"Elysium" is intriguing, but gets bogged down in its own negativity.

Rating: 6/10 (30 September 2015)

Class warfare, health care, immigration. "Elysium" (R, 1:49) is an action thriller that explores all these social issues and more.
Less than a century and a half in our future, the rich live in the ultimate gated community – a man-made satellite shaped like a bicycle tire, which hangs in the sky within sight, but out of reach, of the poor people of earth. Earth has become a dirty, run-down planet full of dirty, run-down people who are lucky if they have a job. Elysium is a paradise with a swimming pool in the middle of every manicured lawn. Every home is beautiful and they all have a device that looks like a cross between a tanning bed and an MRI, which can heal any citizen of Elysium of any injury or disease.
Naturally, the citizens of earth want to be on Elysium and the citizens of Elysium want to keep that from happening. Whenever the citizens of earth attempt their futuristic version of a border crossing. well, they're stopped. Leading that effort is Secretary Delacourt (played by Jodie Foster) - a Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, National Security Adviser and border patrol agent all rolled into one. She's also ruthless and she talks funny. In the future, unusual accents are plentiful, but morals, not so much. Delacourt will do anything to keep Elysium pure and secure, while people like Matt Damon's character, Max, yearn, and sometimes really NEED to "get up there".
When Max suffers a serious accident at work, he knows that getting to Elysium for medical attention is his only chance for survival. The same need exists with a little girl, the daughter of a childhood friend of Max. Max knows someone who can get him to Elysium, but only if Max does something for his "friend" in the process. And that "something" could turn out to be a game-changer for everyone in this Orwellian morality play.
There's a lot going on in "Elysium". Maybe too much. Incorporating so many social issues into the plot makes the film feel cluttered. The condition of earth and its people is portrayed with an nearly overwhelming grittiness and the "every man for himself" mentality of almost all the characters is pretty depressing. The story is interesting and the action is exciting to watch, but I would call other aspects of the film. too much of a good thing. "B"