Neil Blomkamp fails to rehash District 9

Rating: 7/10 (24 August 2013)

The film was entertaining, but not great. Blomkamp, made famous by the sci-fi metaphor for Apartheid in South Africa, tries his hand again, with more money, good actors and Mexicans instead of Africans. But his metaphor now is strained, the script unchiselled and the acting empty. Neither Matt Damon's presence or Alice Braga's smile could save the lack of involvement that plagued the script.
That's not to mean it is not watchable. Many a bad movie were released as summer blockbuster and made me angry at paying for them. Elysium was not like that, but only barely. If you make the effort to design an overpopulated and unmanaged Earth controlled by unsympathetic robots and rich overlords that live on a giant space station and have God-like technology, then continue this effort in adding depth to characters and their stories, making sure there are not blatant (even offensive) gaps in the logic of the world created.
Matt Damon's natural talent at acting saved this film from being a failure. You could probably just stop him on the street, give him the script and ask him to act a little and he would do it fine. The special effects were fine, maybe better than fine. But the rest just felt tired: Jodie Foster in her most two dimensional character ever, Michael Shanks appearing in a few scenes in the background (I am not sure he said anything) a story that made as much sense as Hunger Games and a deep misunderstanding of socio-economics, not to say politics, that made it all look like a cheap game.
Bottom line: Blomkamp's metaphor for the gap between Mexicans and US citizens failed to impress in any way because it was deeply flawed. The only way one could empathise with it is to actually see the future where robots are everywhere and poor people are not required for menial tasks anymore, but that would be a lot more complex than what this film can offer. If you want something good like that, just watch Sleep Dealer.