This is one of the smartest sci-fi movies I've seen in a while,

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2014)

This is my first review on an R rated movie so far. Yeah! This is on Elysium. When I first saw the trailer, I thought it was really cool looking. It showed an interesting premise and some shots of sweet action. I saw the movie a few days ago, hoping that it would be good. Was I right? Read the review. I ain't telling. If you don't know the premise of Elysium, it's about Earth far into the future. It's polluted, it's dirty, it's disease ridden, and all the poor people live there (It might sound mean, but it's true). All of the rich people live in Elysium, a floating fortress in the sky, which is a lot like the halo from Halo or the Citadel from Mass Effect (call it what you will). Up there, there's no disease, there's no death, there's just life and happiness. One of the reasons this is is because of these medbeds. If you lay on it, it will cure any disease or injury you've gotten. That's cool. That's pretty much what the entire plot is, it's cool. And it's really, really good. I like it because not only does it have cool sci-fi plot elements, but it has a message. It basically tells you "stop doing crappy things because in the future, life will be crappy". It's good. The acting is top notch. Matt Damon does a great job in his role, you can really see him just invested in his character. I like actors like that. Jodie Foster plays the leader of Elysium and she's really good, but she isn't the main villain, like the trailers make it out to be. The main villain is a guy named Krueger played by Sharlto Copley, who for me stole the show. He was so good! You know when they do a good job when you hate the villain not from being annoying, but from being evil. Good job Sharlto. The action is so cool! It's very intense and very cool to watch. It's a movie where you feel every blow emotionally. That is a definite plus. The gore may be a little over the top, but it's still cool. The scene I'll remember the most was one of the characters getting his face blown off by a grenade. Not like the skin or anything, no. A chunk of face flew out of the front of his skull. And it was awesome. The cinematography is the best I've seen since Moonrise Kingdom, but it's very different. It definitely feels post-apocalyptic in the filming. It's shaky and movey (is that even a word?), but it doesn't distract you or get you nauseous. Overall, this movie is great. It's got an awesome plot, superb acting, sweet action, and stellar cinematography. My only gripe is that it's about twenty to thirty minutes too long, but that isn't a lot. Don't go into this movie thinking it's going to be fun, because it's not. It's well made and very interesting.