Chappie Is The Last Hope For Humanity In This New Poster
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Neill Blomkamp isn’t one to make dull, uninteresting movies. Even if his last film, 2013’s Elysium, left you wanting more like it did with many viewers, it has a distinctive visual style and is full of ambition and big ideas. Between that and his debut feature, 2009’s District 9, he is definitely one of the most intriguing filmmakers working in science fiction right now, and his next film, the robot-centric Chappie, is one we’re dying to see. It looks like a combination of Short Circuit and RoboCop, and to tease the upcoming release, Sony Pictures released this new poster for you to check out.
The movie tells the story of Chappie, the first artificially intelligent robot that can think for itself, played by a motion captured Sharlto Copley. Created by Dev Patel’s character, Deon, Chappie obviously makes the rest of humanity very nervous, and the childlike automaton encounters all kinds of prejudices and violence along his journey. I’m curious to see where the whole “Humanity’s last hope” things on this poster from Coming Soon comes into play.
From what we’ve seen, there’s a lot more going on than just that, however. Hugh Jackman plays a rival robotics developer (one with a wicked mullet), Sigourney Weaver is some kind of sinister corporate presence (institutional control and corruption is one of Blomkamp’s favorite themes), and South African rap-rave duo Die Antwoord (Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja) show up as what appears to be a pseudo family for Chappie—Deon serves as a de facto father figure.
Here’s a newish synopsis that plays up the fact that Chappie, at some point, in some capacity, is part of a robotic police force:
In the near future, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. As powerful, destructive forces start to see Chappie as a danger to mankind and order, they will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.
Check out this recent trailer for a sense of the action in the movie:
We’re getting pretty close to the March 6 release date for Chappie, so we’ll probably be seeing much more from the film over the next couple of weeks.
