Die Antwoord + Short Circuit =

November 6, 2014 11:10 AM

Rave-rappers Die Antwoord are starring in Chappie, a movie about robots and consciousness, by Elysium/District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. Sigourney Weaver (Alien), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) also star. Due out in early 2015. Trailer [slyt].
posted by gusandrews (28 comments total)

I kept waiting for the record scratch in this trailer... and it turns out the robot is a real asshole! But it looks super sincere. Given that, the parallel to Short Circuit is making me not super excited for this.
posted by selfnoise at 11:16 AM on November 6, 2014 [3 favorites]

Elysium/District 9

/hopes for latter, fears former.
posted by Artw at 11:16 AM on November 6, 2014 [7 favorites]

I fear my being charmed by Die Antwoord but at least I may have fun anyway.
posted by basicchannel at 11:19 AM on November 6, 2014

I had one of those weird moments where I watched through the trailer and thought, "man, I need to post this to metafilter."
posted by boo_radley at 11:19 AM on November 6, 2014 [3 favorites]

Seems like the same general plot as both District 9 and Elysium. Bad guys chase hero around, lots of cool hardware and eye candy and robots.
posted by Nevin at 11:20 AM on November 6, 2014

Elysium had the biggest skew between trailer and actual movie of any recent film for me.
posted by octothorpe at 11:20 AM on November 6, 2014 [4 favorites]

I am experiencing elevated levels of excitement.

Also, what Artw said.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:22 AM on November 6, 2014

I will basically watch Die Antwoord do anything.

Anyone have a sense -- is the robot mo-cap, all effects, actually physically real...?
posted by gusandrews at 11:22 AM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Obligatory behind the scenes gossip.
Curious to see the final form of this. All the early discussion banked on it being a dark comedy ala 2000 AD. The trailer doesn't really showcase any humor at all. I'm guessing due to an alarming number of fooks and such. Didn't Sharlto Copley play Chappie for both performance capture and voice?
posted by chainlinkspiral at 11:23 AM on November 6, 2014

I think from the trailer, that they are using more puppetry rather than CGI for the lead character. This worked very well for Autómata earlier this year. Autómata is well made, though still a shameless rehash of I, Robot. The puppetry made it miles better than the big-budget Will Smith PoS from a few years ago.
posted by Catblack at 11:26 AM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

All the early discussion banked on it being a dark comedy ala 2000 AD. The trailer doesn't really showcase any humor at all.

Yeah, exactly. I had some vague memory of this being the idea of the movie and was super disappointed. But maybe it's the trailer that's deceptive? Wouldn't be the first time.
posted by selfnoise at 11:27 AM on November 6, 2014

If someone shouts "No Disassemble!" at any point during the premiere I will throw my robot shaped collector's jumbo Pepsi cup right at their head.
posted by CynicalKnight at 11:27 AM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

It looks, from the trailer, like Yo-Landi is a more important character than Ninja, which alligns with my feelings about the group.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:59 AM on November 6, 2014 [8 favorites]

Alex Garland's (Sunshine, Dredd, 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go) Ex Machina also has a trailer out, with a somewhat more cerebral (and adult) approach. Together with Her there seems to be a general theme -- one could even throw in Under the Skin for good measure if one wished. Film grad school dissertators, start your word processors!
posted by dhartung at 12:03 PM on November 6, 2014 [5 favorites]

Alex Garland is turning out to be a very interesting director.
posted by Artw at 12:58 PM on November 6, 2014

Neill Blomkamp's has used very similar robot designs in a couple of short films; Tetra Vaal and Tempbot. Hopefully the tone of the film has more in common with either or both of those shorts than the trailer does...
posted by Luddite at 1:03 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Alex Garland's second film is going to be an adaptation of Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy as a film. That'll be peculiar.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 1:25 PM on November 6, 2014

I have a long and well-established history of crying when robots get hurt, starting way back with Short Circuit and Batteries Not Included, and given that my chin was quivering when watching this short trailer I predict that trend is set to continue well into the future. I'm nearly 36 years old.
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:36 PM on November 6, 2014 [6 favorites]

Ooh Ex Machina looks really good too. Always glad to hear about Garland doing something new, despite the generalised stupidness of the last 30 minutes of Sunshine.
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:40 PM on November 6, 2014

Personally, for me it always goes back to this.

"Superman!"
posted by Fizz at 2:16 PM on November 6, 2014

calling it now:

all of my friends, and the tumblr pizza and cats crowd are going to go to this because die antwoord.

it's probably going to suck as much as elysium.

a bunch of people are going to fervently defend it because die antwoord, it's going to get a ton of really "deep" reviews like its some intense thinkpiece even if it's just a Stupid Explosion Movie like elysium.


I'll still probably see it on opening night/day, just like i did with elysium.
posted by emptythought at 2:27 PM on November 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

But... hope!
posted by Artw at 2:43 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Elysium had such promise! But it all deflated into a glitzy shining illogical mess.

Also maybe I'm being oversensitive or missing the point but the idea of filming on location in real slums and calling it "LA in the FUTURRRR" just seemed fucking gross and exploitative as hell
posted by Doleful Creature at 2:49 PM on November 6, 2014

I liked Elysium. Well, I liked half of it at least. I like the way Blomkamp makes integration between humans and technology look really gross and bloody and crude, and Elysium had enough of that to satisfy me, at least visually. District 9 had too much of that, and my stomach was churning the entire time.

I think this looks really promising. The only thing making me hesitate is Die Antwoord, because I mostly just loathe the both of them.

The trailer also made my lip quiver. I hate seeing robots get sad or hurt :(
posted by still bill at 3:33 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

That bit in I, Robot, where Will Smith opens up that shipping container full of sad robots? I cri evry time.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:44 PM on November 6, 2014

Robots with accents! Servo noises! Die Antwoord! Ok, I'll watch it.
posted by oceanjesse at 5:06 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Too many cooks...
posted by Renoroc at 8:08 PM on November 6, 2014

So.... are those 'AGM Heartland' viral vidz ever going to come to anything? I can't seem them tying in with this unless the trailer is really deceptive.

Also: 'Neill Blomkamps makin' me a movie star' "Baby's On Fire" Die Antwoord
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:31 AM on November 7, 2014