Elysium

ELYSIUM is a bitter-sweet social commentary that uses brutal allegories to reiterate the alarming rate at which socio-economic and geo-political ties are disintegrating all over the planet. As a follow up to the thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining DISTRICT 9 (2009), South African writer-director Neill Blomkamp's latest offering is yet another visionary parable to mull over. And while the first half is a frightening impression of the future of humanity, the second half feels rushed and diluted. Even so, the film has a lot to offer in terms of visual effects and explosive action.

Although Blomkamp's narrative begins in a dystopian future set in 2154, the story has a modern day setting that uses current events in cleverly hidden metaphors. Consider the following facts: The French Revolution that led to the execution of the monarchy; Derogatory sentiments deriding Android phones as "ghetto" products; Fatalities of illegal immigrants on route to greener pastures; The prospect of space tourism that only the super-rich can afford. Now imagine in the not too distant future, the extremely wealthy live on a pristine space station where state-of-the-art health care prevents people from premature death. The remaining ninety-nine percent of the population are left to suffer on the diseased, polluted and over populated planet we call Earth. Thus begins Blomkamp's setup where the premise is a thematic and often desperate struggle for equality. Amongst Earth's 'ghetto' population, blue-collar worker Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) has always dreamt of shortening the ever widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Now diseased and dying, the only means of rejuvenating his health lies aboard the titular space station. But preventing Max from leaving Earth is Elysium's iron-fisted Secretary of Defense Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her rogue agent - the terrifying and almost psychotic Kruger (Sharlto Copley).

Where Blomkamp excels is in presenting a bleak scenario that is not only plausible but also discomforting. Considering the real world disparity between man-made utopias and an unfed infant in so called 'third world countries', it becomes all the more unsettling that this story is not entirely make believe. This is precisely what gives ELYSIUM a powerful yet thought provoking backdrop. All else, from gritty action sequences to the CGI built paradise in space benefits from the current going rate in Hollywood. On the other hand, character development leaves much to be desired. Two-time Academy Award winning Foster is either miscast or given very little to work with, but definitely my biggest disappointment in this film. There is simply no punch in what appears to be her first antagonistic role. Foster shares this downside with William Fichtner, another underrated actor whose talents are wasted in what should have been a key role. Thankfully, Damon and Copley make up for any noticeable lapse in the acting department. Together, their characters portray the fickle polarity of the human nature while also providing the film's testosterone fuelled action, including scenes of intense shootouts and sudden blood splatter.

In a year that coughed up quite a few sci-fi films, with some even treading into apocalyptic territory, ELYSIUM stands on firm ground as a film that tackles social issues head-on. And while this film is far from perfect, there are ample reasons why this film is still worth a trip to the cinema.

What seems to be a trend in big budget SF films occurred, once again, in Elysium. I'm continually impressed with what is being created (visual effects wise)today, but remain disappointed when it comes to the associated screenplays/plot lines. At the end of this film, I had the same, perpetual feeling that no one out there making SF films gets the message: without a good story, you don't have a really good film. Elysium hearkens me back to Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott. I would have thought he, at least, would appreciate the need for a good story to match the visuals. Especially after being the brains behind Bladerunner. But, oh no - same thing. I suspect that so much talent and expense is spent on the visuals that insufficient amounts of funding and time are left for the associated story.

I just wish that, when someone comes up with future plans for making a legitimate SF film (sans comic book scenarios), they contract a real science fiction author to write the screenplay. There are any number of SF writers out there that can, I believe, turn out much better scripts than currently making their way to the big screen.

Bottom line: the world building in Elysium was excellent. Probably some of the best since Avatar. I wish there had been some of this when Bladerunner was produced. As an avid, and long time fan of true science fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of the film. As for the story, it could have been a lot, lot better.

What was up with Jodie Foster's horrible overdubbing? It's like watching a spaghetti western when she speaks!

Damon plays the flawed character wonderfully and Copley nails it as the evil agent.

Elysium

Elysium is at one point disappointing and at the other it is fine. It's a Dystopia which does not look like it could be too far away from the present. The longer you think about it, Elyisum already happens everywhere, and Neill Blomkamp is a South African native, so it becomes clear, that the message is about poverty and money in the future. The difficulty making such a future logic and scientifically well, is obvious, and it is not completely convincing. There lies the main problem of a sci-fi movie. You make either a starwarsy fairy tale or you have to make it very, very believable like the director's much acclaimed "District 9".

Plotwise it reminded me of "Wall-E" (which was better), "Oblivion", "Escape from NY" and some anime type plots . The story was very predictable from the beginning and for my taste, it could have been made completely PG 18 in terms of violence, to make it darker and more grim. Now, it looks a bit indecisive. The actors were fine, especially the less known, like Copley, Luna and Moura. Jodie Foster is great here, reminded me a bit of Tilda Swintons performance in "Michael Clayton". Matt Damon is a good actor, but he's a bit overused lately. In comparison to "Pacific Rim" it's clear, why the audience is more happy with Del Toros skyscraper-style movie: it's pure entertainment, reality is far away and the violence is very mild - you hate it or you love it.

To sum it up, I was well entertained by this. I liked the strong hints of real present problems. I disliked the predictable way the story unfolds, the overall mixture of action and violence and some illogic details. I definitely want to see more movies by Blomkamp and so it gets my 7.0.

* No middle class just poor v rich.

* Enslavement but not quite. Society is run by a combination of warlords and CEOs. Zero political consciousness.

* Gig economy assassins. But even they live in squalor.

* Cyberpunk + trash aesthetic. Iraq war aesthetic across the whole world.

* Nothing works because why would you want it to, when you're stuck below? Meanwhile super advanced microchips.

* The robots while they don't violate Asimov's principles, they're really passive-aggressive and catty.

* The ghetto robot interface surgery. High tech microchip heists. Hacker culture is the one thing that did advance but they're limited by seemingly 1980s computers they have to scrap together.

* The comedy of Matt Damon's leading man stoicism reacting to all of this zaniness, demoralization, and hopelessness.

* (The big thing the film is missing a VR component to make life bearable below, giving some people the sedative illusion of a false Elysium. Like... WHAT IF you could wear a goggle over your eyes that shows the same busted up world except everything is green and beautiful, and everyone has deepfake smiles.)

* Most interesting is the poor v rich spend all their time plotting and fending each other off. Consider the discomfort that both their views are each other.

* Dysgenics on Elysium. Ie, it's not the geniuses who built Elysium but their grandkids who grew up there ruling it, making its destruction inevitable. 'Good times create weak men' etc...

* There is still spiritual consciousness but only below.

* Above is no utopia. They are not particularly more educated or gifted, but susceptible to primitive coups, corruption, bureaucracy. You kind of feel bad for them as being born there is being trapped, they're unprepared for any sort of reality.

* Opposite down below the most resilient survive and scrap by through friendship and brotherhood. Creates some kind of American revolution feeling.

I feel that there should be a series with this universe that explores the down vs up, because they struck prophetic gold on the whole thing. Plus it is epic. The flaws that were glaring back in 2013 feel minor compared to how incredible the production and concept is.