By Sophia Lucente, A&E Editor

Published in print Mar. 17, 2015

Last Friday, Die Antwoord fans everywhere flocked to theatres with the release of Sony’s latest addition to the robo-cop trend, “Chappie”.

In spite of its grossing nearly $14 million in its first three days, critics have shrugged at the film’s lack of originality; one man from “Hollywood Reporter” made note of its “unappealing one-note characters” and complained about an unrealistic lack of mortality given the amount of gunfire exchanged. Its director is Neill Blomkamp, otherwise known for “Elysium” and “District 9”.

“Chappie” is very much a glorification of world-renowned South African rap-rave duo which is comprised of the heavily tattooed slenderman Ninja and baby-faced sex princess Yolandi Vi$$er. Since their debut studio album “$O$” in 2009, they have been a staple of the nation’s “Zef” counter-culture movement. The only way to truly understand the style is to watch it (see: their 2012 Gaga-bashing video “Fatty Boom Boom”.) It has been described as both a musical and a cultural style that arose from “national melancholia” in post-apartheid South Africa. It is obscene, dirty and gangster as shit – an amplified version of trailer trash with better style, if you will.

The plot as a whole is not terribly unique; the premise is nearly identical to John Badham’s 1986 “Short Circuit”. Chappie is a police robot stolen by an artificial intelligence developer who is frustrated by the force’s director (Sigourney Weaver) and her dismissal of any need for emotion in their equipment, whose main purpose is to protect human agents in massive drug cartel busts. His plan is derailed by Ninja and Yolandi, a pair of local gangsters, who have plotted to adopt one of the aforementioned bots to fight on their side. Robert Downey Jr. costars as a second arms developer who is also frustrated that the force doesn’t want his absurdly powerful fighting machines.

There are moments of tenderness throughout the film that are both annoyingly cliché and absolutely adorable, as most of them take place between Yolandi and Chappie as he develops from an infantile mentality into a thinking and feeling being that only wants to do good and protect “Mommy and Daddy”. In one heartrending moment, Yolandi reads him a bedtime story about a sheep, and draws comparison to his own “life”.

“You know what’s a black sheep?” she asks him in her broken Afrikaans dialect. “It’s when you’re different from everyone else.”

On one hand, “Chappie” is a commentary on the very real political atmosphere that exists today in South Africa; the movie begins with a broad snapshot of gang violence in that area, complete with clips that may or may not be real of actual newscasters reporting the nation’s turmoil. On the other, it is an honest yet simple portrayal of what worldwide governments may be lacking in terms of what sorts of intelligence are possible in order to combat issues like poverty and drug-related violence.

Above all, the film is essentially the Die Antwoord story – not in its narrative content but in its aesthetic appeal. Every single song on its soundtrack (and in its diegetic sound as well) is by the duo.

“Chappie” is not to be missed, but also not to be taken seriously – and a must-see for new and old Antwoord fans.