South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp has a proven track record of turning social ills into heart-pumping sci-fi, first in District 9 and again with Elysium. Next March, it’ll be Chappie, a Pinocchio-like tale of an artificial intelligence learning its place in a violent world.
The eponymous thinking and feeling device, played by Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley, is the invention of a scientist (Dev Patel) who marvels at its ability to absorb and adapt to features of its environment. The movie, which also stars Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver, plays on a cinematic history of killer machines like the Terminator and HAL 9000 with the idea that humans—like the scheming criminals played by Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja of the rap group Die Antwoord, for example—will always represent a far greater evil.
Anyone unmoved by WALL-E, here’s a second chance to cry over the emotive power of a fictional robot. But this time there will be guns.
Photo via traileraddict