Shallower than a baby pool

Rating: 3/10 (6 December 2013)

Well, there isn't a whole lot to say about this movie. It turns out to be a typical CGI-heavy Hollywood production where producers, once again, thought that the CGI effects would carry the story. They never do, and they certainly don't in this movie. The story itself is so forgettable you'd think you're on roofies waking up the next day after submitting yourself to this snooze-fest.
The most protruding attribute of "Elysium" is its constant and unrelenting shallowness. The characters, in particular, are ill-conceived and don't have any kind of depth. In the end, we do not care whether the little girl gets healed or not, whether our "hero" dies or whether the earth population, that appears to be made out of Mexicans only, prevails. I personally found the Elysium habitat extremely boring: people just seem to be on an extended vacation, lingering around, not showing any kind of productivity. In the end, I rooted for the robots to blow everything up (10 minutes of this nonsense might even have been a good Terminator prequel)...
As stated, the characters were unremarkable, but so was the acting. Matt Damon provided us with a wooden and lackluster performance, alternated with interludes of hammy overacting and weird facial expressions. Jodie Foster looked scared most of the time with her "Panic Room" face on. She never appeared threatening and it was just a question of time until someone "put her in her place". The South African "secret agent" gave it his best shot, but, due to his heavy accent, some scenes that should have been serious or pathetic came across as involuntary comedy. I'm not sure that he was intended as comic relief, but who knows what went on in the minds of the producers... The rest of the cast was instantly forgettable, the "Mexicans" were more of a cliché than individuals.
I'm giving this a "3" due to the fact that the sphere looked fairly interesting (although the involved "science" is laughable) and because I am feeling generous today.