The year is 2154, and two classes of people exist: the poor, who live on an overpopulated and diseased Earth, and the rich, who live on the space station Elysium just above them. Elysium is essentially paradise, with a healthcare system that can fix anything. On Earth, ex-con Max (Matt Damon) has an accident work nearly killing him. With only days to live – due to radiation – he takes on a daunting mission that could not only save his life, but bring equality to the people Earth and Elysium.
The issue with
Elysium is that it lacks all the maturity Blomkamp expressed in
District 9. The movie attempts to hit the themes it intended to hit, and hits all that marks of any formulated sci-fi film, but this is what saddens me. The only two things Blomkamp really excelled at were inventive storytelling and special effects; with
Elysium he threw one of those skills out the door. District 9 was intelligent, and even subtle at times. Describing a sci-fi as subtle is next to impossible in today’s market so that made Blomkamp’s directorial debut all the more impressive, and I believe what led him to his Oscar nominations in screenwriting.
Elysium is no doubt a beautiful looking film; with a much bigger budget here you can see Neill’s visual style really flourish. The CGI is seamless, the action sequences are stunning and the art direction is out of this world. Sadly, striking visuals can’t save this mess of a script. While it’s cool that Blomkamp includes relevant themes to the modern world in his stories - this being his take on immigration and healthcare –
Elysium, in the end, manages to say nothing about either. I’m sure people will insist that he managed to say something but I’ll ask you to think again to how the film ends, and try and figure out what he’s trying to say. I still have no idea.
The pacing is rather slow, which for the first half of the film works well. The time spent on earth with Max going to work is some of the most interesting content of the film. However as soon as Max puts on this exoskeleton suit, the last bit subtlety Blomkamp was hoping to save for his overall message took off and never returned.
The intriguing premise Elysium sets up in the first half of the film quickly deteriorates into a shoot-em-up plotline that holds no meaning. A lot of complaint for District 9 was that it played out as a shootout, however I found the violence necessary to the story and meaningful to the characters. In Elysium, the action may be necessary to the story at times, but it is far from meaningful.
What disappoints me the most is that
Elysium had all the tools for greatness, and yet chose to stay within the conventional. Elysium was supposed to be Blomkamp’s evidence that the brains found in
District 9 wasn’t luck, but instead he cashes in early and focuses on bigger guns rather than an intelligent story. Now the question: is Blomkamp a one hit wonder? Or did the studio involvement have something to do with the mess of a script? I guess we’ll have to wait another 4 years.
Though the overall tone of this review is negative I will say that
Elysium is a fun time at the movies. The performances by Copley and Foster are just weird enough to add some unexpected laughs and the action is definitely intense. Matt Damon is fun to watch, even if he’s not given much room to breathe life into his character. It’s melodramatic at times but it’s far from stale. While it doesn’t stray far from the predictable it’s still the smartest blockbuster we’ve seen this summer.
Our Rating:
6.5/10
Let me know on Twitter @
thejoshl what you thought of Elysium!