District 9 with a bigger budget, better actors, but without the originality effect

Rating: 6/10 (18 September 2013)

Neil Bloomkamp presents Elysium, or should it be District 9 Part 2? The premise is pretty simple: in the future, the Earth gets overpopulated so the rich travel to a space station called Elysium where they live a luxurious life. In Elysium, director Bloomkamp once again chooses the way of the social message, masking it with a very entertaining and visually impressive action drama. Nothing to blame there. The directing is fine, we have many great actors, a thrilling plot, a true blockbuster. The thing is that in terms of model, this is exactly the same movie as District 9, sharing most of its ideas, only adding a bigger budget and a better cast, losing like that all the originality effect that District 9 was so praised about, even if it was a bit overrated at times. Like that, Elysium is just a competent blockbuster, one of 2013s best but certainly not the masterpiece many were expecting. Visit thefadingcam blog for more!