Another bloody documentary

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2014)

Given the director and various other members of the crew were involved in District 9, this could quite easily be the second in a series of social injustice films with guts (usually on the lens), but it doesn't hit the same stride as Blomkamps previous work. This time the action is in America; the poor speak Spanish and live in slums, the rich speak French and live in mansions, and the hired gun comes from South Africa and cooks on a BBQ. Between the South African flag and Spring Bok on the front of Krugers (Sharlto Copley) helicopter, to the Bugatti shuttle that John Carlyle, to the rose blossoms blowing around during a samurai battle, to the gang graffiti and tattoos, the details are pretty obvious for creating a strong sense of the communities each belongs to. All that's missing is Jodie Foster in a powdered wig to give her the full aristocratic stereotype. Sharlto Copley has a lot to live up to after District 9. There he was a nice guy who fell into madness. Here, he's a madman who has brief flashes of humanity, and he plays the madness well, with his clipped South African accent jarring against the overly softly speaking Foster and Braga, who plays the love interest here. They could have stuck to the mockumentry parts of District 9 - showing more about how the rich were stealing the wealth of Earth such that the 0.1% who live on Elysium could live like kings - but instead the focus is on Damon, and contrived plot were - just by chance - he ends up with the means to destroy the lives of all the super rich and save the planet. Again, the action is pretty graphic, the bad guys are pretty one dimensional (cartoon or computer game baddies come to mind) and the film has plenty of nice graphic shots (lingering shots of Elysium, robot guards, space ships). It could have been spun out with more detail - maybe something akin to the Hunger Games - yet what we have got seems to lack story detail, as if it's rushed, and stumbles as a result.