Chappie

Blomkamp the director trying hard to compensate for the incompetence of Blomkamp the screenwriter. Chappie is nice to look at, it has some good moments, but when you start thinking about it… :-( When you take the stories of each of the characters away from the plot, their behaviour is well… a stupidity race with a photo finish. Every single one of the blokes in there do the best they can to excel in this discipline. (05/20/2015)

Why? Because Die Antwoord, that’s why. Throw in a bit of wacky comedy, a bit of fatalistic sci-fi drama, add a dash of Deus Ex Machina and a few ideas from The Matrix on top, season it with a pinch of clichés, stir it up and you have a fun, inconsistent mashup of genres that one moment is laugh-out-loud hilarious and the next is naturalistically ripping your body in half. Blomkamp is a misunderstood filmmaker doing things his own way, the antithesis of the California dream factory of today. And that’s good. And one thing is certain: Die Antwoord are aliens whose cute non-acting is amusing. Although I believe those two didn't have to play much, they're fucked up in real life añready :o) (03/20/2015)

Once again, it's a story told in a rush and in a hastily made-up world that stands on terribly unstable legs. Just like with Elysium, logic is dealt a heavy blow every few minutes, confirming once and for all that I don't understand the most determined advocate for the Republic of South Africa. It's clear how much he enjoys writing, directing, and perfecting films, but when bloody scenes alternate with infantile ones and a barrage of insults with moralizing, it's all for nothing. That's why all credit goes to undeterred Hugh Jackman, whose villain is boring, illogical, and oddly poorly written – and yet I still enjoyed watching him. But without the final ten minutes, which will surely make pedantic viewers tear their hair out in desperation, it's a downhill journey once again. This is how Neill Blomkamp successfully extracted emotions from me for the first time in his career. Because of this, I have increasing concerns about the fate of the fifth Alien film, no matter what plot lines it follows. (03/11/2015)

Pretty bad. The great technical aspects and a titanic protagonist who really looks 100% real unfortunately can't balance the extremely annoying characters, the disappointing barking of Sigourney Weaver and a shoddy script that makes a fool of even poor Hugh Jackman. Oh dear. Neill Blomkamp has a lot to fix in his next film. (06/02/2015)

The anarchic visual firepower, which suited Blomkamp more than I was reluctant to believe after all the trailers, is carried primarily by Opaloch's eccentric cinematography, which sells the wannabe documentary style as well as few other films, and by the bizarre cast starting with Die Antwoord and ending with Jackman's hairstyle. Charlto Copley milks tears from only doing the audio. Elysium is forgiven. Even with the dramaturgical leash tightened very short, even Alien could have succeeded. (05/19/2015)