Movie Review #57: Elysium (2013)

I have been fascinated with Elysium far before the first trailer was released. The only thing I knew about the film was that it was from the director of District 9 and starred Matt Damon. After knowing those two things I didn't even need a trailer to entice me to see it!

Elysium takes place in the year 2151 and all of the rich people actually don't live on Earth, they live on Elysium. It is an enormous space station that looks like the hood ornament to an old Cadillac. But that's beside the point. Elysium is basically the Garden of Eden: A perfect paradise where there is no sickness because they have these medical beds that can cure anything.

But as for the middle class, they live on Earth and it is in rough shape. They entire planet looks 100 times worse than Detroit does now. And for reasons that I will not talk about, Matt Damon has to break into Elysium.

While I was watching Elysium, you could easily tell that this was film was made by Neill Blomkamp because if you have seen District 9, you can easily see the similarities between the two films. But the most evident similarity is the underlying social commentary. But the political message is much more blatant in Elysium than in District 9. The message of the film is all about healthcare and at times, it is so in-your-face that it will take you out of the moment. But since I don't care much for politics, that didn't bother me. I just wanted to say that as a disclaimer because I am positive that there are people out there who didn't like this movie because of the way the message was handled.

I personally was able to overlook the social commentary and I ended up having an awesome time with Elysium! Matt Damon has never been this tough before. Even in the Bourne films! He was fantastic, but the character the stole the show was Sharlto Copley's character Kruger. If you don't know who Sharlto Copley is, he was the main character in District 9. He played a mild-mannered guy in District 9, but he plays the most detestable piece of scum in Elysium. I was starting to hate his character so much that I felt sick watching him inflict pain on Matt Damon's character. He is one of the best villains in recent memory. The one thing that threw me off was his accent. It was hard to understand what he was saying. He looks like a scarier Josh Brolin but talks like an African Jason Statham. I'm not blaming the guy because of the way his voice sounds, I just found it fairly unusual.

The visuals were completely astonishing. They looked very realistic and the slow-motion was used very sparingly and only used when it should be. The only problem I had with the film on a technical level was that there were a couple moments of shaky cam that could have been handled much better. Leave the shaky cam to Paul Greengrass. He knows how to use it in a way that looks good.

Final Report: Elysium's political message might come off as too in-your-face for some, but if you can overlook that aspect, you will be able enjoy the film for what it was: An intense, visually stunning, violent, action packed sci-fi thriller that this summer movie season needed.