Great movie, but not quite there yet

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2013)

***spoilers below***
My high grade for this movie comes from the immense heart it has. Different from a regular sci-fi blockbuster like Oblivion, Blomkamp's works show a strong belief in what is being said, about the social commentary and future scenarios always grounded with real, current issues. Of course, the movie works more like a metaphor than a likely scenario. Just like District 9 (a superior film in every way) deals with economic and ethnic differences and showed an ironic moral play against prejudice, Elysium plays with the notion of economic powers X third world, and it works as a beautiful and powerful situation that is disturbingly familiar (at least for me, a Brazilian, the movie's universe felt very very real). The visuals are amazing as usual, and the movie only disappoints in the third act when it gets too Hollywood-esque (the nemesis fight looked too much Iron Man-y, over-the-top for the movie's intentions), and the big final dramatic twist (Max's sacrifice) didn't do the job since Max didn't have enough psychological set-up and strong characterization for the public to feel a strong enough empathy with him (unlike District 9, which was brilliant at that). So, the final scenes felt cliché and flat. Anyway, Elysium tried to be a new District 9, but it couldn't (few can). Nonetheless, what the movie accomplished still is much better and much deeper than your regular action sci-fi.