Interesting background story, great atmosphere but full of clichés and unnecessary graphical violence

Rating: 5/10 (21 September 2013)

First of all: I love science-fiction, specifically if it has post-apocalyptic, dystopian and/or socio-critical aspects. Elysium offers a bit of all of those, combined with an interesting and believable setting and a great atmosphere. Even though the basis of the story is quite promising, its ending is very predictable and cheesy and many parts of the movie are based on clichés. Additionally, the second half of the movie consists primarily of action scenes with a gruesome and excessive amount of graphical violence. If you however like current first-person-shooters not despite of, but specifically because of the displayed violence, you just might like Elysium (in this case it is very likely that you are a male teenager). If you prefer "classic" sci-fi movies that are more focused on story than on shaky cameras and endless combinations of fights and shootouts, than this movie is probably not for you. Concluding, I like the background story and atmosphere of the movie, however I would have enjoyed the movie way more without the unnecessary amount of action and violence. When I left the movie I was physically stressed, but maybe I'm just old school and that's what people nowadays want when going to the movies.