Elysium (C+ or 2/4 stars)
'Elysium' (written & directed by Neill Blomkamp, of District 9) is set in the year 2154, where 2 main classes of people exist: the very wealthy & very caucasians, who live on a space satellite paradise called Elysium, and the rest of the people (very poor & very ethnic-looking), who live on an overpopulated, polluted, poverty-stricken Earth. Those who remain on Earth are the lowlifes of society - laborers, criminals, & those struggling to make ends meet while gazing up longingly at the huge wheel in the sky where advanced medical care is available for all, the vast lawns are impeccably groomed, & there is no crime whatsoever. And the political wheel of Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws to preserve their citizens' luxurious, pristine existence.
The movie’s opening scenes quickly dramatize this with a series of amazing visuals contrasting the cramped, gritty environments of L.A.'s towering cityscape with the sheer beauty of Elysium. After these establishing scenes, Neill Blomkamp introduces us to the main character, anti-hero Max DeCosta (buff, cut, & any other term you can use for Matt Damon), an ex-thief who is trying to straighten out his life. On parole, he has left the past behind him & nabbed a job as a robot builder. A reminder of better pleasant times is represented by Frey (Alice Braga), a childhood crush who returns to his life as an adult with a cancer-stricken daughter. After a horrifying workplace accident (giving him lethal radiation poisoning), Max finds himself needing the same care as Frey's little girl. In fact, he only has 5(!) days to live unless he can find a way to get up to Elysium & gain access to one of its advanced medical facilities (which look like the machines in Prometheus).
Under normal circumstances, getting a ticket to Elysium would already be 'difficult' (VERY expensive), but Secretary of Defense Delacourt (Jodie Foster) is organizing a coup with the help of brilliant billionaire John Carlyle (William Fichtner), which destabilizes the political system & puts Elysium on alert. And it's not like Max has the necessary $$ to buy a ticket on an illegal shuttle. Soooo, he reluctantly agrees to go on a dangerous mission ... he must kidnap Carlyle. This task is made even more difficult by the arrival of Kruger (Sharlto Copley, hero from District 9), Delacourt's mentally unstable "operative". Can Max get to one of those state-of-the-art machines in time, override the corrupt political system, & allow access to Elysium for the millions of lowlifes down on Earth? Mayhem ensues.
'Elysium' is an okay sci-fi/action spectacle. Blomkamp's 1st film, District 9, was wildly successful. But this - his 2nd film - won't likely enthrall audiences the same way. The whole thing felt like an afterthought; whereas 'District 9' felt like something special when it was all over. And the film feels leaden; not nimble. The Elysium universe is incredible (from a visual & ideological standpoint). But the film pushes Elysium into the background. Instead, Blomkamp focuses on near-incoherent action sequences that bludgeon us with a handheld camera technique. I mean, how can you create a place like Elysium and NOT show it off; or show how capitalism works in the future; or show how these state-of-the-art medical machines came to be; or address the ramifications of making everybody healthy for eternity. I wanted to see more of this otherworldly satellite floating in space, & needed more exploration of the high-minded ideas that this film should tackle.
Matt Damon is okay. I mean, hey, he's Matt Damon. He's never going to be bad. And we know he can kick butt (from the Bourne movies). But I wasn't drawn into his character much in this film. He's bland. He's not endearing. Ditto Alice Braga. They never become individuals. Jodie Foster gives what I would call an awkward performance as the scheming would-be leader of Elysium; inflecting a strange accent & clipped diction. Sharlto Copley plays the sadistic super-villain with a batsh*t quality that you either think is awesomely demented or utterly ridiculous. Some of his actions are deliciously scary (which a villain should be), others are cringe-worthy, like when he yells "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" in the midst of an intense fight scene. Like, really??? And yet, it speaks to the weakness of the script that we're more intrigued/dominated by Jodie Foster & Sharlto Copley than you are about Matt Damon's strife. That's a problem.
Another problem I have is that the political subtext (that Earth in the near future may become an overpopulated Hell where the rich rule the day) is not really a subtext ... the movie beats us over the head with its class struggle allegory. See, Blomkamp's District 9 provided an allegory about apartheid in South Africa; but it was handled with more subtlety. I mean, this film literally has all the rich, pretty, caucasian, blonde people living in bliss on Elysium trying to keep the poor, sick, darker, undocumented immigrants away from them. This film is pure liberal propaganda where the lowly people take a stand against the Elysium folks ... and win! Yay, EVERYONE can have health care! I'm not begrudging the sentiment, I'm irked by how blatant it is.
You know, a lot of people are citing "blockbuster fatigue" as a reason why audiences aren't flooding the theaters. Some are saying that 'Elysium' is the 1st one all summer that's actually great; and that audiences should get out there to see it. But guess what: the audiences aren't. And the film is NOT that great. So people need to stop trying to make something happen that won't. This all sounds like I hated the movie. I didn't. There are some interesting things going on. 'Elysium' is not a bad film, but it simply was not as satisfactory as I'd hoped it would be.
The movie’s opening scenes quickly dramatize this with a series of amazing visuals contrasting the cramped, gritty environments of L.A.'s towering cityscape with the sheer beauty of Elysium. After these establishing scenes, Neill Blomkamp introduces us to the main character, anti-hero Max DeCosta (buff, cut, & any other term you can use for Matt Damon), an ex-thief who is trying to straighten out his life. On parole, he has left the past behind him & nabbed a job as a robot builder. A reminder of better pleasant times is represented by Frey (Alice Braga), a childhood crush who returns to his life as an adult with a cancer-stricken daughter. After a horrifying workplace accident (giving him lethal radiation poisoning), Max finds himself needing the same care as Frey's little girl. In fact, he only has 5(!) days to live unless he can find a way to get up to Elysium & gain access to one of its advanced medical facilities (which look like the machines in Prometheus).
Under normal circumstances, getting a ticket to Elysium would already be 'difficult' (VERY expensive), but Secretary of Defense Delacourt (Jodie Foster) is organizing a coup with the help of brilliant billionaire John Carlyle (William Fichtner), which destabilizes the political system & puts Elysium on alert. And it's not like Max has the necessary $$ to buy a ticket on an illegal shuttle. Soooo, he reluctantly agrees to go on a dangerous mission ... he must kidnap Carlyle. This task is made even more difficult by the arrival of Kruger (Sharlto Copley, hero from District 9), Delacourt's mentally unstable "operative". Can Max get to one of those state-of-the-art machines in time, override the corrupt political system, & allow access to Elysium for the millions of lowlifes down on Earth? Mayhem ensues.
'Elysium' is an okay sci-fi/action spectacle. Blomkamp's 1st film, District 9, was wildly successful. But this - his 2nd film - won't likely enthrall audiences the same way. The whole thing felt like an afterthought; whereas 'District 9' felt like something special when it was all over. And the film feels leaden; not nimble. The Elysium universe is incredible (from a visual & ideological standpoint). But the film pushes Elysium into the background. Instead, Blomkamp focuses on near-incoherent action sequences that bludgeon us with a handheld camera technique. I mean, how can you create a place like Elysium and NOT show it off; or show how capitalism works in the future; or show how these state-of-the-art medical machines came to be; or address the ramifications of making everybody healthy for eternity. I wanted to see more of this otherworldly satellite floating in space, & needed more exploration of the high-minded ideas that this film should tackle.
Matt Damon is okay. I mean, hey, he's Matt Damon. He's never going to be bad. And we know he can kick butt (from the Bourne movies). But I wasn't drawn into his character much in this film. He's bland. He's not endearing. Ditto Alice Braga. They never become individuals. Jodie Foster gives what I would call an awkward performance as the scheming would-be leader of Elysium; inflecting a strange accent & clipped diction. Sharlto Copley plays the sadistic super-villain with a batsh*t quality that you either think is awesomely demented or utterly ridiculous. Some of his actions are deliciously scary (which a villain should be), others are cringe-worthy, like when he yells "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" in the midst of an intense fight scene. Like, really??? And yet, it speaks to the weakness of the script that we're more intrigued/dominated by Jodie Foster & Sharlto Copley than you are about Matt Damon's strife. That's a problem.
Another problem I have is that the political subtext (that Earth in the near future may become an overpopulated Hell where the rich rule the day) is not really a subtext ... the movie beats us over the head with its class struggle allegory. See, Blomkamp's District 9 provided an allegory about apartheid in South Africa; but it was handled with more subtlety. I mean, this film literally has all the rich, pretty, caucasian, blonde people living in bliss on Elysium trying to keep the poor, sick, darker, undocumented immigrants away from them. This film is pure liberal propaganda where the lowly people take a stand against the Elysium folks ... and win! Yay, EVERYONE can have health care! I'm not begrudging the sentiment, I'm irked by how blatant it is.
You know, a lot of people are citing "blockbuster fatigue" as a reason why audiences aren't flooding the theaters. Some are saying that 'Elysium' is the 1st one all summer that's actually great; and that audiences should get out there to see it. But guess what: the audiences aren't. And the film is NOT that great. So people need to stop trying to make something happen that won't. This all sounds like I hated the movie. I didn't. There are some interesting things going on. 'Elysium' is not a bad film, but it simply was not as satisfactory as I'd hoped it would be.