Dystopian Class Warfare... SPOILER

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2013)

OK, silly me. I thought I'd be watching an interesting science fiction movie. I had intentionally not learned much about the movie. I knew Matt Damon, there is a cool photo promo that looked "space like", and class warfare with the satellite being where the rich folks went to live. I've been associated with writing, reading, and critiquing science fiction since before there was an Asimov's Magazine. Having been that exposed to science fiction info and a speck more would completely ruin anything "new", or "surprise" for me.
I can probably tell you 30 movies you've seen with this plot, but it is often a little more interesting in a dystopia setting. I was looking forward to that. I pretty much continued with my plot assumptions through the twists and turns right to the end of the movie, never terribly surprised yet thinking the movie was OK except for the unusually slow start and a couple "Reeeaaly?" moments.
It was after the move a bit that I decided I really don't like it much. I'M ABOUT TO RUIN THE DAY. **SPOILERS AHEAD**
It is a hyper-political-agenda driven movie that shoots loose with "science" in the fiction. Now I again suggest anyone who doesn't like spoilers to shut it down and move along.
If you liked District 9, Hunger Games, The Postman, or more precisely, Johnny Mnemonic, etc., this one is up your road. If you are young and your experience in life is largely from our "schools", you'll not see much wrong with this movie. If you are a liberal, progressive, democrat, or thrive on the main stream media portrayal of current events, you should take your pom-poms with you.
If you want your booms, bangs, and CGI extravaganzas in a hurry and like to sit on the edge of your seat I would tell you to come rather late to the movie, except you would miss one vital little scene early on that is supposed to drive a lot of the motive you'd expect in this move.
More **SPOILER**: Another of the premises that drives the action is unbelievable if you're familiar with a fatal dose of radiation. The movie tries to compensate like that condition is a handicap that can be resolved with a superhuman exoskeleton. If you can suspend your disbelief around that adaptation you should still be OK: Until our protagonist gets fatally injured again and repaired with a bandage. Movies are only so long and you can't dwell on details like a dead protagonist when your protagonist needs to be as strong and determined as a terminator.
There's action, an evil villain, and that tick-tock suspension that is required to give you the feeling of urgency. So if you brought your pom-poms on my advice, you'll be ready to give this one a top rating. If you're like me and really want to know if a movie is a political agenda statement slightly and sacrilegiously veiled in a science fiction movie you can skip this one, read the Los Angeles Times and turn on MSNBC on any given day and you'll get the message.