Elysium

Released in 2013 under the direction of Neil Blomkamp ("District 9") on a budget of $115 million with distribution through TriStar Pictures: "Elysium" is Neil Blomkamp's second feature film after the splash he made last year with the sleeper hit "District 9," a science-fiction movie that used human interaction with aliens to present a social message about racism. This time, Blomkamp takes a jab at health care and the class system, but without aliens.


In the year 2154; Earth has become a disease-ridden over-populated Earth (insert"Soylent Green" joke here), it's on the Earth's surface where the lower class live in filth-ridden slums and speak Spanish. While the wealthy upper class who can speak French get to live up on a space station called Elysium that provides machines that can heal anybody of whatever ailment or injury you've got (though it never says anything about healing mental disorders like Schizophrenia. On the surface is Max da Costa (Matt Damon), a parolee that works in a robot factory that gets abused by robot police for trying to joke around. He dreams of saving up his money so he can go to Elysium some day, but this is more than unlikely since refugees who try to go into Elysium illegally get blown to smithereens by Sleeper agents like Kruger (Sharlto Copley) who are given orders by Secretary for Defense Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster). At work, because of doing something really stupid and not pushing the big red Emergency Stop Button before going in, Max is doused with lethal amounts of radiation and fired by his doucebag boss John Carlyle (William Fichtner). Without any options, Max makes a deal with crippled smuggler Spider (Wagner Moura) to steal information from an Elysium citizen to gain access into Elysium, in exchange for helping Max receive treatment for his radiation poisoning. With an exoskeleton bolted to his body, can Max acquire the information and save himself as well as the people of Earth?
The story is, okay. It's sadly predictable in many spots, especially when this little girl recounts of a story about a hippopotamus helping a meerkat, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the symbolism behind her story and who the hippo and the meerkat is supposed to represent. Matt Damon is okay, Jodie Foster is a real bitch in this movie and as for Sharlto Copley is terrifying in his role.
Just like "Pacific Rim," the visuals stand out far more than the characters or storyline and even the social message feels like something out of a Michael Moore film. They're very good, don't get me wrong, the action is cool and the message is strong, but at points it borderlines between preachy and poignantly subtle. For me, this movie falls under the same critiques I gave "Pacific Rim," the idea and visuals are solid, but the story and characters are too familiar, with the exception of Sharlto Copley as Kruger. Still, I'm glad I saw the movie.

Final Rating: 3/5