CREDIT: COLUMBIA PICTURES
Is a thinking robot the end of mankind or the beginning?

In this mature version of Short Circuit, the city of Johannesburg, South Africa is awash with criminals, from the petty thieves to the bigtime gangs. As the violence in the city gets out of hand, with police deaths on the rise, the city turns to a new droid program in order to control and protect its citizens. The creator of these droids, Deon Wilson (played by Dev Patel), has greater dreams, however, and steals a robot selected for demolition to test out a new artificial intelligence program.

The plot of Chappie thickens when Deon is kidnapped by criminals who want to bypass the robotic police force and become beta testers for a new type of consciousness – one that grows, is taught, learns and feels like anything we define as human. The strange little family provides a unique insight into the lives of the lower class, the nature of humanity and – perhaps most interestingly – the meaning of creation and free will.

The film does a lot of things well with incredibly implemented character arcs and clear and consistent developmental milestones for Chappie. Many moments are genuinely touching as the characters come to care for each other, with Yo-Landi Visser portraying the caring and anxious mother perfectly. Even those characters that are less sympathetic, such as Hugh Jackman’s creepy and occasionally frightening Vincent Moore, still manage to strike a chord as they remind us of how a flawed but well-intentioned individual can go so wrong.

The cinematography also deserves some praise, with shots being taken from unique camera angles and a variance of style that is rarely seen but used to great effect. The explosions and other special effects were surprisingly realistic, being big but still believable. The character design for Chappie and the other robots was also really great, feeling well within the realm of possibility for the near future.

One item that could have been improved on was the use of subtitles, which were really one used only for one specific character – a leader of the largest gang they come up against. While the character does slip into what may have been Afrikaans once or twice, for the most part his accent is easier to understand than Hugh Jackman’s, whose Australian accent gets pretty unintelligible during several scenes. Why he was chosen as the only cast member to be subtitled is really unclear, and the subtitles themselves are rather distracting as most of the scenes that feature him are action filled.

Like any movie from Neill Blomkamp, Chappie can be read on many levels. On the surface this could be watched as a pretty great action movie, with some amazing CG fight scenes and a touching story where the line between hero and villain is ever clouded.

However, another level exists: one that questions our use of drone technology against humans, one that questions the nature of the soul and one that reminds us of the fleeting and yet permanent nature of our existence.