Culhwch
Lost Boy
Resurrecting an old thread here, I know. Neill Blomkamp's new movie Chappie. Didn't know what to think when I first heard about it but it looks good.
Chappie (2015)
- Thread starter Culhwch
- Start date
I can't help but feel choked up when I watch that! Whispers of bicentennial man and 1001 sf plots about 'what it's like to be human'. But the execution looks very crisp. Looking forward to it - just hoping it's not a sad ending!!
Ice fyre
Dark Lord
Looks amazing, yes shades of Bicentenial man indeed, a film I liked a lot more than the critics did. I personally thought it was one of Robin Williams better perfomances. I love the design of the robot. Looks a good film ndeed.
Chappie is released in the UK today.
There was an interview on BBC Breakfast TV with Sigourney Weaver but Bill Turnbull only seemed to want to talk about Alien and showed an ignorance of her career, and of Sci-Fi in general, when he thinks she has done 101 robot movies.
I've read a long review of this in Total Film but I do wonder what it can bring new to the table that isn't already covered in Robocop and Short Circuit and as Brian says, "1001 sf plots about 'what it's like to be human'". However, it is Neill Blomkamp, so I'm willing to see his take on the subject.
There was an interview on BBC Breakfast TV with Sigourney Weaver but Bill Turnbull only seemed to want to talk about Alien and showed an ignorance of her career, and of Sci-Fi in general, when he thinks she has done 101 robot movies.
I've read a long review of this in Total Film but I do wonder what it can bring new to the table that isn't already covered in Robocop and Short Circuit and as Brian says, "1001 sf plots about 'what it's like to be human'". However, it is Neill Blomkamp, so I'm willing to see his take on the subject.
Cli-Fi
John J. Falco
Chappie was a good film. The best parts were the beginning and the end. The boss of the company was an idiot and Hugh Jackman's character was an even bigger idiot! However, it had very touching moments and was at times pretty funny. It has very interesting ideas, wrapped up in a simple movie. Yeah as described here as 1001 sf plots about 'what it's like to be human' but I like the style in the way it was done. I have enjoyed everything Blomkamp has done so...
If this was a student film, showcasing CGI effects for replacing a human figure with a robot avatar, I would have applauded it on technical grounds. Little more.
However, as a Hollywood film, it's nothing but a series of ridiculous and amateur plot cues, underlined by violence to children by proxy as entertainment.
A few script howlers IMO:
- Scientist discovers genuine AI, then leaves it in the hands of violent gangsters despite fearing for AI's life
- Corporation isn't interested in Nobel-prize winning idea of genuine AI, because they are too busy trying to sell a military platform with built-in cluster bombs to the neighbourhood police - and can't figure out why the neighbourhood police don't see the need for cluster bombs
- No one bats an eye at AI police shooting people, but hate the idea of robots controlled by humans with an ethical mandate - receives little comment
- Gangster needs to raise a few million for a drug lord, but never considers gifting multi-million pound unique police robot in lieu
- Gangster instead drops off multi-million pound robot alone somewhere where it can be damaged by another gang, reducing its value, and capabilities - despite the need to use said robot to raise money
- Newly sentient robot moves and behaves like an eight-year old child, despite the completely different physiological and cognitive structures
- Despite being shot at by police robots, female gang member hugs and kisses police robot like a child. Because that's what women do, right?
- Scientist who discovered genuine AI also discovers how to transfer human consciousness into a robot. Still works with violent gang instead of taking discoveries to wider scientific community
- Human consciousness can be immediately comfortable in robot host body
The script is awful, and there is no subtlety - the viewer is repeatedly banged on the head with a large instrument that: OMG, this police robot acts like a child! Then inflicts various acts of violence on it.
In fact, 'bunny ears' were added to try and make it look less like a robot and a little more cute. Because the film wasn't sure if it had sledge-hammered us enough with the need to like this robot.
The directing is flat and unengaging, too. Looks like Blomkamp shunted almost all of his budget and time from Chappie to Elysium.
All the characters are idiot cliches. Yet, for some reason, we're expected to care for them.
Oh - and Appleseed's robot wants its ears back.
However, as a Hollywood film, it's nothing but a series of ridiculous and amateur plot cues, underlined by violence to children by proxy as entertainment.
A few script howlers IMO:
- Scientist discovers genuine AI, then leaves it in the hands of violent gangsters despite fearing for AI's life
- Corporation isn't interested in Nobel-prize winning idea of genuine AI, because they are too busy trying to sell a military platform with built-in cluster bombs to the neighbourhood police - and can't figure out why the neighbourhood police don't see the need for cluster bombs
- No one bats an eye at AI police shooting people, but hate the idea of robots controlled by humans with an ethical mandate - receives little comment
- Gangster needs to raise a few million for a drug lord, but never considers gifting multi-million pound unique police robot in lieu
- Gangster instead drops off multi-million pound robot alone somewhere where it can be damaged by another gang, reducing its value, and capabilities - despite the need to use said robot to raise money
- Newly sentient robot moves and behaves like an eight-year old child, despite the completely different physiological and cognitive structures
- Despite being shot at by police robots, female gang member hugs and kisses police robot like a child. Because that's what women do, right?
- Scientist who discovered genuine AI also discovers how to transfer human consciousness into a robot. Still works with violent gang instead of taking discoveries to wider scientific community
- Human consciousness can be immediately comfortable in robot host body
The script is awful, and there is no subtlety - the viewer is repeatedly banged on the head with a large instrument that: OMG, this police robot acts like a child! Then inflicts various acts of violence on it.
In fact, 'bunny ears' were added to try and make it look less like a robot and a little more cute. Because the film wasn't sure if it had sledge-hammered us enough with the need to like this robot.
The directing is flat and unengaging, too. Looks like Blomkamp shunted almost all of his budget and time from Chappie to Elysium.
All the characters are idiot cliches. Yet, for some reason, we're expected to care for them.
Oh - and Appleseed's robot wants its ears back.
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Cli-Fi
John J. Falco
I guess one must keep in mind that this is taking place as a trial run. In South Africa of all places. So it's not NYC, it's not LA. It's a much smaller scale, didn't they say 100 robots? and it remains to be seen from the plot if they were having trouble releasing the police force internationally. But that's what I would assume. The idiot CEO didn't want to even know about Deon's invention because she either was too focused on the policebots and simply wrote off that dead one, or couldn't possibly believe him. If you were CEO and some guy comes up to you and said that he created AI, during one of your most busiest times during a product roll out. That is the absolute worst time for a CEO to pay attention to you. If Deon spent some time trying to convince her, then I am sure she would have at least looked at it. But that's why Hugh Jackman's AI robot was the one that won her heart in the end. She needed an alpha type to convince her and the crisis helped. Deon was not that type of character. He was a regular geek with poor people skills. Which is probably why he created AI in the first place. This is highlighted in the film.
Certainly those are reasonable arguments. I guess it's easy to rip into the plotting of many films.
Even still, Chappie didn't go down well with my wife or teenage daughter - specifically, the portrayal of Chappie as child-like, and then inflicting violence on him. They wanted it switched off halfway through, and I ended up watching the rest after.
Elysium wasn't the strongest story, but it had more in terms of visuals and character IMO. Sometimes Chappie felt like it was trying to be a children's film, but with adult themes, resulting in a real feeling of disconnection for me.
However, this is all only my opinion. If other people enjoyed it, I'm genuinely happy for them. It just didn't work for us in this instance.
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Chappie was a disappointment to me for many of the reasons you listed, but especially for the brutal treatment of an innocent child inside a police robot's body. The perpetrators understandably saw only an enemy at first, but how could they ignore its desperate cries for mercy and not realize they were dealing with something different?If this was a student film, showcasing CGI effects for replacing a human figure with a robot avatar, I would have applauded it on technical grounds. Little more.
However, as a Hollywood film, it's nothing but a series of ridiculous and amateur plot cues, underlined by violence to children by proxy as entertainment.
A few script howlers IMO:
- Scientist discovers genuine AI, then leaves it in the hands of violent gangsters despite fearing for AI's life
- Corporation isn't interested in Nobel-prize winning idea of genuine AI, because they are too busy trying to sell a military platform with built-in cluster bombs to the neighbourhood police - and can't figure out why the neighbourhood police don't see the need for cluster bombs
- No one bats an eye at AI police shooting people, but hate the idea of robots controlled by humans with an ethical mandate - receives little comment
- Gangster needs to raise a few million for a drug lord, but never considers gifting multi-million pound unique police robot in lieu
- Gangster instead drops off multi-million pound robot alone somewhere where it can be damaged by another gang, reducing its value, and capabilities - despite the need to use said robot to raise money
- Newly sentient robot moves and behaves like an eight-year old child, despite the completely different physiological and cognitive structures
- Despite being shot at by police robots, female gang member hugs and kisses police robot like a child. Because that's what women do, right?
- Scientist who discovered genuine AI also discovers how to transfer human consciousness into a robot. Still works with violent gang instead of taking discoveries to wider scientific community
- Human consciousness can be immediately comfortable in robot host body
The script is awful, and there is no subtlety - the viewer is repeatedly banged on the head with a large instrument that: OMG, this police robot acts like a child! Then inflicts various acts of violence on it.
In fact, 'bunny ears' were added to try and make it look less like a robot and a little more cute. Because the film wasn't sure if it had sledge-hammered us enough with the need to like this robot.
The directing is flat and unengaging, too. Looks like Blomkamp shunted almost all of his budget and time from Chappie to Elysium.
All the characters are idiot cliches. Yet, for some reason, we're expected to care for them.
Oh - and Appleseed's robot wants its ears back.
The consciousness-transferring thing really irked me. A still developing AI so advanced that it could spend a few minutes on the internet and learn how to achieve this, then store the entire consciousness of a human being on a flash drive? That had to one enormous-capacity drive.
Also a cheap way to smooth a rough road to a happy ending
I really liked District 9, so I was expecting better from Blomkamp here. My time would have been better spent re-watching Short Circuit.
Yep, I found that particularly off putting, and found myself cringing as I watched it. But, you don't get a District 9 everyday. Right?
J Riff
The Ants are my friends..
Aha, this is also called Humandroid,(?) and I nearly watched it, it's on Netflix apparently, as Chappie. Tx fer the heads up, I'll wait for Blomencamps hack at Alien and see how that goes.
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