Chappie.

We have another piece of beautifully contrived nonsense from the South African writer and director Neill Blomkamp. Following the brilliant District 9 (2009) and the hell like vision of the future that was Elysium (2013) comes Chappie (2015).  This time we have a western disguised as science fiction based in dystopian Johannesburg in the very near future, like 2016!  Its basic story is about an artificially intelligent law enforcement robot that is captured by some badass gangsters who attempt to teach it their version of the facts of life with the implicit intention of it assisting with their criminal endeavours.  

 

Deon's heart to heart with Chappie.

In a world of slums, violence and economic despair it’s a robot that stands head and shoulders above the have not’s and the corporations that exploit the have not’s for profit. The Tetravaal Corporation provides the city police force with armed robots known as scouts who can carry out basic tasks like killing people but alas cannot think for themselves.  But it’s the young nerd type boffin Deon (Dev Patel) who has been secretly developing an AI system that will enable the robots to be programmed to think for them selves in the war against crime and civil unrest. Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver cast by the director because of her iconic role in Aliens) refuses to allow Deon to experiment further, she also tells Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman who makes a very believable over the top villain) that the Corporation will not finance further investment in his giant robotic war machine unless the civil unrest gets worse – now there’s an invitation! In the meantime Deon rebuilds a damaged robot installing it with Artificial Intelligence. But it falls into the hands of one of the street gangs, which consists of Yo-landi Visser and her boyfriend Ninja (played by the band members of Die Atwood who virtually play them selves but with added violence).

 

Yo-landi Visser....

....and her man Ninja.

It’s the inner childlike innocence of Yo-landi and Ninja, who become ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ to the robot they call Chappie (Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley) who at the same time as fighting back against a society, that no one in their right mind would want to be part of, is the most entertaining part of a very entertaining movie. Blomkamp and his fellow writer and spouse Terri Tatchell, who was also the co-writer on District 9, asks the viewer to decide what is human? Does a human consist of a recognised body and brain or does the transfer of consciousness to a robot already equipped with AI make that a human?

 

Villains come in all shapes....

.... and sizes.

Perhaps I could end this review by quoting Kim Nicolini: ‘don’t underestimate the political economics of this movie. While Blomkamp’s earlier films District 9 and Elysium very clearly showed the divide between those who have power and money and those who don’t, this film brilliantly shows life at the bottom of the pit, how those who are left with scraps survive, and how they ultimately maintain humanity in an inhumane world’[1]. A good summing up I would say. If you enjoyed Neill Blomkamp’s previous outings then I would suggest you make every effort to see this one.

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[1] Kim Nicolini – Counter Punch March 2015

Prisoners

Canadian director and screenwriter Denis Villeneuve’s first English language film Prisoners (2013) asks the question that has been put to audiences in various movies including Gone Baby Gone (2007) and Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River (2003). When is a crime not a crime, is it when you kidnap and torture or kill a suspected paedophile?

 

Happier times for the Dover family.

In a suburban street in Pennsylvania there’s a sinister RV parked. The Dover and Birch families have come together to celebrate Thanksgiving. When six year old Anna Dover and Joy Birch go missing along with the RV, a loner called Alex Jones (Paul Dano an actor that really does a believable ‘weird’) the driver of the vehicle is suspected of abducting them.  Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrests Jones but has to let him go for lack of evidence.  Ann’s father Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) believes that the mentally defective Jones knows were the two girls are hidden and abducts and imprisoning him in a deserted block of apartments where he carry’s out a violent interrogation with the help of Joy’s father (Terrence Howard).  

Joy and Ann.

Villeneuve’s previous film Incendies (2010) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The mystery/drama film follows the journey of twin brother and sister as they attempt to unravel the mystery of their mother’s life. This was an extremely powerful film with a most intriguing and complex narrative, almost like a detective story, a thriller or a Greek tragedy that revealed it’s hidden secrets gradually. This latest film is equally powerful and deals with another very emotive subject, the abduction of young children. Cinematographer Roger Deakins highlights the bleak nature of the films subject matter and its settings, evoking a mood of dread that never seems to let up. It stars a great ensemble cast with a stand out performances from Gyllenhaal as the twitchy buttoned up police officer pitting him self against the hot headed carpenter Dover. The cast also includes Viola Davis and Maria Bello as the distraught mothers and Melissa Leo as Holly Jones. Mr Villeneuve is beginning to build quite a reputation for strong adult cinema.

The suspect is questioned. 

Les Miserables.

Unless you’ve been living on a far away planet you couldn’t miss the fact that Les Miserables (2012) has again been adapted for the big screen, this time by Tom Hooper who was responsible for the very successful movie, The Kings Speech (2010).  The story, as ever, is based on the 1862 French historical novel by Victor Hugo described as a tale about broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption. It begins in 1815 in France when Jean Valjean is released from a 19-year prison term, for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, and ends with the unsuccessful 1832 June Rebellion in Paris.  In between we get Valjean attempting to avoid re-arrest for jumping bail, by his nemesis Inspector Javert.

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean.

I’m not really a fan of stage musicals, although no one can deny that that a 27-year run for any stage show is exceptional. I only attended this movie because my wife expressed a wish to see it (although I suspect it had some thing to do with Hugh Jackman being in the cast) and the fact that it was at the RBC Film Theatre on her birthday, job done. My backside was not the only thing numb at the end of its 158-minute running time! It started all right but the longer it went on the more tedious it became. The films production and the cinematography were excellent and I was pleasantly surprised by Anne Hathaway’s performance as Fantine the workhouse girl who turns to prostitution, a role that won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. But I was unconvinced by the musical score, I would have preferred a standard spoken narrative instead of one being sung to music.  Also it’s a very male dominated story with the two main characters always coming across as Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe rather than Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert. Never mind that’s me done my bit for mainstream cinema for a while.

Russell Crowe as the Inspector.

Real Steel

Noisy Boy prepares for battle.

I wrote a piece on sport in the movies as an introduction to The Fighter (2010) for the RBC Film Club, in it I stated that boxing has been the sporting genre that movie lovers and critics alike seem to have a great affinity for. Well there was a very different type of boxing movie at the RBC on Friday and Saturday night last week. Best described as Rocky with Robots, the American science fiction film Real Steel (2011) is set in the near future where the great sport of boxing has gone high tech!

Charlie Kenton, a washed up conventional boxer, lost his chance at a title bid when 2000 pound, eight foot tall steel robots took over the ring. Now a small time promoter he earns just enough money pitting his scrap yard robots in low-end bouts travelling from one underground venue to the next. Charlie who owes large sums of money to the wrong people, discovers he has a son from one of his past romantic liaison’s and now has to appear at a child custody hearing following the death of the boys mother. He’s more than happy to sign young Max over to the boys Aunt, but she cannot take custody until after a prearranged trip to Europe!  The boy is therefore left with his father until after the summer. Charlie agrees to help his newly found son build and train a new robot.

Charlie trains Atom.

Directed by Canadian Shawn Levy, whose body of work I’m not familiar with, and starring Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, Lost star Evangeline Lilly as Kenton’s love interest and the twelve year old Dakota Goyo as Max Kenton. Loosely based on a 1957 short story Street by Richard Matheson, Real Steel is absolute nonsense, entirely predictable from the very first scene and the product placement is diabolical, but the whole thing is terrific fun. The robots are totally believable and the films highpoints are the brilliantly staged fights between them, like the recent Planet of the Apes movie; motion capture technology is used. As my colleague said a great Saturday night movie, the RBC will be selling popcorn next?

Atom's ready for his bout.