OVERVIEW: Academy Award® nominated writer/director Neill Blomkamp (Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, District 9, 2009) reunites with Sharlto Copley (District 9) for the sci-fi action thriller CHAPPiE, debuting on Digital HD May 29, and coming to Blu-ray™ and DVD June 16 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and MRC. In the near future, crime is patrolled by a mechanized police force. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he develops the ability to think and feel for himself. When authorities begin to see him as a danger, they will stop at nothing to ensure he is the last of his kind. CHAPPiE also stars Dev Patel, NINJA and ¥O-LANDI VI$$ER, and Academy Award nominees Sigourney Weaver (Best Actress, Aliens, 1986) and Hugh Jackman (Best Actor, Les Misérables, 2012).

SYNOPSIS: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.

FILM REVIEW: Neill Blomkamp, director of 2009s District 9 and 2013s Elysium brings us Chappie, with a cast that includes Hugh Jackman (X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2014), Sigourney Weaver (Alien, film series), Sharlto Copley (Elysium), Dev Patel (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 2012) and Jose Pablo Cantillo (The Walking Dead).

Over his past two movies (DISTRICT 9 and ELYSIUM), Blomkamp has primarily been tagged as a visionary filmmaker who prefers gritty and realistic sci-fi genre with sociopolitical context. However, in his third major feature, CHAPPIE, he and his cohorts seems bold enough to go further by integrating a little lighthearted comedy element , as with 1986s SHORT CIRCUIT and 2001s A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE heartfelt "robot-with-a-human-consciousness" storyline, except in this case, its set within the chaotic nature of the crime-infested Johannesburg.

Although CHAPPIE shares many resemblances with ROBOCOP in terms of its visual aesthetics (e.g. Moose, which looks almost identical to ED-209) as well as its plot and character element (e.g. Jackman's character echoes the similarity of Ronny Cox's slimy character as Richard Jones), it's far from a cheap rip-off. Instead, the ROBOCOP-like formula works well with Blomkamp's filmmaking style. Likewise, Blomkamp's direction is intense while displaying a great visual flair for violent action scenes and cool slow-motion effects. Kudos also goes out to the amazingly seamless special effects between the robots and the background in the movie. Its as lifelike as one can possibly imagine.

The cast is impressive, with Dev Patel playing the nerd fixated on having a world-class technological breakthrough in the AI arena while Hugh Jackman is in rare bad-guy form. Both are absolutely noteworthy. And despite appearing only in a small role, Sigourney Weaver is equally memorable as the cold-hearted and profit-hungry CEO of TetraVaal. Certainly worth mentioning is the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoords Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser, who, interestingly enough steal most of the show with their flashy, yet surprisingly likable performances playing two violent but sympathetic low-life gangsters. And lastly, but certainly not least, the other scene-stealer is Sharlto Copley who plays Chappie providing an amusing childlike and naive voice performance as Chappie.

Surprisingly enough, this movie about robots and artificial intelligence turns out to be extremely human in nature and becomes a touching and heartfelt story of mankind and its spirit and desire to live-on. CHAPPIE is satisfying enough as one of the best genre movies of its kind and has all of the makings to be one of the best sci-fi movies of the year. Four out of five stars would well deserve here, just losing a point for becoming a little slow and dragging on in the middle of the 120 minute play time.

BLU-RAY: The film is presented in widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English, French  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.40:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese

Subtitles - English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Brazilian Portuguese

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Blu-ray™ unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.

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Alternate Ending

Extended Scene: “A Very Bad Man”

Eight Featurettes:

“Chappie: The Streetwise Professor” – An inside look at Chappie and casting Copley to play the robot and his performance via motion capture.

“Arms Race: The Weapons and Robots” – Get a deeper look at the real-world firepower tech and the design of the “Scout” robots & “Moose.”

“Bringing Chappie to Life: The Visual Effects” – The film’s VFX artists discuss the pre-production design process.

“From Tetra Vaal to Chappie” – An in-depth exploration of the scriptwriting process, the early concept design work and other aspects of pre-production.

“Keep It Gangster” – A behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating an authentic South African gangster world featuring interviews with NINJA and ¥O-LANDI VI$$ER.

“The Reality of Robotics” – Discover present day robotics capabilities and next generation artificial intelligence, featuring an interview with Robotics Professor Wolfgang Fink.

“Jozi: Real City and a Sci-Fi Setting” – Discover the history of the real world locations in the film and the role these setting played in the fictionalized version of Johannesburg.

“Rogue Robot: Deconstructing the Stunts & Special Effects” – A look at the film’s high-action stunt sequences.

“The Art of Chappie” Photo Gallery

“We Are Tetravaal” featurette – Weaver, Jackman & Patel discuss their characters & on-set experiences.