Good visuals, bad writing

Rating: 6/10 (21 August 2016)

Elysium had promise, it showed that right in the beginning. It could have been a grand movie, but the writing was way below par for what it was trying to achieve. It tried addressing different very serious topics, but failed. It wanted to portray the suffering of common man, but didn't. Too much was just passed by to keep the story arc within the movie runtime I believe.
Neill Blomkamp is a good director, with District 9 being a perfect example as well. And he did a great job with writing that movie as well, but not this one. I fail to understand why that is. It could be he was pressed for time, it could be that he just didn't care that much about the script this time, I don't know. Matt gives a solid performance as usual and as expected by him. I think Jodie Foster was not well used at all. With her brilliant acting talent, I believe even herself she might feel let down by this one. The buck stops with the director on this one as well. He should know how to use the resources he has, and there is no better and powerful resource than Jodie.
Also that Sharlto Copley accent, boy that had me wanting to give a 4. So cringe-worthy at times that it seems he is making fun of the viewer by deliberately talking that way. I understand that he is speaking Engligh in the Afrikaans accent, but boy was that way confusing and mixed up with so many other accents that it took away from the role instead of adding to it. I've always regarded him as a good actor but this performance really misses the mark.
Anyways, this should not keep you away from watching a visual masterclass. It is a good action flick, nothing more nothing less. You should give it a try and maybe you will like it more going into it with average expectations. I did not like it too much, personally I went into it expecting so much from it that my own expectations for it let me down.
I was thinking halfway through the movie that maybe it deserves a 7, but not quite. So a 6.5 from me, maybe, or maybe a solid 6.