HebsMediaReview: Elysium

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2013)

Director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) delivers his science-fiction film, "Elysium". The film portrays Earth as a dirty, poverty-dominated land with citizens scrambling for food, water and shelter. Meanwhile, citizens with wealth have migrated to a massive space station, called Elysium, where there is no poverty, no war and no sickness. Max, played by Matt Damon (The Departed, The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum), suffers an incident which renders him terminal. This creates his drive to go to Elysium to heal himself.
The concept is very interesting, however, it is not original as seen in last years "Total Recall". Unlike the Colin Farrell actioneer, Elysium is a film that is extremely well directed, well scored, well shot, well written and well acted. It is cl
ear that Blomkamp is not a "one hit wonder" after the excellent District 9. As a large budget science-fiction film, it is expected that a large quantity of CGI will be used. Unlike other films of the genre, such as Transformers or the Star Wars prequels, the CGI of Elysium is used to advance the story, which is refreshing considering the huge amount of CGI- driven films these days. Furthermore, the CGI is excellent. Many scenes looked practical (such as the robots/droids of the film who act as police officers) and the CGI looked extremely organic. It should also be noted that, although Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson have publicly stated that District 9 rose out of the ashes of the failed Halo production, Elysium seems more "Halo-ey" with the actual space station being a literal Halo crawling with habitat and inhabitants.
First-time composer, Ryan Amon delivers an excellent score (which also sounds Hans Zimmer- esque) which makes the heart beat rapidly during intense action sequences whilst also slowing down the tone during heart-breaking sequences. The performances of Elysium are all excellent, with Matt Damon spearheading the superb cast which also consists of Jodie Foster (Panic Room, Inside Man), Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A- Team) and William Fichtner (The Dark Knight, Black Hawk Down). Matt Damon is excellent as the motivated Max, while Jodie Foster is equally brilliant as the evil political secretary of Elysium's defences. However, the standout of the film is Sharlto Copley, who delivers an astoundingly brilliant, edgy, hilariously-morbid and downright scary portrayal of Elysium sleeper agent, Kruger.
Much has been said about the premise of the film, the poverty-laden wasteland that has become Earth. However, the film is simply using this as a backdrop to place the story of Max and his struggle and not as social commentary. Although, it is evident that Blomkamp likes to deal with potential social issues such as racism and apartheid (as seen in District 9).
Elysium does have a couple of flaws, however. One of these is predictability. We know that eventually people will rise up and take control of Elysium, we know that the bad people will get what is coming to them. In an intelligent science fiction film, full of excellent aspects, this is one of the only issues which stands out. The other flaw is the shaky-cam during fight scenes.
Elysium is an excellent science-fiction film from director Neill Blomkamp, which delivers excellent action set-pieces, heart and drama. Neill Blomkamp, after delivering two excellent science fiction films, has now solidified himself as a director to watch out for.
What are your thoughts on Neill Blomkamp's Elysium? Leave some feedback and comments below!
Elysium: 9/10
The Good: - Damon, Foster and Copley deliver excellent performances - Organic CGI - Excellent practical effects - Excellent setting - Interesting concept - Excellent score - Excellent cinematography - We're a little closer to a live-action Halo film
The Bad: - Predictability - Shaky-cam