Chappie is a major motion picture set to be released in March, 2015, trailers available on iTunes now. This is the third film from South African director Neill Blomkamp, who has also given us the sci- fi flicks District 9 and Elysium. It boasts high powered talent both in front of the camera (Oscar nominees Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver) and behind (Oscar nominated screenwriter Terri Tatchell). A comedy set in the near future, the film lightly explores questions of life, humanity and the state of being human.
Artifical intelligence is the wondrous and frightening concept that takes center stage in this movie. The film tells a whimsical science fiction story of an experimental robot named Chappie. “Kidnapped” by gangsters shortly after creation, Chappie winds up living with an unusual human family as an adopted son. Designed as the first robot with the ability to learn, think, and feel, he becomes what he is raised to be, and more, while forces frightened of the possibilities he beacons try to stop the experiment. This is, ultimately, an odd sort of coming-of-age movie. With role models ranging from idealistic scientist to take what you can gangsters, how will Chappie find his own way in the world? And how will the world find a way to accept Chappie and others like him – or will the world reject this type of evolution?
The cast also includes frequent Blomkamp collaborator Sharlto Copley as Chappie, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Dev Patel as the inventor. Filmed in South Africa, the soundtrack includes South African rappers Die Antwoord.
