Rating of
2.5/4
The 1% Are Jerks
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/25/13
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 steady, if labor-intensive job, and works towards a better life.
Meanwhile a group of tech-saavy refugees led by Spider (Wagner Moura) works on ways to send immigrants to Elysium using stolen codes and hijacked ships. But the hard-nosed Secretary of Defense (Jodie Foster - in a chilly turn of character) isn't above blasting them out of the sky using a decommissioned agent, Kruger (Sharlto Copley - much more rugged and scary than in District 9) to her advantage.
When a lethal dose of radiation leaves Max with only days to live - he goes to Spider seeking any way to get onto Elysium for treatment. An old friend from his past, Frey (Alice Braga) also knows Elysium is the only way to save her daughter, who is dying of Leukemia. Although he doesn't want to get her mixed up, ultimately both wind up on the same ship when, to appease Spider, he takes out the uncaring manager of the plant where he worked (and nearly died) - a man who happens to be carrying a very top-secret code the Secretary of Defense is looking to use to stage a coup and take over Elysium for herself. Thus begins a cat and mouse game between Max and Kruger - but you know things are eventually going to end up on Elysium - where some of the most intense action takes place.
The main problem with Elysium is that the story is much more heavy-handed - the 1% are bad - treat lower-class citizens better... or else - and everything just has a much more generic feel. Plus the hand-held shaky camera action is over-played here - almost like Damon took a page from the Bourne franchise with him to this sci-fi endeavor. The movie also never explains why a super-hacker can figure out how to steal codes and ships but can't figure out how to manufacture these awesome medical miracle devices on Earth. Plus, although the end seems to be happy - it raises a host of other questions about the future of mankind (not all pretty, either).
Elysium isn't a bad film, just a bit flawed. If you overlook those flaws (and don't mind shaky action) it will appease you. I just hope that for his next project, he takes a step back and remembers what made District 9 so memorable.
