Hugely Disappointing - SPOILERS

Rating: 4/10 (25 December 2013)

Achtung! SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
I was so looking forward to this director's next film but Elysium ended up committing the cardinal sins of most blockbuster action flicks, too much attention to blowing things up and not enough to the writing.
There was no subtly in the characterizations and no real character arcs. It was all black and white, cookie cutter. Except for Spider who suddenly, without any warning, goes from slimy, sadistic underworld boss to co-savior of humanity. It was like the characters were place markers for when the writers got back from lunch to finish the script, except they stayed for happy hour then went home.
The plot is driven by incongruous situations. Max's evil foreman forces him into a dangerous piece of machinery, without back up. After he is rescued the entire factory floor shuts down because one supposedly disposable meat puppet got hurt. Then the even more evil chief executive personally investigates the stoppage, just so Max can see him and get a hate on for him to justify the next absurd lump of plot.
I cared far more about the insectoid aliens in District 9 than I did about the fate of any of the protagonists here.