"Elysium" a strange trip to the future

Rating: 5/10 (11 August 2013)

It was the big weekend movie, and I was attracted to the premise, so I ventured out to see "Elysium." In this one, we are transported to 2154, a time when the very wealthy live on a man-made space station in orbit high above an overpopulated, impoverished, disease-ridden, and polluted Earth. The planet is patrolled by robot cops who protect the interests of the wealthy overlords who emulate the Great Gatsby on the rotating tea cart in the sky.
This, of course, upsets the people on Earth, who know that there is a machine on Elysium that can cure all illness. When our hero, played by Matt Damon, gets a lethal dose of on-the-job radiation, he sets forth on a mission to equalize civilization. As luck would have it, the security lady on Elysium (Jody Foster) wants more power and launches a plot to take over the space station, but Matt and his pals intervene. Foster plays the heartless security woman it like she is Meredith Baxter Birney in a bad Lifetime made-for-TV movie.
There are other big flaws: A 2003 GMC Truck that still runs (I am still trying to figure out where they got gas for it), a metal contraption that is put on Damon to make him strong, but it doesn't seem to work (I hope he saved the receipt, so he can return it to Exo-skeletons R Us), not to mention incandescent incandescent light bulbs and computers that look like they were recently bought from Staples. This all does nothing to revive what is a tired plot.
In spite of all that, it is not a bad movie and will keep you entertained for a few hours with some decent special effects and some characters you will care about, so I will give this a two out of Fordyce. Place it in the category of another Summer 2013 lackluster, big-budget blockbuster wannabe.
Jim's Credit Check: There is no bonus scene at the end of the credits.