Solid Sci-Fi Fare

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2013)

Although it is set 141 years from now, Neill Blomkamp's Elysium portrays a vision of Earth that would be more suited to a setting 1000 years ago. The citizens wealthy enough to afford a ticket have emigrated to the suburban environment of 'Elysium', where cancer can be cured in seconds and poverty is nonexistent. Everyone else is left breathing in toxic fumes and living in dire conditions on the planet we call home, wondering what they did to deserve this life. Andrew Niccol's In Time realized a similar world quite well, but unfortunately was highly ignored and proved financially and critically unsuccessful. Elysium, meanwhile, is getting far more attention both because it's director was Oscar-nominated for his last (and first) feature, District 9, and because it's star, Matt Damon, has a noticeably better reputation for making good films than In Time's lead, Justin Timberlake. Damon has been promoting this film by telling the press about it's "political themes and messages", which he apparently feels quite passionately about. However, any moral lessons from the film which Blomkamp and Damon are attempting to convey to the audience in relation to poverty and human rights are lost amongst the CGI landscapes and loud, violent battles displayed on screen.
Elysium begins with Damon's character, Max, on his way to work (on Earth), but being unfairly attacked by some robotic cops and beaten unconscious. This scene is a good indicator of what the rest of the film will be like- using regular sci-fi fixtures to tell a story which is all too realistic. Released from hospital, Max is immediately forced to enter a highly radiated chamber in order to keep his job, and becomes seriously ill as a result. He learns he has but 5 days left to live, and is hastily released onto the streets by the comically evil CEO of the company he works for, William Fichtner's Carlyle. Carlyle has all the film's funniest lines, such as "Don't you dare breath on me! Cover your mouth!" to a reasonably affluent Earth citizen. In fact, the film looks set to be quite funny for the first 15-20 minutes, as Max sits down with a robot parole officer to whom he must repeat words phonetically as we would to an automated phone operator. These traces of humor utterly disappear, however, after Max's accident, which sends the plot into a spiral of painful gore, intense shoot-outs and epic intergalactic explosions.
Damon has been on top form recently with his roles in Behind the Candelabra and Promised Land, and he carries much of the film on his newly thickened shoulders. That said, Sharlto Copley really is the standout, playing the single most hateful, terrifying character portrayed in a film of this scale in years. I will forever be going to lengths to avoid having to meet the man in person, as that would result in me scurrying away in fear. Jodie Foster's smaller-than- advertised 'role' (it's more of a cameo) is nothing to write home about, particularly since she hasn't given a good performance since Lambs.
If you enjoy watching spaceships land on dusty land (bringing back oh-so-fond memories of The Phantom Menace), you'll love this film. If you get your kicks from watching data rapidly transfer between hard drives (National Treasure-style), Elysium is for you! Using countless science-fiction clichés in an impressively subtle manner, Blomkamp has managed to make a film that is shockingly entertaining, considering it's dark roots, and outdoes such mediocre fare we've seen this year, like Oblivion, in everything from acting to visuals. It may not have the epic scale or sheer fun of Star Trek Into Darkness, but this is a nice break from the pure awfulness of some of the year's other sci-fi films.