Elysium (2013)

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2020)

Directed by Neill Blomkamp. Starring Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Jodie Foster, Wagner Moura, Diego Luna, William Fichtner, Faran Tahir, Mike Mitchell, Emma Tremblay. (R)
A futuristic haves-and-have-nots tale, with the rich living in Elysium, a palatial paradise orbiting Earth, and all the rest suffering on the grungy surface of the decrepit and overpopulated planet. After ex-con assembly worker Damon gets critically debilitated by a workplace accident, he resolves to do whatever it takes to hightail it to Elysium and use one of their ultra-sophisticated med-bays (able to miraculously cure anything--from fatal radiation poisoning to leukemia--in seconds). Director Blomkamp tries his hand at the same sort of sci-fi-with-a-social-agenda as he did with "District 9" with wildly mixed results. Art design and special effects are terrific (if familiar), Damon is a firm presence in the lead role, and its intentions are admirable. However, the class divide, labor exploitation, and immigration paranoia metaphors are slathered on with a trowel, and the over-the-top villainy belongs in a low-rent B-picture (Copley is downright cartoonish, while Foster gives a rare poor performance full of unnatural mannerisms).
60/100