Redistribution of health

Rating: 7/10 (9 August 2013)

I can already see reactions to Elysium breaking down along predictable lines. Movie reviewers who don't like sci-fi anyway are calling it the worst movie of the year, and so on.
Well, here is my measured defense of Elysium. I certainly don't think it's the best movie of the year. Far from it. It was at times marred by what I think was too much gore, when it could have been deeper, more meaningfully dramatic violence. The dialogue was too hard to understand at key moments. I don't think it will have mass appeal, although by good word of mouth it could still get a decent box office draw. If it had had some of the improvements that someone like Ridley Scott might have given it, it would have been closer to a latter-day Blade Runner, and a top movie of the year all around.
However, what I very much liked about this film is that it led with its idea, and the idea is a very valuable one for modern moviegoers.
In a world increasingly filled with films that try to be too clever by half, Elysium has a somewhat clumsy delivery but a powerful message. It seems hokey at first only in the way that seeing the way the founding fathers dressed and spoke seems a little hokey when you visit Washington DC. But when you probe a little further, you see that the story of Max Da Costa is one that is already here in a lot of ways. The illegal immigration struggle, the prison complex, the government both corrupt and seemingly impervious to the old-time checks and balances. Sure, the ending has to be tidy for this action movie to work, but for people who are willing to watch it with an open mind, it has a lot to say. And I'm sure you can spare two hours for it if you're only going to watch the Kardashians or Real Housewives or UFC anyway that night. Ask yourself honestly if the world of Elysium is different in kind, or only in degree.