It's a great film, hands down.

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2014)

The film is well worth a watch.
"Elysium" was viewed at home on an iTunes recommendation. I did not look into it at all. So even before we got to the 'Afrikaner' accent from the bad guys I felt the story was a rehash of "District 9". Especially because it looked the same. Yes, Shalto Copley seeled it, it was a Neill Blomkamp film, but before him all i could see were the similarities in the character "Max" from "Elysium" and "Wikus" from "District 9". The story of the unassuming hero who needs to emotionally understand his part in joining the revolution/resistance...
So was the story lacking depth? Were the characters heartless? Was it sloppy character development and rudimentary story telling? I personally saw the connection between the two films and was captivated nonetheless. "Elysium" seemed to focus on creating the world the story would play out in, as it formed a large crux of what the story would be about, so the difference in setting was more crucial than the unassuming hero. Maybe if the hero had been a woman it may have added a dimension that was less familiar, bringing us to the point. It was not a poor story but a familiar one which left the story revelers to think of something else while soaking up the visual feast. Captivation was not as demanding simply based on a familiar feeling. And it took a second viewing to really grasp the story because I just wasn't listening the first time - I heard the sounds but not the words.
So why deem it such a great film if in fact very little attention was paid? Once that familiar story was acknowledged the focus was not on "Max" but the connection that Elysium has to Earth, the unflinching grasp one group has to have over another in order to exist.
Admittedly great movies have to have pivotal main characters, so how can one just dismiss the main character and still rave about its importance? That's because it's a Sci-Fi. Take a great Sci- Fi story like "The Man From Earth". Impeccable in the way it massages the brain but that very massaging could be experienced if I listened to it over the radio. It was not fantastical in its delivery. "After Earth" had characters that should have pulled out something amazing in an incredibly lush environment but it couldn't even hold its head above water.
Sci-Fi can be the trickiest one to get near perfect, and with time "Elysium" might prove to be one that stands a little longer than expected. The heart is there, the message is there, the layers and depth is there but may very well be over shadowed by our societal fad of "been there done that".
And the true test of greatness when it comes to film is its longevity - that being said, if Neill Blomkamp can maybe throw some ideas around about different characters, build on other unassuming type figures, with a bit more of a grotty past, then we might very well have a Hero in the Sci-Fi department of Movies.