Directed by:
Neill BlomkampScreenplay:
Neill BlomkampCinematography:
Trent OpalochComposer:
Ryan AmonCast:
Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, William Fichtner, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Michael Shanks, Carly Pope, Talisa Soto, Sharlto Copley, Wagner Moura, Faran Tahir (more)VOD (5)
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In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) will stop at nothing to preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium - but that doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in by any means they can. Max (Matt Damon) agrees to take on a life threatening mission, one that could bring equality to these polarized worlds. (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Neill Blomkamp is certainly one of the most prominent characters in world cinema. Above all, he’s definitely an idol for sci-fi maniacs, because what he did with aliens in the middle of Joburg this time shook me in several ways, and I haven’t really come around from that to this day. I got really happy when I learned that Neill was making another sci-fi movie, this time with Hollywood actors, which promised a bigger budget and possibly a more epic story. In the end, I was hoping that all those Hollywood weirdoes and big-wigs wouldn’t make it into a political agitation, dictating what Neill could and couldn’t do in a good old American blockbuster. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t quite perfect either, just like District 9. Maybe because it was pretty similar. The worst thing for me was the camerawork. I didn’t mind it as much in District 9 – it was a low budget movie with a unique idea, done in a distinctive half-documentary style, at least in the first half. But Elysium is a blockbuster, and in that case I expect that all these space-ships, monsters and modern machines will be well-visible. And not that I would look at it all as if I were sitting in a carriage pulled by a horse through some bumpy path somewhere in the mountains. That was quite a problem for me. However, the director of photography Trent Opaloch collaborates with Neil on a long-term basis, so I don’t expect Neil’s films to change much in the foreseeable future. On the positive side, we get to see Sharlto Copley, who delivers an almost demonic performance.
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Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar crossed with Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall. Elysium has a rawer exposition than many artsy social dramas. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, out of the fire and into the shit. Work hard, die in pain. In a setting as equally shabby as that in District 9. Poverty, filth, disorder (the repressive regime makes itself known only when someone penetrates the world of the privileged). But you hope that the melodramatic flashbacks won’t dictate the tone of the narrative and that the film won’t deteriorate into an equally irritating spiritual handbook as Cloud Atlas. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen. Elysium puts up a brave fight against its nicer self – which I would like to believe was imposed by the studio – until the end; only then does the ultimate idealistic softening come. The romantic storyline unfortunately fails due to the brief time that the partners spend together and the intention was probably to make the class struggle a stronger motivation than love. The main objective and uncompromising deadlines are established with B-movie directness: the protagonist wants something and he must do this and that within X number of days at the latest in order to get it. A bonus for the Marxists is that Max’s mission is indirectly motivated by the unfair healthcare system, excessive punishments for illegal migrants and the inequality of citizens who obviously no longer care about race or nationality, but only about social class (in addition to that, an important role in the story is played by the leaking of the powerful elite’s sensitive data to the public, which can only be seen as an allusion to the Wikileaks and Snowden affairs). Given the insidious adoration of capitalism in most Hollywood blockbusters, I consider the indignation expressed by some American critics’ over the naïve propaganda of Elysium, in which the good people are truly good, the bad are seriously bad and any more ambivalence is taboo, to be shortsighted at the very least. Regardless of its ideological essence and the guilelessness with which it presents that essence, Elysium is primarily a brutal, high-octane cyberpunk dystopia with an almost horror-like atmosphere (see, for example, most of the scenes with the monstrous Copley), unpredictable development (the characters act erratically, occasionally something just simply goes wrong and at one point the star system is nicely mocked) and, unfortunately, extremely chaotic action scenes. With the exception of the extreme-slow-motion shots, which are cool thanks to the fact that Blomkamp doesn’t squander them, but I found it very difficult to tell who delivered blows to whom because of the overabundance of cuts. The variability of the direction that the narrative takes makes Elysium one the most video-game-like films of recent years alongside Battle Los Angeles and Dredd. The ending is determined, the course is marked and the specific form of the action depends on the player (who in this case is half man and half machine) and his abilities, and it thus doesn’t necessarily have to be as neatly planned out as in the case of more conventional action. Elysium surely could have provided more material for study (whether that would involve ideology or narratology), but it’s definitely still good as summer entertainment. 75%
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A story comparable with the picture book about the hippo that Damon quotes from in the movie, but the way they did it! A flawless rendition of the future that meets my demands. Perfect atmosphere and awesome action which sometimes stops short of the proverbial icing on the cake (which is a shame). The exosuit fight at the end is one of the best action sci-fi (hand-to-hand) fights I’ve ever seen. Blomkamp has gone a bit soft since last time and even though most of the characters behave like swines, they don’t mean it badly, which is a drawback compared to D9. The main powerhouse of the picture is the fantastic Sharlto Copley as Kruger, a fanatical psychopath (and my favorite character) whose alternative would probably have made for the best ending. Max, where are you?!
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Once I got through District 9, I had hoped it was just an unfortunate accident. However, Elysium confirmed to me that I don't understand Neill Blomkamp and it would be best if we went our separate ways. Never mind that this skeleton of an unstoppable machine suits Matt Damon perfectly with its camera shaking and flying around in the action scenes, while the story stumbles into plotholes despite its simple premise. Not to mention that practically all of the supporting characters are played strangely, to say the least. Jodie Foster, who doesn't fit her role, is an unpleasant surprise, William Fichtner disappoints in a way that is merely dull, but Sharlto Copley is actually annoying. His unintelligible hissing and desperately overplayed slickness are truly maddening. But I could forgive all of that if the screenplay had met me halfway and tried to play a different note in the finale than a humane and nostalgically romantic one. The social appeal was already starting to annoy me in the middle of District 9, so that was just predictable, while the sentimental storyline annoyed me because Max's relationship with Frey is nothing more than a distant memory that would never stand a chance in this vision of the future. And when emotions, characters, and actions don't work on the path to freedom, it makes for a rather sad ending. Elysium ultimately ends up being a giant nothing that tries so hard to aim high, but from the beginning, has no way up.
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Blomkamp, Kosinski, Snyder, etc. are all cut from the same cloth. Visually, they are very original, with an incredible sense of innovation and aesthetic creativity, usually producing simpler, even skeletal films. It's not always necessarily bad, but Elysium was in many ways very clichéd and unnecessarily simplistic. Of course, there is a political subtext with references to this or that regime, and a twisted rhetoric of "the poor, dirty and smelly" being the good guys and the "rich, successful, and thriving" being the bad guys. No matter how you look at it, we have a predictable plot with a clear script, several thrilling action scenes, and unbelievably polished and over-the-top shots that you'll want to see again and again. It's an unprecedented mix of futuristic sci-fi with brutally raw action and blurry imagery, that continues the trademark of District 9, just with a slightly bigger budget, so everything is smoother and more refined. Finally, we can't forget the show-off objects like the Versace lounge chair or the private Bugatti jet. The director is a big fan of image, and unfortunately, this film is purely "image-driven". Nevertheless, it is incredibly captivating filmmaking.
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