The highly anticipated sophomore effort of Neil Bloomkamp. His directorial debut District 9 was water in the desert of contemporary Sci Fi. Elysium looks fantastic, and is more accessible to the mainstream. District 9 made the audience feel racial discrimination. Elysium serves as a proxy for Obamacare. The message is so heavy it distracts slightly from a superior movie in most respects.
The cast and the characters they play are fantastic. Sharlto Copley a South African treasure who was the protagonist in District 9 plays the central Villain here. Jodi Foster is the power mad big cheese. Alice Braga who was fantastic in Predators and Repo Men captures your heart in this flick as well. Matt Damon is well Matt Damon. The plot is not original but its a great story.
One of the most satisfying Sci Fi movies in recent memory. Rotten Tomatoes was Meh with a 68%. Box office was in low blockbuster territory about half of what District 9 did. See this one, it will be good for your health.
Three point 9 stars
Thats a generous review. I was considering reviewing it myself, but I could not find any positives in it. Its a far cry from District 9. Hopefully the lukewarm performance of this film will make the director go back to the more popular District 9 and its slightly overdue sequel.
ReplyDeleteI like political movies and this one nailed so many contemporary issues, universal health care, income distribution, and the who NSA thing.
ReplyDeleteIt has strong social commentary, but it did not offer any real solutions. I thought the ending was terrible given all the issues it tries to address. You cannot fix decades of social injustice by just killing the bad guy and pressing a button on a computer screen. The solution of letting ALL the have-nots have access to the same privileges the rich have, will probably make the situation worse in the long run. Elysium will eventually become a slum like Earth, whilst the overcrowding on Earth would significantly increase since people will be living longer due to better care. A better ending would be to show that its unjust system would have to remain in place for a period but slowly fazed out. But thats not really Hollywood ;-) My two cents at least. :-)
ReplyDeleteYaYa it was so Hollywood the little girl getting cured and Matt dying, a mayter and a savior. We share a connection that we look for solutions, but these will not be found in Hollywood. Is there a solution to the human condition. I doubt it. The problem is, that we understand it so well, and its broadcast around the world daily. So we can say there is no solution, and be faced with a dystopian future. Thats the common theme in intelligent movies this decade. We can not continue as before, a dystopian future is one alternative.
DeleteElysium sounds good; I will have to watch it soon. Great review as usual Steve!
ReplyDelete-James