"Elysium was overall enjoyable, but the middle of the film dragged out."

Rating: 9/10 (15 August 2013)

South African film director and producer Neil Blomkamp introduces us to his second sci- fi/action flick "Elysium" which I recently watched in the theater.
The picture has a little bit of familiar elements from "Distirct 9", which was the first official picture that Blomkamp directed and produced . Los Angeles in Elysium has the same elements of the slums of South Africa found in District 9 but, without the aliens of Elysium.
The film takes place in the year 2154 when two classes of the people exists. The wealthy class who live on a luxurious space station called Elysium built by the Armadyne Corporation. The CEO of the Armadyne Corporation is John Carlyle portrayed by character actor William Fichtner. On Elysium there is no poverty, disease, or war, and there are affluent homes. The poor live on over-populated and ruined Earth.
In Elysium, Matt Damon portrays an ex-con named Max De Costa, who lives in the ruins of Los Angeles and works in one of Armadyne's factories. Max reconnects with an old childhood friend Frey (Alicia Braga) who is a nurse at the hospital. Frey has a daughter named Maltida, who is dying of Lukemea. Damon did a pretty good job playing the role of tough guy akin to his role as Jason Bourne from The Bourne films. By the way, Elysium is not Damon's only Sci-Fi flick. He did a voice role in the 2000 animated Sci-Fi adventure film "Titan AE", which I grew up with and saw it in theaters when it was released.
Here's the main story of the film: Max had a rough past that involves his female childhood friend Frey, but he's struggling to stay on the right side of the law when he realizes that his only hope for survival after being exposed to deadly radiation is to reach Elysium. Should Max succeed, he will strike a major blow for equality in the eyes of his fellow surface dwellers; should he fail, it will mean certain death. In his quest to become the hero who can restore the balance between the rich and the poor. He joins a group of smugglers to get to Elysium and they made him wear a robotic HULC suit. One of the antagonists of the film is Agent C.M. Kruger played by Sharlto Copley, who also started in District 9.
The actress amazing and talented Jodie Foster also stars in the film. Every dramatic or suspense role she performs never fails. I consider her to be one of the greatest movie actresses. In Elysium she portrays Jessica Delacourt, who is the secretary of defense of Elysium. The European accent she feigned made her role all the more powerful. Elysium was Jodie Foster's second Sci-Fi film she star in. Her first Sci-Fi film was Contact, which was released in 1997.
I would have to say, the CGI special effects of the Elysium space station was tremendous. The CGI of the space station made it very realistic. I was also impressed by the special effects of the daytime in the Elysium space station. The Mercedes Benz symbol shaped space station reminded me of the space station from 2001: A Space Odyessey (1968) due to the way it moved.
Elysium was overall enjoyable, but the middle of the film dragged out. The middle point of the plot was not achieved until it was close to the end.I still thought this film was entertaining.
I highly recommend this film for people who loved District 9 and it's still worth buying a ticket to see this picture. I give it a 3 out of 4 stars.