CHAPPIE
An absolutely terrible film.

IT WAS A BLATANT MISTAKE TO MAKE THIS FILM

Film Review © 2015 by Trip Reynolds

Action/Drama/Comedy/Science Fiction

Directed by Neill Blomkamp. Screenplay by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Produced by Simon Kinberg. Executive produced by Ben Waisbren. Co-produced by James Bitonti and Victoria Burkhart.

Starring: Sharlto Copley (as stupid, poorly conceived robot, Chappie), Dev Patel (as creator of Chappie, Deon Wilson), Ninja (as bad guy, Ninja), Yo-Landi Visser (as good bad-girl, Yolandi), Jose Pablo Cantillo (as Yankie/Amerika), Hugh Jackman (as the terribly miscast bad guy, Vincent Moore), Sigourney Weaver (as the terribly miscast company boss, Michelle Bradley), Brandon Auret (as Hippo), Johnny selema (as Pitbull), Anderson Cooper (as Himself), and a host of others.

Crime is so bad in South Africa that a robot police force was created, by software engineering genius Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) to curtail the violence. These nearly indestructible robots operate with a nifty encryption system of dual controls that prevent the robots from being hacket. However, Wilson wants to push the A.I. (artificial intelligence) envelope by creating a

Flim essentially begins with a flashback showing how the life of super-spy Harry Hart (Colin Firth) was saved by the father of apprentice-to-be Garry "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton). Unbeknownst to Eggsy, Hart (code named "Galahad") felt an obligation to look after Eggsy and his family, and Hart did so as their guardian angel. Eggsy upset some local bullies and Hart stepped in and quickly defeated all of the bullies in an extremely well choreographed ballet of gunplay, fisticuffs, and derring-do. Frankly, Colin Firth and his stunt double Rick English should be considered for more James Bond-ish roles, because they did an excellent job performaning the pseudo-martial arts and related action.

Meanwhile, Hart eventually inlists Eggsy as his protégé into the off-the-books super-secret spy organization, "The Kingsmen," which is modeled less like MI6 or related Bond-isms but more like the classic Knights of the Round Table of 12th century Britain. As a trainee, Eggsy shows great aptitude and ingenuity, but emotionally he lacked the stoicism and aloofness required to be a Kingsman. Enter over-the-top bad guy billionaire and psychopathic genius with a heavy lisp, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), and his dastardly scheme to abruptly curtail human over-population and destruction of the earth's eco-system by humans. Valentine implanted computer chips in the heads of prominent people and distributed "free" cell phones to the masses worldwide, and he's ready to use his satellite network to broadcast a lethal signal that will automatically kill everyone linked with these devices. As scripted, the execution of Valentine's plan is not worthy of any Bond plot, especially when the actual heads of people began to explode like multi-colored balloons thereby making the film overtly cartoonish. "Austin Powers" looked smarter.

Of course, we're expecting plenty of action and suspense, and the film delivers in this regard, but the mentoring relationship between the sage, Harry Hart (Colin Firth) and his protégé was underdeveloped. The best thing about "The Kingsman" is Colin Firth, but without giving too much away, Firth absent from the last third of the film; and Taron Egerton as his apprentice, lacked the on-screen presence or "weight" to carry the rest of the film. In compliance with a mediocre script all other acting in film is perfunctory.

Direction by Matthew Vaughn is excellent, with a wonderful array of shot selections that framed many scenes like panels in a comic book graphic novel, including great use of special effects and nifty camera angles. Editing by Eddie Hamilton and John Harris is tight and mirrored the solid film direction. Sadly, the script for this this 129 minute filmdeclined from the stylish sophistication and excitement of any film in the "James Bond" franchise, then declined to a caricature of "In Like Flint (1967)" and then declined to the frivolity of "Austin Powers (1997)" to ultimately decline to become a real disappointment. "Kingsman" cost $81 million and as of March 12, 2015 generated a worldwide gross of $251,488,238 which means a sequel is likely. Bummer. We can only hope the next film is better.

Recommendation: Forget this movie was ever made.