New World Order Cesspool Without Redemption

Rating: 6/10 (30 November 2013)

Taking a particularly bleak picture of a future-time new world order to a sci-fi extreme is interesting in itself. Elysium starts with that expansive premise yet fails on a level of character and story development. What it does excel at is the actual CGI creation of the two polar opposite worlds. The effects are the one outstanding character if you will.
Max, played extremely straightforward by Damon, is born into a cruel earth where the "haves" have all left for the artificial outer space habitat of Elysium. Those left on earth suffer under the rule of Elysium's android enforcers. Max was raised in a sort of religious orphanage and as a young adult turned to crime which resulted in his incarceration and subsequent release on a tight leach. We can not feel much of a connection with Max as everything feels rushed.
Through a chance meeting with Max's only childhood love/acquaintance a back story is clumsily thrust on the viewer. As Max struggles to keep out of prison, as well as to remain employed at the "evil" android factory, this connection with his long lost love/friend Frey gives Max the only hope for anything remotely resembling a shred of human emotion. Due to the fast pacing, and the resistance of Frey whose only mission is to find a cure for her mortally ailing daughter, the Max/Frey relationship doesn't get much traction. Strangely, the viewer is left without much of an investment in these characters we're suppose to feel, and root, for.
Max suffers a massive dose of radiation at work which is said to give him 5-days left to live. Max sets out on a "failure-is-not-an-option" mission to reach Elysium where any affliction can be miraculously healed. Of course, time is short thus the movie ramps up its already fast pace. It's action from here on out which showcases the dazzling CGI generated backdrop without apology to advancing the viewer's relationship with protagonist Max or others. When Max gets wounded in the process of honoring his deal made in order to assume a false identity and trip to Elysium with the resistance. Seeking his nurse friend Frey for medical attention he waits outside the hospital she works at. Again, Max is a wanted criminal thus Frey must attend to him at her home. At Frey's home Max learns her young daughter is stricken with leukemia and she, too, needs the healing only possible on Elysium. Max seems hard hearted here as Frey pleads for him to take her daughter saying even if he could take the child she'd be rejected because she has no I.D. on Elysium. Strangely, until Frey's daughter recites a tale involving an insect and a hippo a much needed investment in our characters finally occurs. This little story, as told by the child, connects us to the characters on a small scale and totally re-purposes Max as to save Frey's daughter.
Here, the story again veers toward seems clumsiness as the writers have chosen to use an implanted computer program in Max's head. It feels hurriedly concocted since it Max would have enough trouble getting to Elysium without it simply because there's battle between a resistance movement seeking freedom from Elysium's murderous/oppressive rule which the face of is Elysium's director of security played by Jodie Foster. Ms. Foster has never been more bland than in her character here. It isn't a character so much as a human android, even so Ms. Foster simply sleepwalks the part. More memorable is her head henchman. A mouthy white South African low-life, he adds some needed color if it's one dimensional. Capturing Max, Frey, and Frey's daughter the goon is being dispatched to Elysium where the program inside of Max;s brain can be downloaded (delivered) to Ms. Foster's character who can use it to ascend to leadership among the sharks she works under. Now, this story is by the numbers and without creative character development things feel predictable beyond reason.
Still, when you accept the ride the CGI effects and action keep pushing things along. What could have been brilliant sci-fi is sorely reduced to passable and sometimes good. This movie is worth seeing by those highly addicted to science fiction, not so much by others, however. Matt Damon does all he's asked for, but the usual high level of charisma he possesses is simply squashed. For lovers of science fiction it is still a safe bet, but for the mainstream who likes their sci-fi with a healthy dose of human interest Elysium largely fails. Therefore, Elysium will be largely panned by the public at large. I'd give it a 5 which simply must be raised to a six based on the CGI alone.