The Best disappointment of the Summer

Rating: 7/10 (13 August 2013)

Considering how many things it does right, "Elysium" is still a major disappointment. From the same director of the wildly original "District 9", Elysium similarly uses a futuristic syfy story to talk about issues that run rampant in the world today. The film follows the story of Max (played by Matt Damon), a down and out guy living in the year 2154, who aspires to eventually travel to Elysium, a luxurious artificial habitat made for the one percent of the overpopulated Earth to live on. Jodie Foster plays the role of a political figure on Elysium who seeks an opportunity to plot a coup, and Sharlto Copley gives a great performance as a mentally disturbed and extremely violent crony of Foster who is sent to kill Damon. The supporting cast though is not as charismatic. Every other character in the film is basically a Latino gangster who contributes to the struggling resistance group on Earth.
There is also another side to "Elysium", and that is being a summer blockbuster. While not tackling political issues, Elysium is a full on summer action flick; evil robots and all. The fighting sequences though sometimes approach a Quentin Tarantino level of bloody, and by the end of the movie I really just wanted the story to move along without any more stale fist fights.
Anyone hoping for a full fledged successor to "District 9" will be disappointed by "Elysium". Yet Neill Blomkamp has created a film that has enough appeal to attract the more educated Movie-goer and hormonal teenage boys to become a box office success. It may not be perfect, but "Elysium" is one of the better movies of 2013.