Hailed as a “visionary” for 2009’s District 9, South Africa’s Neill Blomkamp recycled its pseudo-social theme for 2013’s Elysium. But it’s wearing thin in this ham-fisted, eye-rollingly unintelligent (artificial or otherwise) misfire. Robocop meets Short Circuit by way of Pinocchio.

The jabbering AI title droid vacillates between the moral teachings of his creator (Dev Patel) and the greedy gang of gangsters it’s fallen in with (annoying SA punk rockers Ninja and Yo-Landi). It’s a preachy picture that evokes big themes and then cuts to the chase(s) or blows stuff up rather than say anything about them. (120 min)