Chappie

Chappie will not make you happy.

Set in the near future, Dev Patel stars as Deon Wilson - the inventor of a police robot manufactured by a big corporation in South Africa that sells them to the local cops. The artificial police force is quite brutal, but effective, which has led to the need to mass produce more and more of the crime fighters.

Deon wants to take his invention further by creating a sentient artificial intelligence, and, if you have ever seen a Science Fiction movie, you know that's a bad idea.

Once he perfects the program and steals a robot from work to activate it, Deon is kidnapped by a street gang that wants to use the new robot, Chappie (Sharlto Copley), to commit crimes.

Also, and don’t ask me how this fits in because it’s not all that clear, a crazy former military dude, Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), wants to sabotage the real police force computer program to convince the company to use his massive police robot.

What will happen as Chappie grows more intelligent and capable?

Chappie kind of looks like Johnny 5 on steroids! Sadly, the steroids have taken away all of his charm.

Writer/director Neill Blomkamp and co-writer Terri Tatchell are trying to force too much into Chappie, which leaves us with a muddled movie. I guess we are supposed to see some message about humanity and nurturing and the perils of science advancing too far, but it’s hard to find it among the flying bullets, stuff going boom and atrocious acting from some members of the cast.

Blomkamp and Tatchell are trying to create a serious, big thoughts kind of drama, but Chappie falls flat because we can't connect emotionally with Chappie, Deon, the gang or anyone. Coply does what he can to give Chappie heart and soul, but few scenes are dedicated to getting to know the robot. The movie is much more about how everyone wants to use him, which should generate some sympathy, but doesn’t.

Worst of all, the audience is left with too many questions.

Why is Vincent so crazy?

How come Chappie evolves to have the intelligence of 100 scientists, but also acts like a 5-year old?

Plus, the South African gang members are horribly written and acted caricatures. Are they supposed to be seriously dangerous or some sick comic relief?

Eventually, Blomkamp seems to run out of steam as Chappie devolves into a massive shoot ‘em up in the last act, darting all over the place and going down any path to resolution it can find, as long as it includes something going boom.

Chappie is rated R for violence, language and brief nudity.