Whenever director Neill Blomkamp has finished a new movie, I always look forward to it. The South African director had his big breakthrough, partly thanks to Peter Jackson, with his fantastic District 9. Not only the story it told was fascinating, but the effects were extremely convincing (which isn’t a surprise if you know he has a background in 3d effects). He followed it up with Elysium starring Matt Damon, which didn’t exactly receive glowing reviews, but which I personally really enjoyed. Chappie is his third movie. If you look at his first short movie from 2004, Tetra Vall, you immediately see the similarities between the main character from that with this movie, also a police robot in Johannesburg. Has Blomkamp managed to turn that short film into a fascinating feature film? Continue reading →