Elysium

Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, William Fichtner
Directed by: Neill Blomkamp
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama, Science Fiction
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: One man (Matt Damon) threatens the balance between the poor on Earth and the rich on Elysium when he downloads shocking information into his brain.

Review:

Tim: After the amazing, shockingly good District 9, I was so very much looking forward to director Neill Blomkamp's follow up film. Expectations were very high for this film. Unfortunately, as often happens with high expectations, they weren't quite met. Elysium is a good science fiction film- it's well made, interesting, and solid through and through. And yet, it's missing something. It's not a great movie, and it's not even in the same stratosphere as District 9. Hey, a good Sci-Fi movie is a good Sci-Fi movie, but this movie really needed to be better.

I like the idea of Neill Blomkamp infusing his films with commentary about class differences and social issues, but they were a little too blatant in this film. The poor live on Earth, the rich live in Elysium. Cool concept, but this is just crammed down our throats over and over again. Does Elysium represent the Western world, the First World? And Earth represents the Third World? It's not very subtle. I love the idea of infusing Science Fiction films with social commentary, but it was a little too much here.

The cast is mostly good. Matt Damon is such a terrific actor and he makes a good protagonist here. I wouldn't say this is his best role, but it works. Jodie Foster is a good actress, but she just seemed out of step here. I didn't believe a word she said- she seemed to be phoning the performance in. I honestly thought she was just terrible. Every second of her screen time hurt the overall film. She was too wooden, trying way too hard. I like Foster, but I hated her performance here. Sharlto Copley was very good and I loved seeing him in a role very different than the one in District 9. As a whole, the cast was good, but it was not great.

The special effects were quite strong. Elysium just looks gorgeous on screen and the flying crafts, the explosions, everything just looks very good. I loved the sharp, crisp look to the film. The cinematography was very good in this film.

Part of the problem of this film is the script. Blomkamp is a good writer, but there was something missing in the script. We were given reasons to care about Damon's character, but the reasons weren't very compelling. I never felt any emotional attachment to the characters. I know we were supposed to be rooting for Earth over Elysium, but all the rich people weren't bad, I assume. I was torn a bit between the two, which made the whole film a little less effective. Blomkamp put a lot of really strong pieces in place, but he didn't connect them well enough. The story was fine, but it wasn't great- it didn't pull us in and give us a compelling reason to care. I know it's not fair to compare this to District 9, but Blomkamp's first film was incredible, and this one is less so.

At the end of the day, Elysium is a solid Science Fiction film. Blomkamp gets this genre, and he put together an entertaining movie. Unfortunately, it doesn't meet the high expectations that accompanied this film. While I liked this movie, I certainly did not love it. A good movie is a good movie, but it's hard not to feel slightly disappointed in this effort. This movie is certainly worth seeing, but temper your expectations.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: District 9