What Is Our World Coming To?

#2:

Elysium

A glimpse into the future has always been a popular thing in the movies. If the glimpse is a fun as Back to the Future Part II or as dismal as Mad Max, Science Fiction is and will always be an interesting genre because of the imaginative ways filmmakers can create our future. Unfortunately, in Elysium our future isn’t a happy one.

In 2154 our world has succumb to disease and famine and is dying without remorse. However, if you have the money and the power you can purchase a new life on Elysium where sickness and hunger are extinct. Where there is no crime, only peace. Of course there are those people still on Earth that will do anything to have a taste of that peace. A troubled factory worker, Max, is one of those people. The thing about Max though is he has been exposed to a very large amount of radiation and would like to keep on living. With the help of an old friend, Max must find a way to pass through Elysium’s defenses and heal himself in a med tank. This task is not easy and made even less easy when the director of Elysium’s defense learns of Max’s plan and sends a highly trained mercenary team to stop Max at all costs.

Matt Damon stars in this futuristic tale of where our society is supposedly heading. A society where money can truly buy happiness and peace, away from a world that is dying. Damon is actually the only problem I have with this film. To me he kind of journeys through this movie very awkwardly. It’s almost like he really isn’t sure this “mission” is really what he wants to do. Only when the “mission” involves a love interest, then he is very gung-ho. Secretary of Defense Jessica Delacourt is played by Jodie Foster, who is a very cold person in this film. She is definitely on a different level than Damon in this film. I will admit it was fun to see Foster play an antagonist. The one person in this film that I didn’t recognize because of his growing acting ability is Sharlto Copley. Most of you won’t know who he is, but he played in the new A-Team film as Murdock and in another sci-fi film District 9. I beg all of you, please keep your eye on Copley, he is going to become a very intriguing character actor. Much along the lines of Gary Oldman. Copley plays Kruger, a mercenary sent to stop Damon’s character from leaving Earth. He is a ruthless guy and loves his job, maybe a little too much.

Neil Blomkamp serves as the films writer/director. Blomkamp is another up and coming director and one with a very interesting view of society. His first film was District 9 and in that film aliens are stranded on our planet where we do what we do to all “aliens”… we segregate them and place them in their own district of the city where they can’t mingle with us humans. This film shows how our economical classes will start to pull further and further apart. In this future, there is no middle class. There is only the super-rich or the super poor. Now, Blomkamp did a very good job projecting this on film and is gaining a knack for action sequences. I know I am going to be interested what this director will do next.

Like the last review I posted, this sci-fi film is more about the story and having the special effects as what they were meant to be, a tool to help the story. If you were lucky enough to see District 9, then you will enjoy Blomkamp’s second film as well. If you haven’t seen that film, I still recommend Elysium because at the end of the day this film is about human survival and what we, as a people, are willing to do to live on.