Limerick Review: Chappie

In Johannesburg, one year from now,
The city's crime-ridden, and how...
The police, long-term,
Allow a tech firm
To build robots to speed the plow.

The intro, with robo-cops seeking,
Is cool beyond any critiquing,
The visuals telling,
The people compelling -
A shame that they had to start speaking...

The dialogue's so much commotion,
Of somewhat indeterminate notions.
It's quite apposite
That the film's biggest hit
Is the robot - who acts through his motions.

The gangsters who take Chappie in
Have an idiosyncratic spin,
But through the course of the flick
Their posturing schtick
Starts wearing distressingly thin.

The Hugh Jackman villain's beginning
Does give him a strong underpinning,
But since his plan stinks,
We're confused how he thinks
This could possibly end with him winning.

The robot himself does disarm
With a startling degree of charm,
Even when he's riled,
He acts like a child,
And doesn't intend any harm.

For a movie that isn't that bright,
The philosophy could have been trite,
But seen through the prism
Of transhumanism,
It actually gets a lot right.

But all of your hopes will be crushed,
As that clever stuff soon gets flushed
When Jackman attacks,
There's an action climax,
Then an ending that feels oddly rushed.

The "growing-up" scenes do impress,
But the film feels the need to digress,
With an odd result -
The robot parts exult,
But the surrounding plot is a mess.

What we have is a film with good parts
That may briefly steal our hearts,
But that somehow gets drawn
With weird bits bolted on
That make it end worse than it starts.

It's pretty without being gaudy,
But the story structure is just shoddy.
In the transhuman vein,
It has its heart and brain,
All it needed was a stronger body.