Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
A first-rate SF with extremely titillating images
ikkegoemikke - wrote on 12/01/2017
Android : What is in the bag?
Max: Hair care products, mostly.
Lately we are getting quite spoiled in the SF area. Elysium is a pessimistic view of the future with an overpopulated earth with the known problems. Elysium is an artificial oasis of tranquility where only billionaires can buy a place to live. Each home is equipped with a "cure-bed" so that all the inhabitants can enjoy a healthy and disease-free life. The less fortunate stayed on Earth and try to survive in an unhealthy poor environment under strict supervision of droids.
You can obviously sense the paternalistic social message of the widening gap between rich and poor. It's illegal to try to reach Elysium. It makes you think of the border between Mexico and the U.S. which at this very moment people still try to cross …
Rating of
1.5/4
Politics Plus Plot-holes
Ian - wrote on 09/24/2015
Blatant political pandering disguised as a Sci-Fi film. The ruins of LA are home to a mass of under class citizens who lack basic technology to ensure their well-being. All rich and powerful have long since fled Earth for a relative utopia in orbit called "Elysium." The clear allusion to the US-Mexican relationship with regards to immigration is quite clear despite any thin attempt to conceal it. The film plays out similar to other Cyber-Punk era sci-fi such as Johnny Mnemonic, or Total Recall. Once the dialogue the villains use become apparent, the movie begins to deteriorate. There are also many, many plot holes. Why don't the residents of Elysium just send down their technology? Why can't the citizens of Earth create their own paradise? How does wiping the computer automatically give …
Rating of
3/4
"Elysium" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/02/2015
After the exploitation and pollution of the twentieth and twenty first centuries have reduced Earth to a ruined global ghetto, the rich and powerful abandon the planet and live in opulent splendour aboard a purpose built space station, leaving the majority of the population languishing in squalor below. Neill Blomkamp's follow up to his excellent debut District 9 is a similar blend of sci-fi action and social commentary, once again highlighting the the contrast in the lives between the haves and have nots. This time the reluctant anti-hero is played by Matt Damon whose ordinary working Joe receives a lethal dose of radiation during an industrial accident caused by an arms manufacturer with scant regard for its employee's safety. The world Blomkamp has created is a believable, and looking …
Rating of
2/4
Matt Damon's bald head and some explosions too.
memento_mori - wrote on 11/27/2013
Elysium: The overproduced and campy sequel to District 9 that everyone's been waiting for but no one liked.
Just so you know, I was not a fan of District 9. How it ever managed to achieve a reputation and cult following status so large is beyond me, it just wasn't original, and the camerawork looked like an experiment gone wrong filmed on an iPod.
Elysium is just as bad, if not worse.
District 9 had a modest budget, something I still respect about it. But that Blomkamp had the nerve to get three times the budget this time around, only to film exactly the same movie with Matt Damon, is borderline insulting.
Special effects and direction looked fine, I've seen far better this year, but I liked the effort.
If only they had put more effort into everything else.
This movie is the …
Rating of
2/4
Elysium review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 10/25/2013
“Sometimes there are some things that can’t be explained in life….Something is destined for you.” – Sister not sure why sci-fi flicks tend to be more dramatic these days. After Earth needed some personality and plot, this needed the aforementioned and more humor and character development. The director doesn't let us get involved with Max and doesn't even give us a history of the antagonist with the thick accent. Action sequences reminded this rater of The Matrix and District 9, both were classics in its own genre unlike this. Screenplay was fair with lines: “I’m sorry..I’m going to make this right.” – Max “Can’t give-up now get up get up.” The picture doesn't have that impact to make the situation urgent or important. Overall, not an exciting sci-fi …
Rating of
2/4
A pointless movie
smeagol - wrote on 10/08/2013
First of i liked matt damon in this role. but what really happened in this futuristic movie the answer is not much. it has a lot of flaws. first of the acting. jodie foster was awful.in this. the bad guy who i think had a south african accent was awful as was his pointless scenes .,some the dialogue used was poor. the visual effects were pretty poor as well. was the planet crash scene a model ? the story was so limited and weak. what was it really about. what was the point of it. , there seems no point. the whole concept is dated like some 80's movie.
sadly its just one of those movies that wasn't really well thought out. Its something to watch if your bored but its totally forgetable. not the worst movie this year but nowhere near the best either.
Rating of
2.5/4
The 1% Are Jerks
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/25/2013
After watching District 9 I knew that Neill Blomkamp was a man to keep an eye on. When I heard about Elysium, I was pumped - how would he tackle the have vs. the have-nots in a futuristic sci-fi setting? The fact he turned Apartheid into a sci-fi classic had my hopes up. While Elysium fails to live up to District 9, it's not a bad film. It just didn't turn out quite as well as I was expecting.
In the future, Earth has become overcrowded, polluted and generally a pretty crummy place to live out your days. Meanwhile, far above on the space station Elysium, those with the means enjoy near immortality thanks to a wonder medical device that can cure any ills. Matt Damon's Max character grew up on Earth and, though he has had some brushes with the law (presided over by robots) he now has a …
Rating of
2/4
Nope
KingInTheNorth - wrote on 08/15/2013
I really loved "District 9" this movie was brilliant, but this one "Elysium" is not even worth comparing.
It is really hard to see that D9 and Elysium are made by the same director. Here everything is shaky-cam or blurred. The landscape shots of the f*cked up Earth were cool and cruel but this does not change a huge part. Another difference was the production of this movie, D9 had a budget of only 37million dollars and "Elysium" had a 100 dollar budget. (Mostly spended on Matt Damon and Jodie Foster) So this movie was not special it was just an usual Sci-Fi blockbuster.
The script of Elysium really lacks. I could start name some boring physical facts but let's skip that. The characters are so clichéd, the nun who tells Max he is something special. Come on! He can't even read. And …
Rating of
3/4
Review: Elysium
MikePA - wrote on 08/12/2013
Neil Blomkamp's breakthrough feature District 9 had critics and audiences salivating, and got me looking forward to his next project. That is Elysium, a gritty science fiction thriller that oozes with visual wonderment and contains a plausible substantial character piece at its core. It's not as sophisticated or thought-working as District 9, but it's fun, engaging, visceral stuff, especially once Matt Damon's Max gets that cool-looking suit drilled onto him.
I liked Elysium quite a bit, even after reading the mixed reactions it had on critics. I don't exactly understand what's not to like. It's a simple, engrossing story that gets more and more intriguing as it flows to its exciting climax. It's a good, if not in-depth, look at an interesting character. It has plenty of visual …
Rating of
2/4
A spectacular first half
Kaye - wrote on 08/10/2013
The first half of the movie was spectacular. I loved the basic set-up: two societies, the "have-nots" down on earth and the "haves" up in Elysium, leading to a raging sense of inequality and injustice. However, the main character, played by Matt Damon, does not have a political agenda. He only wants to be cured of his terminal illness from radiation exposure. The first half of the film, most of which takes place on earth, offers fabulous visuals and suspenseful, action-packed scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat. However, once the story moves to Elysium, I felt things really went downhill. At that point, some of the problems with the story drag the movie down. Parts of the story just don't make sense or are downright stupid. When the psycho mercenary guy dons an …
