The Fall: Season 3

After waiting what felt like 2 years (it might have actually been that long) for Season 3 of The Fall, I never even watched it at the time it was shown on TV. Doh! Talk about double standards. I started watching BBC’s The Fall not long after is started in 2013; it came onto my radar when a bunch of whingers complained about the violence in it. What is it about a show receiving complaints that makes it so irresistible? Maybe it was a ploy all along. Plus, Jamie Dornan was the lead and with the rumours going round that he was playing Mr Grey in Fifty Shades, I wanted to see what he was all about.

If you’ve never heard of The Fall, let me fill you in a little. It’s a British Crime/Drama, a cat and mouse game between the police, led by Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) and serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan). Spector has a career as a grief counselor with a wife and 2 children back at home, but in his spare time he preys on women and murders them in unsettling ways. That’s as far as you need to go if you haven’t seen Season 3 yet, the rest of this post is going to riddled with spoilers.

Season 2 ended with Spector being shot whilst in police custody, and it was questionable whether he would survive the ordeal when the credits rolled. I liked this ending, and although it would have been a shame if Spector died from the attack, I could envisage how the rest of Season 3 would go. It seemed reasonable to assume he would live, but when Jamie Dornan started promoting the new Season a few weeks before it returned, he told everyone that Spector was going to survive, and that took the edge off a little. Why tease us if it was that obvious?

Episode 1 was arguably more difficult to watch than some of the actual murder scenes. There’s a reason I don’t watch shows like ER! The entire episode was dedicated to the hospital staff trying to save Paul Spector. Interesting, but it was unnecessary to drag it out an entire hour. Of course, the big twist here is when Spector wakes up, he has amnesia, and thinks it’s 2006. I’ll admit, I didn’t see this coming, and it was quite exciting to see how this would change the investigation.

From there however, everything blurred into one, long episode. There were plenty of new plot points opened up, how Spector’s babysitter Katie (Aisling Franciosi) was going off the rails, how Spector’s poor wife Sally Ann (Bronagh Waugh) was driven to attempt to kill not only herself but her children, and the case being built by the scumbag lawyers against Gibson. The problem is, as interesting as those points were, they got scrunched up and thrown into the trash with that ending.

I haven’t been so mad about a TV Show's ending since Dexter. It’s not the fact that Spector died, it’s the fact that so much story got abandoned in the process. It made the entirety of Season 3 pointless.In the end, I felt much like Gibson. Tired. I even read today that the writers aren’t sure if that’s the actual ending or not. So there might yet be a Season 4! Well, at least a new Season of Fargo is around the corner to fill this void in my life.

Review: Tickled (2016)

In between the cinema trips and desperately trying to catch up with Westworld (which I’ve done - yay!) I put some time aside to check out a documentary that I’d seen reviewed on a few blogs I follow called Tickled. I can count the number of documentaries I’ve seen on one hand, so although I was curious to add to the number, I did wonder how interesting it could be without the dramatics of a regular movie.

Tickled was funded by both Kickstarter and the New Zealand Film Commission in 2014, and is directed by journalist David Farrier and his colleague Dylan Reeve. David makes a living from looking into all things unordinary, so when he saw videos online of ‘Competitive Endurance Tickling’, needless to say his curiosity was tickled! Har har har. That’s where the laughs stop though. These videos are far from ordinary, and feature young men bound by their wrists and ankles, and then tickled by other young men.

There didn’t seem to be a sexual connotation about the videos, the young men were clothed at all times, but the ‘sport’ was certainly weird enough for David to want to look into it. The videos were produced by a company called Jane O’Brien Media, which had it’s own Facebook page, so David sent a message asking if he could conduct an interview with either Jane herself or another producer to learn more for his article.

Rather than be welcomed with open arms, or politely turned down, David was instead bombarded with hostile responses, pointing out David’s own sexuality and firmly stating that this sport is a “passionately and exclusively heterosexual athletic endurance activity”. When David persisted with his line of enquiry, Jane O’Brien Media sent legal threats and even flew out 3 members of staff to intimidate David and Dylan.

Really, that’s as far into it as I want to go in this post. This is all most other bloggers wrote about, and honestly, if that alone is enough to get you interested than you’ll find the rest of the documentary absolutely fascinating. The way it had me chuckling at how absurd the sport is to suddenly feeling shocked at what was happening is just a little bit unreal.

As I said, I watch very few documentaries so I don’t feel able to comment on how well it was filmed, edited, etc, but I was hooked from the very first minute right up until the credits rolled. Then I had to sit in silence for about ten minutes while I took it all in. If you’ve already seen Tickled, then check out the Wikipedia page for it, right at the bottom is a section about the response to the documentary from the people involved, and that in itself is quite shocking. It’s definitely a subject that I want to keep updated with!

Has anyone else seen Tickled? If you have it was probably your blog that led me down this rabbit hole! I don’t know whether to thank you or curse you, ha!

Review: The Nice Guys (2016)

Have you ever seen a movie trailer for the first time and get the feeling that you know it’s going to be brilliant? Like, no fear of disappointment or anything because you know you’re going to love it? That’s what happened to me and my husband in January this year. We were at the cinema to see Spotlight, and after having a bit of a movie/blog hiatus over Christmas all of the trailers were a surprise to me. Cue a 70’s looking Ryan Gosling wrapping fabric around his knuckles, punching through a window, and then gripping his wrist, bleeding everywhere, followed by Russell Crowe accepting $30 to beat up a little girl’s friend, and I was practically dancing in my seat.

Of course, like every other movie I’ve been looking forward to this year, it got released in the cinemas during my wedding/honeymoon weeks, which meant I missed it. 

There was a game I used to play on the Xbox 360 called L.A. Noire, it’s possibly still one of my favourites games of all time. You play as an LAPD Officer called Phelps, trailing Los Angeles for clues and interviewing witnesses to solve cases. That’s just what The Nice Guys is like, only it’s side-splittingly hilarious at the same time. In The Nice Guys, Holland March (Ryan Gosling) has been hired by a worried mother whose daughter, a porn star by the name of Misty Mountains, has been missing for days. She was last sighted 2 days ago by her mother herself. The only issue here? Misty died in a car accident 4 days ago…

Holland’s search puts him in the line of fire of Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), who has been paid to stop Holland from nosing around. And so our pair meet, which as you can probably tell from the movie poster, ends badly (and painfully) for Holland. If I had any doubts about the chemistry these guys might share on screen, they were fizzled out by their performance at the Oscars earlier this year. They bounce off each other so well! 

I’ve been so used to watching Ryan Gosling play a tough guy (Drive, The Place Beyond The Pines, Only God Forgives) that this completely threw me off balance. I’m really not joking when I say he screams like a girl, and it didn’t matter how many times it happened, I laughed till I cried. He’s just a bit of a doofus, but a very good detective at the same time, which means when he does slip up and does something stupid, it comes without warning. His character Holland also has a young teenage daughter, Holly (Angourie Rice) who is constantly trying to help. Characters like Holly normally get in the way and get annoying, but in some cases, she actually saves the day, and she’s a delight to watch. 

It was just so much fun to watch, and I’ll be watching it again and again over the years, I’m sure. If there were only one movie this year that deserves a sequel, it’s this, because I could watch Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe work together solving cases for hours on end. In fact, I don’t even know why I’m scoring this a 9/10, I can’t think of a fault to pick at, but I hate giving out full marks!

Review: Sicario (2015)

Argh, I was so gutted to have missed Sicario in the cinema! It’s one of those movies that only came on my radar because of being a part of the movie blogging scene. There wasn’t much promotion of it at all in the UK in the run up to its release, but once it came out in the US my Blogger feed was full of reviews, and every single one was singing its praises. It just turned into a moment of too many movies and not enough time, so I had to wait till the DVD release before I got my chance.

Sicario is the story of FBI Agent Kate (Emily Blunt) who volunteers to join a government task force with the aim of ending the escalating war on drugs at the border of the US and Mexico. The cartel they are hunting down are responsible for the deaths of multiple of Kate’s team members, and that’s her reason for joining, although she quickly finds herself way out of her depth.

It sounds like a typical, generic ‘war on drugs’ plot but it’s just done so well. Straight off the bat you know what you’re in for, as the first scene throws gruesome images at you and sets your stomach on edge. This is not your everyday action movie, and should not be watched with your Sunday lunch, as I did…

Emily Blunt is just my hero at the moment. She’s so badass! If you loved her role in Edge of Tomorrow you’re going to love her in this. There’s a scene early on in the movie where you see she’s clearly the only woman in this task force, surrounded by menacing men, and in that scene she seems so small and vulnerable, but just minutes later she’s absolutely holding her own, and I love it!

I didn’t realise a movie that wasn’t a horror could have so much tension. Seriously. There are a few scenes like it, but a fairly early one takes place on the road leading right up to the Mexican border, and the pacing, coupled with the music, had me on the edge of my seat hiding behind a cushion. I was almost glad in that moment I wasn’t in the cinema where I couldn’t hide! 

What I wasn’t expecting was the performance by Benicio Del Toro. Holy moly, this guy was terrifying! His character started off as fairly quiet and sort of faded into the background a little, but then he came out of nowhere!

Sicario is simply a must watch. As someone who has very little interest in movies like this, it was one of my favourites of the whole of 2015. Now why did I have to write that list just a week before watching this?!

Review: 12 Angry Men (1957)

Sometimes, I have no many movies in my mind that I want to watch all at once that I can’t decide on just one. Time is so short! One particular night, I wanted to watch something I could guarantee would be good, and so that’s when I turn to IMDB’s Top 250 list. Within moments I spotted a movie that I had read about that very day on Darren’s blog, Movie Reviews 101, and so, deciding fate led me there, I sat and watched 12 Angry Men (1957).

12 Angry Man is a courtroom drama on a tiny scale. The movie begins with the 12 members of the jury leaving the courtroom to decide a young man’s fate, and from there, the whole movie is based on how these 12 men come to a unanimous decision. If found guilty, the man will be sentenced to death. At first vote, the jury stand 11-1 in favour of guilty, and so the man’s fate relies on Juror #8 (Henry Fonda) as he attempts to convince the rest of the group to change their minds.

I have to admit, I’m feeling like a bit of a sham of a movie blogger again. This marks my 3rd black and white movie ever, and despite reading the phrase ‘star-studded cast’ in descriptions about 12 Angry Men, the only name I recognise is Henry Fonda...sorry! Sign me up to some historical movie class, please, because I’m so out of my depth here. I didn’t let this affect my enjoyment of the movie, however. In fact, if anything I got to enjoy it without having any preconceptions about any of the actors!

I’ve had to sleep on my thoughts before writing a review, my head was so full of conflicting thoughts. This is so different to the types of movies I usually watch, and so it would be easy for me write this off. I don’t know what I was expecting in all honesty, and I initially felt disappointed that there wasn’t a more conclusive ending. But then I realised, that’s the whole point, and in fact, that’s what makes 12 Angry Men so interesting!

The performances by everyone were so great. Their heated debates were intimidating to watch, and the moment that Juror #8 and Juror #4 (was it 4? Sorry if that’s wrong) nearly fought over a fact before Juror #4 uttered that specific phrase was probably my favourite moment in the entire movie. 

It’s quite amazing how such a simple story can hook you in. As these 12 men debated the facts presented and started picking apart each detail, I found myself switching sides constantly. In fact, one of the things I found most interesting is that message boards online even now are still debating the case! 

I’d really love to know what everyone else thinks. Guilty or not guilty? I’m still on the fence, leaning towards not guilty.

Review: The Hateful Eight (2015)

Okay folks, lets for just a second imagine that time travel is a thing. Now you're probably wondering what on earth time travel has to do with The Hateful Eight, right? The answer is nothing! It's just that my review found itself buried in our drafts list for 6 months, and most of it won't make sense now. So, cast your minds back, your fridge is full of leftover Christmas turkey and you're either still hyping about The Force Awakens, or desperately avoiding spoilers...got it?

If you live in the UK, you’ll have no doubt heard about the drama Cineworld have created by taking the decision to not screen The Hateful Eight in any of their cinemas. The distributors chose the Odeon at London’s West End for their special 70mm premiere, and well, Cineworld threw a temper tantrum. They’ve spent too much time watching Kylo Ren, clearly!

Thankfully, my local isn’t a Cineworld, nor do I pay them monthly for their Unlimited card, so I’m safe, but poor Jenna does and last I heard she was boycotting this movie in protest! It’s started a great marketing campaign for the other cinema chains though. Showcase have offered their usual member discount prices for tickets to Unlimited card holders, and Vue just went out there and offered UNLIMITED popcorn to anyone watching The Hateful Eight!

Just to rub salt into the wounds, I wasn’t that fussed about watching The Hateful Eight, the runtime made me want to cry, but movies like this are best enjoyed on the big screen, so I stuck on my comfiest hoodie and fluffiest socks, and fought my way through the wonderful UK winter weather to Odeon.

The Hateful Eight is the story of 8 characters brought together in a haberdashery store to stay the night due to an awful snowstorm that has kicked up. Each character has their own reason for being there, and I’ll let them tell their own stories to you respectively when you watch it, because it’s all part of the charm of the movie. That first hour drags like a female dog, and I was grateful for being stuck in a cinema at the time because if I were at home I’d have spotted something shiny and stopped paying attention.

After the introductions though, a game of ‘who done it’ quickly surfaces, and that’s where The Hateful Eight really gets going. The whole cinema burst into hushed whispers to their movie-buds of who they thought was guilty at this point (Jenna you’d have hated it, I could picture you giving everyone your evil eyes!), and then the bloodshed started.

It would take forever to tell you about all the characters, but Samuel L Jackson’s character Major Marquis Warren was by far my favourite. I’m actually quite gutted he wasn’t nominated for an oscar this year, he fully deserves it for this. He goes from terrifyingly menacing to absolutely hilarious with a click of your fingers, it’s great. I don’t mean to be ‘that guy’ right now but is it just me or was Tim Roth channeling his inner Christoph Waltz in his role? Was Christoph Waltz offered the part and turned it down?

I think, when you go into a movie with low expectations, it’s much easier to fall in love, because I really enjoyed this, to the point where I can almost forgive how darn long it is! Sometimes it’s the littlest thing that gives you joy, but those moments where the whole cast is screaming about the door just cracked me up, and Samuel L Jackson has so many great one liners in the final chapter. I dare not type them out here however!

Review: Black Mass (2015)

I’d put off watching Black Mass for a while, despite wanting to see Johnny Depp’s performance, only because gangster movies aren’t my usual go-to movie. I tend to get confused with who’s on what side, and who’s killing who - it’s a mess inside my head sometimes. Anyway, after enjoying Tom Hardy’s Legend, I thought it was about time I gave this a go, too.

Black Mass (2015) is the true story of James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp), the brother of State Senator Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) and leader of the Irish Mob. It covers three periods (1975, 1981 and 1985) with flash-forwards to the present day, where various members of Whitey’s gang recount the stories of his rise and eventual fall.

For the first time ever, I watched The Godfather a few months ago, and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it, I felt like I wasn’t quite switched on enough to understand everything that was going on. Since watched Legend, and now Black Mass, I realise that’s just the way gangster movies are. It also doesn’t help that I am completely ignorant to history and world affairs, and didn’t know anything about James Bulger until seeing this!

Despite that, I really did enjoy Black Mass. It was so nice to see Johnny Depp play a serious character without a full face of makeup and acting either drunk or high. There’s an amazing actor after all! It made me want to check out some more of Johnny Depp’s older work actually. It was also wonderful to see my Benedict Cumberbatch again, although I don’t think I listened to a single line of dialogue from him as I was too fascinated by his accent!

There are some great names in the cast list but my favourite character was without a doubt John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), the FBI Agent and close friend of James Bulger. I don’t even know what it was about him, but he had a real sense of power about him which turned to despair as the movie went on.

I haven’t seen enough movies similar to Black Mass to give an informed opinion, but one thing I will say is that it was brutal, without the need for glorified violence. It’s very heavy on character development and dialogue which might turn some viewers off, but it’s a fascinating story at the very least.

Review: Compliance (2012)

I’ve been getting quite a few movie recommendations from my Grampy recently. He’s a bigger movie fan than I am (perhaps we should get him to guest post) and he’s much harsher with his judgements too! Hi Grampy, if you’re reading! At the Sunday dinner table he told me about a dark themed movie set in a fast food restaurant, and after pondering it for a while, he told me it was called Coercion, and that the little I knew about it, the better.

Fab. That went straight on the must watch list, so I hunted it down the other day. Only my search for Coercion only found me an unreleased terrorist movie coming out next year, and two shorts, one a crime and the other sci-fi. Nothing mentioning a fast food restaurant! A more thorough search led me to find a post titled ‘Compliance (2012), This Year’s Most Controversial Film’. Plus, a mention of fast food! Huzzah! No thanks there Grampy!

So, here’s what I can tell you about Compliance. On a Friday night, the busiest night of the week for this restaurant, the manager gets a call from the police informing her that one of her employees has stolen cash from a customer’s purse, and the manager is required to interrogate and search her in a bid to find the stolen money.

Honestly, that’s all you need to know. There’s no great plot twist here, and it’s based on a true life story anyway, but an IMDB search will tell you more than I have, so take caution. All I would warn you is this. This film is dark. It’s not a comfortable watch at all, but from a psychological point of view, it’s really quite amazing what lengths people will go to when being told to comply by an authoritative figure.

As it’s such a low budget movie, there are no Hollywood faces here, in fact every face was new to me other than Becky’s (Dreama Walker, who I know from Gossip Girl), but I thought the cast did a fantastic job with such difficult material. I’ve never seen a movie quite like it before, and even now I still can’t believe that everything really happened out here in the real world. (Edit: Scrap that, I've just read through the rest of the cast's Filmography, I take it all back!)

Who can you trust?!

25 Thoughts I Had Watching Fargo's Season 2 Premiere

It’s finally that beautiful time of the year when my favourite TV Shows start up again. Nothing has disappointed me so far, but the one show I was most anxious to see was Fargo. After reading all the hype before it’s Season 1 premiere and realising Martin Freeman was the lead, and well into a Sherlock withdrawal, I decided it was about time I found out what Fargo even was. I started with the movie, which I loved, and so once the show aired, I was a terribly knitted sweater away from being a super fan. Here's my thoughts on Season 1.

I looked up absolutely nothing beforehand so that I could go into Season 2 blind. I made myself a cuppa, cuddled up on the sofa with my cat Loki (the one who got lost, remember?) and got started! My mind can’t quite put together any kind of formal review, but here are my scattered thoughts, and beware of cryptic spoilers!

This is the best opening to anything, ever.

Every movie and show should start like this.

I forgot how snowy Minnesota is.

It’s been 5 whole minutes without an ‘oh yah?’, I don’t know how to feel about that.

What kind of children’s book is this?!

He doesn’t even know!

Ejaculate is a funny word though. Hahaha.

I’m sure there was a hint of a ‘yah’ there.

That posh fancy lady has a giant milkshake. I’m glad adults are still allowed to like milkshakes.

*some sort of joke about bringing boys to the yard*

This isn’t going to end well. 

Nope.

Watch that knife. Ugh. Please don’t pull it. Ugh!

Run, lady, run! I don’t know where, but run!

Oh...nevermind.

What! This woman be crazy! How can she drive away like that?! Can can she see?

Oh duh. You’re cars have the driver on the other side of the car. But still!

Hold on a minute. RON SWANSON?! Nobody warned me Ron f*cking Swanson was in this! Fargo just got 1,000,000 times better.

Your wife is hiding something from you. She’s shady.

Don’t go in there.

Deer my ass!

Oh lordy. That’s messed up.

RAYMOND’S BROTHER!

The episode’s already over?! NooOOooooOooooo!

I never even heard an ‘oh yah’. Sadface!

Review: The Equalizer (2014)

Sometimes, I watch a trailer and think ‘ooh, I absolutely must see this film!’ and then completely forget about it. I think my brain just gets so full at times that things just have to fall out to make room for new things! Anyway, I’d seen that Jenna had watched The Equalizer recently, and that jogged my memory of how much I wanted to see it last year.

The Equalizer is based on a 1980’s TV Series of the same name, (didn't know this!) in which Denzel Washington plays Robert McCall, a man with a mysterious and dangerous past who has so far put behind him in favour of a simpler, quieter life. By day he works at a local DIY store and is well liked amongst his colleagues, and by night he works his way through a bucket list of sorts of books at a 24hr diner near his apartment. After meeting a young girl there, Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz), who is under control of a group of violent Russian gangsters, he decides he can’t stand by idly and watch her get hurt.

This isn’t my usual go-to genre, but I’m a big fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and I’m yet to see a performance of Denzel Washington’s that I haven’t enjoyed, and so that’s why I wanted to see The Equalizer originally. I have to say, I thought they did a cracking job. Chloe Grace Moretz never ceases to amaze me, and I read that she really had to fight for her role as the director wanted an older woman to play Teri. Denzel Washington met and interviewed several people with OCD in preparation for his role, and that showed. I have spent a long time trying to like Chloe Grace Moretz after really disliking her role in Kick-ass (I know everyone loved her in that and I can't really explain why I didn't so I'm not going to try!!) and finally,  I think I'm starting to warm to her again!

Although I can’t pinpoint anything wrong in particular with the film, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Teri’s situation is certainly what kicks McCall into gear, but I thought she would feature much more than she does. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with that, and in fact the unexpected additions to McCall’s story were really interesting! 

I loved Denzel Washington in this, he plays the dark and mysterious McCall perfectly and you are itching to find out where he learnt his tricks.  The violent actions sequences are played out perfectly with many eye covering moments.

There’s a great scene very near the end of the film which I can only describe as being like a grown up’s version of Home Alone. It had these violent moments that make you jump, cringe and chuckle at the same time. I can’t work out the scene with McCall and the dirty cop inside the car, though. Is it possible to be locked inside your own car? Or any car, in fact? I don’t actually know! I loved the 'Home Alone' scene, I think I said exactly the same when I watched it...great minds ay!

I also learnt whilst writing this review that The Equalizer 2 has been confirmed! So there you have it, it’s clearly a great film, it was just lost on me. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t love it.

I remember really enjoying this when I watched it but ultimately, I think its very forgettable. I can't really recall any particular scenes (unless Allie or Google have reminded me!) - maybe this has something to do with my age over the movie itself!

Review: Focus (2015)

I really wanted to see this at the cinema but didn't get around to it.  Finally got around to watching it on Sky Box Office over the weekend.

Nicky (Will Smith) is a veteran con artist who takes Jess (Margot Robbie) under his wing and his heart - until things get extremely complicated.  Years pass and they cross paths again on a con in the Formula 1 world in causing chaos and disaster.

I love a good con movie, I am a huge fan of Oceans Eleven and Catch me if you can.  I really love the great twist at the end that no one was expecting but this just didn't have it for me.  I didn't find Nicky at all likeable and although these types of movies are supposed to have twists and turns in the storyline, i'm not keen when the likability of the character goes up and down with it!  In fact, I got quite bored near the middle, got distracted by Facebook and missed a few important tricks in the football game and had to rewind the whole scene and try again.  The fact is, I should have been interested enough to not have to do that but alas I wasn't.

Will Smith was a disappointment, I am a fan and I think I always will be but the cocksure version of Nicky just didn't quite come across as well as it should and then I couldn't decide if the genuine version of him was real or not - it was oh so complicated.  Margot Robbie however was, amazing, stealing every scene she was in even over superstar Smith.  I knew after seeing her in Wolf of Wall Street that she was one to watch and she is continuing to impress and now I can't wait to see her in Suicide Squad next year.

Disappointing to be honest but I managed to watch until the end.  The twists and turns confused me more than excited me but fortunately Robbie saved the day.

Review: Chappie (2015)

Although Orange Wednesdays are over, the cinemas are still playing games with each other, and so thankfully (for me) my local is still allowing 2-4-1 tickets every Wednesday during March. I don’t even have to pester a friend for a code, huzzah! My excitement for Chappie stalled a fair amount after reading so many negative reviews, but I always like to save judgement until I’ve seen the film myself. We got to the cinema a little early, and if you follow us on Twitter you’ll have seen my fiance wasn’t great company while we waited.

Took the fiancé to the cinema. Great pre-film conversation right here...not! - A pic.twitter.com/cuIQIp2Lll
— Jenna and Allie (@FlickChicksBlog) March 11, 2015

I was gutted when I missed this as the cinema because I loved District 9 and the trailer really reminded me of it.  I ended up only seeing it last week in the end.

Despite what the trailers made me think, Chappie (Sharlto Copley) is a damaged police robot, created by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) and stolen by gangsters Ninja and Yolandi (played by themselves - who even are these two?! Apparently a South African rap duo?!). Deon has cleverly created software giving Chappie his own consciousness, and once switched on, he’s comparable to a highly impressionable child.   What did the trailers make you think?  This was not at all what I expected but I can't put my finger on why, I don't know what I was expecting!!

Chappie is the life and soul of this film. It has a fairly slow start during the storytelling of Chappie’s origins, but his reveal is great. He’s likeable before he even comes to life, a Scout Robot who seems to be cursed, always coming back from the field damaged. His one orange ear (antennae) and ‘Reject’ sticker make him instantly recognisable. For a robot, he’s highly expressive, and so hats off to the robotics/animation team behind that.  Chappie was by far the highlight, he was so lovely and made me smile whenever he was on camera, Sharlto Copley was fantastic playing the defect robot with the perfect level of charm and innocence.

One thing I liked about the film, which I imagine is a criticism in others’ eyes, it that you’re never sure who the real bad guy is. At the outset, it’s the gangsters Ninja and Yolandi, living a life of crime and stealing Chappie to help them with a heist. Without spoiling the story for you, they don’t appear to be the bad guys towards the end. The real rotten character is Vincent, (Hugh Jackman), who will literally stop at nothing to see his own work get the credit he feels it deserves. I really don’t like Hugh Jackman as a baddie! He’s just too much of a nice guy usually… and that mullet!!

Fully agree with Allie, its so confusing, you never know whose side to be on.  Instinctively, you want to side with Deon but he just seems like a bit of a wet lettuce who just lets everyone walk all over him.  Then there is the rap duo who are astonishingly irritating, initially, they are a breath of fresh air after Deon's blandness but Yolandi's high pitched squeal and Ninja's shouted are just too much to bear, I nearly turned the whole thing off at one point. 

Granted, Chappie doesn’t have a huge social/political agenda like District 9 did, but I think it still spreads an important message about how impressionable children are. Chappie knows and understands that crime and murder are wrong, and yet he can still be taught to steal and kill, just by the way he’s told how.  I did enjoying seeing how they got round his promise to not hurt people, it was really clever - my favourite moment in the film was probably when he trashed 'daddy's stolen car' instead of getting the driver out!!

There’s plenty of humour in this film too, largely thanks to Chappie himself. His excitement over rubber chickens, riding in the car, or just the way he repeatedly tells the gangsters, ‘Chappie can’t do heist. Heist is a crimes’ just made me smile again and again. I love him!

I’m scared that this might be another Green Lantern situation here for me, judging by the reviews I’ve read so far, but I hand on heart loved Chappie, and despite its flaws, I want to see it again soon.

Honestly, I loved Chappie and the ending was pretty clever (although convenient) but the story didn't keep me entertained.  I fell asleep twice trying to watch it.  I am gutted it wasn't as good as District 9 but it just wasn't up to par.  It would have been a 5 but Chappie brought it back....