A bit heavy-handed at times, but "Elysium" is one futuristic allegory that delivers...

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2013)

South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp directed one of my all-time favorite science fiction films four years ago, "District 9" (2009) (my second favorite picture that year, behind James Cameron's "Avatar"). He follows it up with his second major feature, 2013's "Elysium," a nightmarish futuristic science fiction action-thriller set in the next century on an over-populated, pollution-ravaged planet Earth.
In this future - year 2154 - there exists only two classes of people: the very rich, who live on an orbiting space station-habitat called Elysium, and everyone else, who live on an Earth that has been devastated by pollution and over-population. Enter into this picture, the wild card Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), an ex-convict factory line-worker living in Los Angeles who takes on a special mission that will take him from Earth to Elysium, and hopefully bring equality between the two disparate masses of people by opening up the ultimate gated community for Everyone Else. Even more so, Max's mission is not to save mankind, but ultimately to save himself.
Matt Damon himself is a wild card in this picture. Known for his boyish good looks, Blomkamp has Damon do everything in his power to make him the most buff-looking, grungiest, most visually un-appealing science fiction anti-hero the genre has seen in the longest time. With a completely shaved head, prison-issued tattoos and a low-jack ankle monitoring device to complete the look, Blomkamp brings us a 2154 where Damon's ultra-rugged, reformed thug Max Da Costa fits right in.
It is also without any real surprise that Max's tough-guy exterior begins to crack when by chance he one day reunites with his childhood sweetheart Frey (Alice Braga), who also comes with her own personal complications to overcome. And he also undergoes a gruesome back-alley procedure at a human chop-shop that has him retro-fitted with a state-of-the-art exo-suit (which recalls a more compact version of the alien weapon system at the climax of "District 9") that will surely help him in his many battles against the corporate-run police state and the metallic armored robot-thugs that routinely oppresses him. In order to accomplish anything, he must first dethrone Elysium's well-dressed, ice-cold chief of security, Defense Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster), and her chief minion, an Earth-bound mercenary monster named Agent Kruger (Sharlto Copley, Blomkamp's sole hold-over from "District 9"), who grows progressively unhinged as the battle for Elysium wages on.
In dealing with such timely issues such as class-ism, elitism, corporatism, environmental degradation, health care, immigration and worker exploitation, "Elysium" successfully transposes these key themes into a realistic, futuristic scenario that is all too possible (and we do, in fact, seem to be well on our way to such a scenario), even if it is all a little heavy-handed at times. But Blomkamp delights in creating a rough & tumble wish-fulfillment science fiction fantasy that sees the poor, over-worked, down-trodden masses fighting for their rightful slice of the pie that's been horded by the uber-wealthy, elite 1%.
Also like in "District 9," Blomkamp spares no cost in staging ultra-bloody action sequences where human bodies are suddenly transformed into Heinz ketchup. Matt Damon handles himself extremely well, bringing tough-guy gravitas - and his Everyman vulnerability - to a part that could have just been another typical sci-fi action hero. While he retains his Everyman sensibilities, he is otherwise virtually unrecognizable from his usual self; like I said earlier, he fits right in with his grungy, futuristic surroundings.
Neil Blomkamp is quickly becoming one of my favorite new sci-fi filmmakers of late. With both "District 9" and "Elysium," he has succeeded in bringing back intelligence, social commentary, and even principles to a genre that has lacked all three for several years. I still believe "Children of Men" (2006) is the best new science fiction film the 21st century has seen yet. But if Blomkamp continues on this current streak of his, he may very well be in a new class of science fiction filmmakers, up there with other greats such as James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and Ridley Scott.
8/10