Elysium is an intelligent sci-fi film that mixes action with great acting for a terrific summer film.

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2013)

The movie Elysium is the second movie from Neill Blomkamp, the writer/director of the sleeper hit District 9 that caught everyone off guard in 2009. If you were a fan of that movie then you should know that these two movies share a similar spirit and choice of themes. District 9 was about segregation and humanity, but Elysium is about poverty, income inequality, elitism, illegal immigration, and also humanity.
The story starts off with our main character Max in 2154. He used to be a mid-level criminal who stole cars from his decrepit neighborhood in Los Angeles. But now he has found himself a good job working at a robotics factory. Something goes wrong at the factory and Max needs to find a way onto Elysium where the wealthy all have medical machines in their houses that can literally cure any illness within seconds. Elysium is a space station where the elite rich citizens of Earth have escaped to and are physically separated from the planet where only poor people live.
To be frank, District 9 starred a pretty unknown cast. This time around, Blomkamp has much harder hitters like Matt Damon as the main star Max and two-time Academy Award Winner Jodie Foster as the ambitious Secretary of Defense on Elysium. Overall, Damon does a fairly good job at giving us an intense performance as Max. He is solid but nothing memorable because he just gives us the standard "Matt Damon" character that's a nice guy who can turn intensely violent on the drop of a pin. Foster is the one that steals the scene in every shot she's in. I found her acting to be absolutely delightful. She plays her role with such energy, confidence, and charisma that it's really a joy to see her walking around on screen. Having her side story really livened up the plot when things got a bit desperate and dark on Max's end. Although she has some weird and distracting dubbing issues when she re-recorded her lines to dub over herself. Her lips didn't quite match up and you can hear that she is in a sound studio rather than on set.
The visuals were stunning when we see the gorgeous, bright, and colorful Elysium followed by a scene from a dilapidated LA. By the way, the shots of future LA looking grim, dusty, dark, overcrowded, gang-infested, and "Hispanic" were confusing to me; I couldn't distinguish if it was future LA or shots taken last Tuesday without any CGI. But throughout the movie, expect dark interiors and grim looking streets that are effective in showing you just how desperate the "normal" people in that world are.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I think it is one of the best films of this year so far. If you're afraid that this film is overly preachy about their liberal themes, then don't worry. It walks a fine line between telling an engaging tried and true story of the "hero of the working class people" and making you aware of the huge income gap between the elite and the poor in the world we live in today. It never really spends an entire scene with two people having a conversation on how the rich should give all their money to the poor or other socialist ideals that this film preaches. I do have to mention that the last third of the film feels pretty rushed and you can't help but feel that some big shot Hollywood suits and ties got their hands on it. The last third feels very "Hollywood" and a bit dumbed down with more action than anyone cares to see.
4 out of 5 stars