What is great about Chappie? The robot Chappie (Sharlto Copley), the robot’s maker Deon (Dev Patel), the robot’s maker’s boss Michelle (the queen of sci-fi cinema Sigourney Weaver), and the robot’s maker’s rival Vincent (Hugh Jackman), and, finally, the city in which the robot achieves human-level consciousness, Johannesburg (Jozi).

What is bad about Chappie? Simply the rap duo Die Antwoord (Ninja and Yolandi). In this film, the South African pop stars are saddled with the daunting task of representing Johannesburg's criminal underground, a hyper-violent post-Apartheid underground. The reasons why this burden ultimately breaks the back of this film are two: One, Ninja and Yolandi just can’t act, and two, Ninja and Yolandi are too Dada (in the banal pop mode of that movement) to be gangster.

Sadly, Neill Blomkamp, the director of the sci-fi masterpiece District 9, appears to have run out of steam and has no problem directing a two-hour music video for a second-rate rap group.