Promising at first, disappointing in the end.

Rating: 4/10 (17 August 2013)

After watching this movie, I was left with a very bitter taste and felt a bit "conned". Nobody forced me to view it, to be honest, so I shouldn't have reasons to complain. I went in with low expectations after seeing the trailer, and wasn't expecting something different than a popcorn flick.
The first part of the film, though, was a decent enough construction of a story, which kept me involved and interested. Nothing really original, but enjoyable nevertheless. Some shaky footage here and there, where it didn't seem to be required, but kept at the minimum for a while; some beautiful action shots, and a good pace. This part of the movie I rate at around 7 out of 10.
After about the half way mark, something changes dramatically regarding the style and everything turns ugly: poorly written scenes, characters' actions become totally irrational, and the whole construction crumbles like a deck of cards. In my opinion, a single character's existence and ridiculous behavior manages to completely destroy a perfectly functioning movie. You'll recognize it when you'll see it. The camera starts to lose control in the action shots, and in conjunction with the roaring sounds, causes dizziness - I really had to close my eyes for a few moments at one point. So the second half I see as a 2 out of 10.
The overall performances are good, with one notable exception. Averaging the two grades, the overall feeling is a 4 out of 10. "Oblivion" was a better movie, by today's pretty low standards regarding sci-fi movies, and compared to "After Earth", the first part of "Elysium" was better, but the second was worse.