Review – Elysium

A Visually Stunning, But Emotionally Lacking Future

Elysium is utopia, circa 2154. Devastation, disease and destruction have overtaken the Earth. Now the Earth is filled with struggle and discontent. The people who live there work hard and have not had easy lives. Max (Matt Damon) is one of those people. He has worked hard and faced the wrong side of the law on

numerous occasions. But he is working hard to try to overcome his life and he sees the one place as an out, Elysium.

Elysium is home to those who have. Money, health, friends, the best of everything lives in Elysium. The inhabitants have the best of everything and seem annoyed with the smallest blade of grass out of place on a lawn. They have a machine that will heal all ills, and is kept in every house. Residents will stay on top of the world. And everyone wants to get in there. The health care alone will do wonders for the residents of Earth, but when they approach without permission; Defense Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) has them taken down with prejudice.

Now after a drastic accident, Max has nothing to lose. He takes a job that no one else wants that will get him a ticket to Elysium. This job will be harsh and will risk everything he has, but there is no turning back now. Elysium is the only thing that will help him overcome his illness and get a new life. But will he succeed?

Neill Blomkamp has proven he can produce a visual spectacle on the big screen and Elysium is no exception. Big, bold and visually stunning Elysium explodes on the screen in both the good and the bad sections of the new reality. Blomkamp gives you a feeling that is true and you absorb every aspects of his style.

But more than a visual style is needed to pull off this film.

I’m all for a check your mind at the door film that lets you escape into a far off land. An altered state of reality that provides a journey that surrounds you is a smashing way to go some times. But the more I thought about things, the more I was disappointed with Elysium. So many details are left unspoken and provide incredible gaps in realism, or proposed realism.

Matt Damon is fine in his role as the rebellious Max, but Jodie Foster (an actress I love) seems out of place here. Sure she is supposed to be cold as the Defense Secretary with an agenda of her own, but that chill is beyond ice and she just doesn't feel natural.

The rest of the characters become afterthoughts, but it was never about them. It’s about the visual styling in the film.

If you check your mind at the door and just enjoy the visual styling of the film, you might have a good time. Just don’t think too much…well…just don’t.

Elysium is a visually stunning film that is lacking in emotion.

B- / C+

Elysium

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley

Rating: R for strong bloody violence and language throughout.

Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes