additional TLC. I thought it felt rushed after all the build up in the beginning. But that discussion is for another topic.

Film was doomed from the moment die antwoord was cast.

Aw, they're just a special vocal brew, like Tom Waits.

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I agree with CoreyD. I'm not going to go see this because Die Antwerd has a big role in it. I have no desire to see them try to be actors for 2 hours.
I'll probably wait until the Blu-ray comes out.

Edited by Gakken85
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Aw, they're just a special vocal brew, like Tom Waits.

No. Tom Waits may have a voice that's not for everyone but his image is generally benign. Die Antwoord packages their 'special' music in the revolting and off-putting persona of perverted gangsta thugs. They're the main reason I lost all interest in seeing this film.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just saw this and it is his second best movie as far as I'm concerned. I enjoyed Elysium but it had some major problems. This one had problems but I was thoroughly entertained regardless. Who cares what the reviews say? Will explain more later but I'm gonna now preorder that Threezero Chappie :wub:

Edited by xrentonx
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I saw the movie yesterday and I thought it was great. I haven't heard anything about this movie in advance because the show of my main moviecritic was canceled.

It puzzled me quite a bit that the critics where so negative about the movie. After seeing some of the videos you guys posted I think I understand what is wrong for them. They wanted the movie to be about a robot that is taught by a smart guy with the right set of ethic and moral codes teaching a robot (and 80s toy commercials because they the embodiment of good) . Then after the robot learned that set of values he questions the human race because they seem to be dicks to each other (committing crimes, waging wars, etc.) and it all cumulates in a happy end where the bad AI hating guy comes to his senses because Chappie transcends humanity and Chappie finds out humans aren't so bad after all even if they have their flaws yadda yadda yadda....

That happens all the time in movies. Even the fifth element was about that plot.

I found the premise of this movie much better. Because I think that is much more interesting to see a AI that learns at an comprehensible speed imprinted with the "wrong" values. To see how easy it is to get spoiled by the scum of society. And to see if a sentient being that has the potential to be much more than humans are cope with that.

To me the movie is an analogy to the way a human grows up. It gets imprinted with a set of values (lets call them the Ten Commandments) but than life happens and the human being is forced to adapt and we get to different conclusions than our parents had (in case of Chappie Deons values). The twist is because Chappie learns so fast you can put the lifespan of a human into a 90 minutes movie without time jumps.

I could have done without the Hugh Jackman sub-plot where a religious extremist goes on a crusade to do the rightful cause and commits crimes on his way. Also the sub-plot where Chappie is capable to digitalize the human consciousness into an USB stick as not necessary for me. I could have done with a movie where Chappie dies at the end but comes to an conclusion (which would be the message the directory wants to get across).

I guess you have to have a huge fight scene in a sci-fi movie to draw in the masses and I really enjoyed the action scenes...

and I was amazed by the special effects. Much better movie than iRobot or AI. I also liked the hints of Ed-209 and Briareos in the mecha design.

PS: I don't think that Appleseed is a good manga/anime in its entirety.

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  • 3 months later...

Just saw it yesterday and it is crap. So many things wrong I can't list or remember them all, highlights (lowlights...)

1 - Momma is a murderous psycho till Chappie comes along and then she is all nice and mommy like? Really?

2 - Pappa is a murderous self centered psycho till the very last scene and then he is a selfless hero? Really?

3 - Computer programming scenes - OK no movie gets this right but this one was up there on the STUPID scale. (It is what I do for a living.)

4 - So many stupid plot holes I lost track of what was a hole and what was passable.

5 - Computer guy nearly shot (only reason he was not was somebody knocks gun away from Poppa) and then threatens to tell the police and more or less calmly walks away. (lots of stupidity like that)

6 - Security at the robot factory is egregiously bad, might as well put up a sign saying "free weapons and stuff!"

7 - Wolverine's character (forgot his name and the actor's) was so horrible it is not even funny. I guess he had to be since the "heros" were scum of the earth at best.

8 - The ending, world shattering science relegated to schwarmy crap.

One plus point (and this is it)

Chappie's FX work is outstanding, when he moves it looks REAL.

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I didn't see this when it was at the cinema, although I wanted to, just no time back then during its short run.

I've been looking forward to watching it when it was released on Blu-ray and finally was able to buy the Blu-ray this weekend. What's more it was a 4K Blu-ray..........my first one :)

Anyway, watched the movie with my son and we both really enjoyed it. Blomkamp's visuals as usual were amazing, the gunfights were well choreographed, the FX were great and the mecha designs outstanding.

The movie was a bit sad in places, although I guess you can say it had a happy ending. The neural transfer was a bit hokey, but overall I really liked the movie and will be watching it for a second time soon.

I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Blomkamp's second best film IMO.

Graham

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I didn't see this when it was at the cinema, although I wanted to, just no time back then during its short run.

I've been looking forward to watching it when it was released on Blu-ray and finally was able to buy the Blu-ray this weekend. What's more it was a 4K Blu-ray..........my first one :)

Anyway, watched the movie with my son and we both really enjoyed it. Blomkamp's visuals as usual were amazing, the gunfights were well choreographed, the FX were great and the mecha designs outstanding.

The movie was a bit sad in places, although I guess you can say it had a happy ending. The neural transfer was a bit hokey, but overall I really liked the movie and will be watching it for a second time soon.

I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Blomkamp's second best film IMO.

Graham

100% agree.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got to see this film last week. The concept of an A.I. growing in a harsh urban environment is provocative. Unfortunately, casting Die Antwoord as the two main gangsters ruined the whole thing altogether. Ninja and Yolandi cannot act if their lives depended on it. And there really is no reason to care about them at all - Ninja's just a complete douchebag while Yolandi is the female Jar-Jar Binks. This film would've been more watchable if these two were replaced with more competent actors of the same caliber as Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer (they only had at most 10 minutes of screen time in Pulp Fiction, but they were perfect in the diner scene). Also, Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver seem like wasted opportunities as their roles were almost non-existent amidst the chaos.

All flaws aside, the visuals are outstanding, as with every Neill Blomkamp film. Outstanding motion capture and voice work from Sharlto Copley, who is always the best part of every Blomkamp film. The police mecha action is the closest thing to a live-action Appleseed.

In short, watch Chappie for the great visuals, but you'll need a bottle of vodka or tequila to endure Die Antwoord.

Meanwhile...

Edited by areaseven
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