Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Chappie’

Written by Scott Edwards

It is difficult to know what will happen in the future, especially when it comes to business. Not knowing what the next big trend will be, much less how the internet will find another way to make your shopping experience more enjoyable, you just have to be willing to go with the flow.  Even if your product may not seem to be hot right away, all it takes is one person to show it being used and you will get another customer, then another, then another. It seems to be the way things are going, I mean I want to buy a bottle opener app for my phone. That may be the greatest thing ever, even if it does not work.

Crime has become so bad over the years that the police force has been forced to take a look at an alternative way of fighting it. With the new Scouts being partially powered by A.I., they have become the greatest threat to all of the evil doers in the country. As long as they are dropped in the right place at the right time, they will do their jobs and subdue any threat that presents itself. Finding out first-hand what these droids can do, Ninja, Yo-Landi and Amerika think that they have been able to get off of the hook for twenty million dollars that needs to be paid to Hippo, but alas, the rival gangster was able to escape as well and will make good on his deal to kill them if they do not pay.

Deon Wilson’s design of the Scouts has been loved by the local law enforcement and another order of a hundred units has come in. Knowing that he can do much better with the A.I. program, he is looking to make a program that will also allow the bots to think for themselves. Being fueled on Red Bull, Deon is able to crack the code and just needs one bot to test it out in and when Scout 22 has been beaten to the point it cannot be repaired, he decides to give the old peacekeeper an upgrade, but when being confronted by Ninja and his gang, he may not get the chance. With the promise of building them a bot of their own, Deon is able to see his next project come to life before his very eyes. Knowing that the A.I. will need to learn, Deon tries to explain to the gang what the robot needs, but none of them seem alright with having a kid playing around their house while the A.I. evolves, except for Yo-Landi who wants to take it slow.

While at work, Deon’s rival designer Vincent is getting tired of the golden boy getting all of the funds and when his peacekeeping robot, the Moose is shot down by the police force, he is ready to crack.  With a plan of his own to get his bots into production, he pulls out all the stops and loads a virus into all of the Scout models allowing the cities to fall into havoc. Knowing that what happened was not a programing error, Deon is able to save his favorite Scout model Chappie from the virus and is forced to take up a battle against someone that has much more military training than him while Chappie will be caught in the crossfire. With time running out for the broken robot, Drew is able to figure out the secret of consciousness and apply it to the robot’s mind but will anyone make it out alive when the Moose is unleashed on the baddies and is also focused on killing Drew in the process?

Okay, I will say it, this is Short Circuit for the new generation. There I said it and what is my thinking behind it you may ask. Well, you have a robot that is self-aware and growing into his surroundings, also a robot that has developed a consciousness. With that being said, you have a ton more action and killing, but with the spray paint job that Chappie gets, along with the bling, damn, it is hard to think of anything else. I liked how the storyline moved through the different stages of the bot's growing and finding out what he thinks is right and wrong, even without the best teachers. Ninja and his gang start to get excited when they see their bot turn into a badass gangster, and even Yo-Landi is proud of her little boy. Not really what I expected when going into this movie, but I am far from disappointed in the result, as it kept me entertained, and I was definitely excited to see what happens next. With an alive robot, some big guns, tons of shooting and a pissed off co-worker, this might be the tale of a growing boy that we have been missing for so long… or not, Johnny 5 is Alive!

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