Chappie

2015 sci-fi movie

Rating: 9/20

Plot: A.I. robot becomes a gangsta.

"You gave me a retarded robot!"

Here's something I apparently have no tolerance for: schmaltzy science fiction movies. Throw this on the heap with E.T. and A.I., the former making me hate aliens and wrinkled old men and the latter making me hate robots shaped like little boys. This movie just made me hate in general, yet another movie from 2015 that made me question what I was doing with my life.

I really hated the robot who, after kidnapped by gangsters, learns the lingo of the streets of South Africa or wherever the hell this is supposed to be. I don't need my science fiction movies to be all that realistic, but that seems to be Blomkamp's thing. Here, this jive-talkin' robot just took me completely out of the experience. And there's so much exposition here. Hugh Jackman's character is running around being up to no good, but it takes him forever to get anywhere. By the time a real conflict develops, it's way too late, especially since it just kind of erupts into science fiction action violence anyway.

The only redeeming quality of this whole thing might be that Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser, "rave-rappers" from Die Antwoord, are in this. Visser's got this strange sex appeal. I didn't think their characters would last too long and was surprised they ended up being major characters.

Anyway, I didn't like this movie.