Excellent visuals and a dark, if heavy-handed, message

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2013)

The first thing that struck me about this movie, and continued to strike me throughout, was how damn good it looks. It takes the slums as seen in District 9 and makes them much, much cooler - then contrasts them with the immaculate perfection of Elysium. The other components were admittedly not as good, but it still stood up. The characters are strong, if not particularly vivid (except for Kruger, who steals the show as the villain). The story is strong, though it moves slowly at times. Ultimately the film has a nice dark message, but it feels a bit to force-down-our-throats to add to the film, in fact it takes away a bit from the rest. I would certainly recommend this picture, but it was by no means perfect.