Elysium

Over the past couple years, Hollywood has been churning out more and more original science fiction movies. It's great and it's very welcome. Less motivation is behind sequels and remakes (They are still there, but marginally less. A drop in the ocean. But I'll take it) and more focus is on original stories. This year alone, we've had quite a bit of them. Oblivion, Pacific Rim, Looper, Prometheus to name a few. All movie with enormous potential, but none of them have been all that memorable or game-changing. That isn't a standard that all sci-fi films have to measure up to mind you, but still. The last original sci-fi picture to make a truly big impact was Avatar, back in 2009. Elysium could have been that movie. The movie that set a new standard for modern sci-fi. It had everything going for it. A great cast, an exciting director, mind blowing effects, poignant social commentary.....but for some reason it just doesn't quite live up to its potential.

Since the film's trailer gives away the entire first half of the movie, I'll make my summary briefer than usual. Elysium is about an ex-con factory worker named Max (Matt Damon) who lives in 2154 Los Angeles. In the future, everyone one on Earth is pretty much destitute, while the rich get to live in a luxurious space station habit called........I'm drawing a blank on the name. Anyway, Max ends up getting severe radiation poisoning in a work accident and had five days to live. He gears himself up with a powerful exoskeleton suit and...ELYSIUM! THAT'S the name of the space station! Phew. That was close. OK, so Max gets the suit and hatches a plan with some old cronies to get into Elysium to save himself and potentially all of Earth's inhabitants.

Here's the first problem with the movie. Elysium, the space habitat that the entire film's plot hinges on, does not make a whole lot of sense. There is never a lot of context or history given about it other than "This is where the rich people live". It makes just enough sense to serve the narrative of the film, but not much else. How long did it take to build? Was the government complacent in it's creation? Why does everyone from Elysium have a weird pseudo french/robotic accent. It's a really interesting plot device, and it is extremely frustrating that it serves as nothing more than a proverbial finish line. Also: another big important part of the film is the existence of these things called Med-Pods. Futuristic cyber operating tables that can cure any physical ailment, from broken bones to terminal cancer. Again, a very intriguing thing to explore, but it never is. The characters main incentive and purpose to breaking into Elysium is to get access to these Med-Pods, but there are so many questions that are never answered or touched upon. How is this technology possible? Are the Med-Pods manufactured on Earth? If so, isn't there an easier way to harness the technology than by sending a suicide mission into space? These are all pretty annoying cinephile nerd questions to have, I'll admit. It does, however matter a great deal that these questions exist, as there are several more of them throughout the movie and when they add up it makes the film as a whole seem a little hollow. Nothing exists for any other reason than to serve its purpose in the plot. It doesn't make the movie "bad", but it prevents from being anything more than "fine".

Another problem with the movie lies in its aesthetics. Neil Blomkamp brings his distinct dystopian vision from District 9 into this film, and with it, a lot of the same old tricks. The robot police force that keeps the citizens of Earth in line look an awful like the "Prawns" from the director's last film. As a matter of fact, 2154 Los Angeles looks pretty much exactly like 2009 Johannesburg and even though the film's opening title card explains that Earth didn't go completely to shit until around 2080, the majority of the things on planet Earth, from the computers to the factory machines to some of the robotic human counterparts, look like they were made in 1975. I know they are supposed to be in poverty, but still it comes off as more lazy than practical. Again, nit-picky, but it all adds up.

The performances are all fine. Matt Damon is back into ass-kicking form and gives a nice layered performance as Max. Jodie Foster is icy and domineering as ever as Secretary Delacourt, the de facto leader of Elysium. Would have been nice to see more of her though. Sharlto Copley proves to be another problem with the movie, serving as the main villain, Kruger. An insane, amoral mercenary type who will stop at nothing to prevent Max from reaching his goal. Kruger is a great character in theory. Ruthless. Ferocious. Untethered by any sort of ethical code. A classic sci-fi villain. He suffers, however, from what I like to call "Bane Syndrome, which is when a movie's central villain is impossible to understand, both verbally and philosophically. Kruger mumbles his way through the movie committing atrocious acts of violence and making completely manic and off-the-wall decisions with no clear plan or endgame. He makes the movie exciting and ends up being involved in most of the film's memorable moments, but when your antagonist is supposed to be one of the most intimidating and deadly figures in the galaxy: Sharlto Copley, a guy who can't way more that 130 lbs, might not be your best candidate.


Alright enough bitching, there is a quite a bit in this movie that I quite liked. For one, how impressively savage it all is. A film that really earns its R-rating, which is rare for modern big-budget films. There is a lot of swearing and A LOT of carnage. I wasn't expecting it and was ultimately impressed by it. I also appreciated how it showed the true consequences of violence, not social or humanistic consequences, but actual logical consequences. When characters get shot, they die. When a character gets stabbed or grazed by a bullet, they bleed, sometimes for the rest of the movie. Nothing annoys me more than movie characters taking several gunshots or stab wounds to the torso and then soldiering on though the rest of the thing without so much as a wince. It was refreshing to say the least. The movie also features a host of really cool action sequences, particularly in the third act. All the fight choreography is very inventive and gripping to watch, and a lot of that is due to the conception and design of the unique high-tech weapons they use. One of the few characteristics of the film that feels truly futuristic. Whenever there is any sort of violent fight or battle scene, it never feels recycled or cliched, it's all very creative and fun to watch.

Neil Blomkamp seems to want to make sci-fi social commentary his niche, and he really lays out his cards with Elysium. The comparisons between the literal class warfare of the future and what is going on in today's society are pertinent and agonizing, particularly the state of health care. It's more of a framing technique than a main focus, but it is effective and mildly thought-provoking. While the world of Elysium is very bombastic and all too black and white, it is a scary portrait of where we could be heading. The movie has a very honest and heartfelt message, even if a lot of it does get lost in the crossfire.

I liked Elysium. I really did, and I would recommend it to all fans of the genre. It just could have been so much more than it ended up being. The movie's last 30 minutes are nothing short of awesome, but everything preceding it seemed like a means to an end, rather than anything substantial or meaningful in any way. It is, however, better than most modern sci-fi films and that says something. Check it out, but expect entertainment, not enlightenment.


7/10