Worth waiting for

Rating: Null/10 (31 August 2013)

In 2009, a new talent burst on the cinematic scene in the form of writer and director Neill Bllomkamp, a South African living in Canada, who gave us the startlingly original and political science fiction movie "District 9", a bitingly satirical take on apartheid South Africa. It's taken him four years to come up with his follow-up work, another sci-fi project, but it wipes the floor with the other genre offerings of this summer "After Earth" and "Oblivion".
This time the setting is an over-populated and environmentally ravaged Los Angeles in 2154 (the same year as "Avatar"). In classical mythology, Elysium was the home of the blessed after death; in this film, it is a space station where the ultra-rich escape the crime and ill-health of Earth. The head of security at the station is the icy Delacourt played by Jodie Foster and the person who is trying to break into this Brave New World is ex-con, now radiation worker Max portrayed by Matt Damon with shaven head, exo-skeleton and a brain full of code. Delacourt's special agent and Max's intended nemesis, the ferocious Kruger, sees the return of South African Sharlto Copley from "District 9".
Comparing BlomKamp's two films, both use the genre of sci-fi to make political points, this time the scourge of inequality and the injustice of immigration control. The difference between the works is the budget: an estimated $30M has become an estimated $115M which means bigger stars and bigger special effects, so "Elysium" looks great - especially in IMAX - but the plotting is somewhat simplistic and the conclusion overly sentimental.