Mad Max...with a Hollywood budget. 80+%

Rating: 8/10 (27 August 2013)

This film really grabbed my attention with its opening shots...an urban canyon with decaying skyscrapers...such an iconic image. Where can I buy the poster? Anyway, it's that image which put in mind the thought that if the Australian movie "Mad Max" (or its sequel) had a budget, that's how it might have spent the money instead of doing it on the cheap, on the outskirts of Woop Woop. There is definitely a "Mad Max 2" aesthetic at work in some scenes, especially the ones featuring cars. Then you'll see a grand image outside of Earth and think that image was taken from "2001: A space odyssey". Or you'll see an image and recognise "The terminator" reference. "Elysium" nicely homages these movies without feeling derivative.
The plot of the movie concerns Max's (hmm...surely that's not a co-incidence? Played by Matt Damon in any case) need to go to the titular space station in order to cure himself from a terminal disease due to a workplace accident (the scene where that occurred put in mind those Work Safe ads you see here in Australia!). The Earth that Max lives on is basically a slum like environment. Even though I haven't read any books by Charles Dickens, the phrase "Dickensian" definitely comes to mind for that vision of Earth's future workplace!
In contrast to this future Earth, Elysium is a paradise orbiting Earth for the privileged. They have clean air, acres of private gardens for everyone and a medical pod in each home which can literally cure anything. Watching the movie I felt quite clever for seeing the implications of this state of affairs. Surprisingly, the movie rams home the implications for that at the end. I like that narrative device in the movie...you really can't argue the toss on the morality and ethics of that situation. On Elysium, to be without privilege is terrifying for the inhabitants...hence the martial presence which is subtle in those early scenes.
Apart from movie homages, I was playing 'spot the real world equivalents' throughout as well. Much of the movie is set in a predominantly Spanish speaking Los Angeles. It made me wonder if this represents an actual fear of some Americans. Of course, the modern day equivalent is the situation with Mexicans attempting to sneak into the U.S. for a better chance of success in life in America. In this movie, you could view Elysium as 'New America' and Los Angeles as 'New Mexico'...which is probably historically accurate, as the U.S. sneakily annexed land from Mexico centuries ago and incorporated it into what is now the U.S. of A. Anyway, for obvious reasons many of the people of Los Angeles also wish to escape to Elysium for reasons of a better life or just to save a loved one dying of something.
If Elysium is meant to be 'New America', it is disguised...perhaps they speak French there? (there was language switching in Los Angeles too, but I don't know if that was meant to show bilingualism or a transition to something the audience wouldn't require subtitles for). Jodie Foster plays security bigwig "Delacourt" on Elysium. Perhaps she is meant to have a South African accent but if she does, it's an interesting 'failure'...a hybrid of South African, English and perhaps French too...which I liked. In a film like this there really wouldn't be a 'wrong' accent...like there would in Meryl Streep's take on Lindy Chamberlain in "Evil angels". Definitely sounding South African is dodgy security contractor "Kruger" (played by Sharlto Copley). For some reason he brought weird South African music group Die Antwoord to mind...I mean the male singer of that...not that I've heard much of them! You even see the South African flag on his spaceship...in Los Angeles.
Other modern day equivalences are brought to mind by this movie. The role of the current U.S. government in military operations and surveillance is brought to mind as was the previous government's reliance on private military contractors (like Blackwater). Some shots with thermal vision (I think) remind me of that Wikileaks' footage of U.S. helicopter gunships killing innocent civilians abroad and Kruger actually brings to mind some of the atrocities of Al-Qaeda (I mean his work with his sword).
If I have one criticism of the movie it is that it reverted to Hollywood type as far as the actions of Elysium's regular President at the end of the movie (played by Faran Tahir). It didn't have to play out like that and in fact the eventual outcome isn't really justified by the personal histories of those we have come to know in this movie...it assumes too much for what happens, in other words.
I like "Elysium"'s mythic quality, one which it shares with Mad Max 2. Emma Tremblay was really sweet as the daughter of Max's young love "Frey" (played by Alice Braga)...especially in that scene where she tells Max a story. I'm guessing that internet forums devoted to this movie will have plenty of people wanting to know what moral Max gleaned from that story at the end of the movie.
A very nice movie and I think it will have repeat viewing value...my provisional score for this movie kept going up as it progressed...from 75% to 75+ (which translates from 7 stars to 8 stars on this site) to 77.5% to 77.5+%. Final score 80+%.