Not bad, but probably not worth a trip to the movies.

Rating: 6/10 (9 August 2013)

Elysium is your standard tale of the struggle between the upper class and the poor...with robots and space ships in the year 2154. (The fact there's even THAT MUCH of Los Angeles left in 2154 is amazing on its own.) The rich have moved from a dying earth to the massive space station Elysium, and everyone not rich is forbidden to go. Also, Elysium has video-game-like healing stations that cure everything. EVERYTHING. And since you can barely get an Advil back on earth, the people stuck there are not too happy about it. Matt Damon plays your standard guy- raised-in-an-orphanage-wishing-he-wasn't-so-poor, while Jodie Foster plays the I-don't-give-a-flying-f*ck, shoot-first-ask-later head of security for Elysium.
Pros: - The first thing that will grab you is the scenery. Earth looks beaten down, but it looks fantastic in its devastation. Elysium looks like a dream world. The inner-core of Elysium looks like something straight out of Aperture Laboratories. (Portal, anyone?) - Jodie Foster plays a MEAN villain. And that's good. - Sharlto Copley, the star of District 9, has got some serious acting flexibility. He plays a grizzled mercenary that is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of his D9 character, but you'd never recognize him until the end credits. - The SHOOTING action scenes are very cool.
Cons: - I specified earlier that the shooting action scenes are good, because the FIGHTING action scenes are terrible. When anyone goes hand-to-hand, the camera shakes WAY TOO MUCH. I know that this is becoming a style for many movies, but...I hate it. You literally cannot make out what is happening. All I can think about is that there's a camera guy running behind the scene, who can't hold the camera properly. It's enough to give you a headache. STOP DOING THIS, MOVIES. - Matt Damon is...eh...dry. He just doesn't do much for the character. Seems like he phoned it in. - I hate to say it about a Neill Blomkamp-written movie, but the script just isn't that strong. I would have wanted more time for Jodie Foster to flex some acting muscle, and less time for Matt Damon to fumble through awkward confrontations. I never really got attached to any of the characters.
Be warned - there is some graphic violence.
Elysium is not a bad sci-fi action flick, but it could have been much better. It's going to fall well short of some of the other sci-fi flicks we've seen this summer. (Star Trek, Pacific Rim) Elysium scores a 3 out of 5 on the BDBOS.
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