CHAPPiE
(2015/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: B
Neill
Blomkamp is one of Hollywood's brightest and visually talented
filmmakers, who has really pushed the boundaries of big budgeted
Science Fiction filmmaking. His first film, District 9, was a
huge hit and had incredible special effects to help back its tightly
written screenplay that lent itself to both the fake documentary
realm and the narrative science fiction realm. It also introduced
the world to actor Sharlto Copley, to whom Blomkamp has used in every
film of his since.
His
second film, Elysium starring Matt Damon (with Copely as the
villain this time), was something of a disappointment due mainly to
the hype surrounding it and several plot holes despite an impressive
(again) display of Special Effects. While mainly critics were
disappointed with CHAPPiE, I found it to be way more
entertaining than Elysium however, not quite on the same level
as District 9.
CHAPPiE
boasts an impressive cast, incredible special effects, and one of the
more human and like-able android characters in recent memory. Copely
stars as CHAPPiE,
behind the guise of Motion Capture Computer Generation and bestows a
performance that even Mo-Cap god Andy Serkis would have difficulty
matching.
Set
in Africa, like all of Blomkamp's films thus far (he is a native
there), in the near future, crime is patrolled
by an oppressive mechanized police force created by Deon Wilson (Dev
Patel of Slumdog Millionaire
and HBO's The Newsroom).
But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid,
CHAPPiE,
is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with
the ability to think and feel for himself though under the bad
influence of a gang who is holding him as a ransom piece and soon as
an accessory in grand theft auto and robberies. As powerful,
destructive forces start to see CHAPPiE
as a danger to mankind and order, and a jealous co-worker (Jackman)
who has a robot fighting machine that he hopes to blow CHAPPiE
out of the water with, the deadly forces all around will stop at
nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that CHAPPiE
is the last of his kind.
The
film stars Copely, Patel, Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and Die
Antwoord band members Ninja
and Yolanda to whom bring some of their bizarre music to the fold
here as well. Borrowing some elements from Robocop,
Short Circuit,
and even iRobot,
the film manages to bring up exciting new ideas in the robot genre
and give you a character of artificial intelligence that you actually
begin to feel for more and more as the film progresses.
Sony
has done an incredible job with the sound and picture quality in this
Blu-ray release, sporting a glorious 4K transfer in 1080p high
definition with a 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a tight,
lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix that doesn't disappoint.
The details throughout are breathtaking as Sony remains as one of the
leaders of the format with incredible high definition details.
In
addition, there are some great extras on the disc including an
alternate ending and over an hour of extras including Character
Design featurettes, and others exploring the making of the film. If
you are a fan of the robot cycle of the science fiction genre as I
am, or just love big budgeted science fiction films, then CHAPPiE
one I would definitely recommend checking out. It's above and beyond
that awful Robocop reboot last year and while the script isn't
perfect, it still creates a very detailed world and a character that
you can rally behind. I'm very excited to see what Blomkamp does
with the Alien franchise in the future.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
