Movie with a mission-statement

Rating: 7/10 (23 August 2013)

ELYSIUM's slimline plot springs few surprises. I liked the contrast between the space-station's cure-all tanning pods and Earth's still overstretched hospitals. It's clear that the $100,000,000 budget mostly went on CGI. The effects are great if not exactly fresh. The cast do the best they can with under-scripted characters. Matt Damon recycles Jason Bourne to good effect. Jodie Foster phones in her role as a Elysium's answer to Donald Romfeld. Sharlto Copley does a Johnny Depp panto turn as Jodie's arch henchman Kruger.
Pretending that a South African township is the San Diego of tomorrow doesn't entirely come off, and Elysium itself is somewhat insubstantial: I was reminded of the threatened enclave in TV's THE WALKING DEAD. But - hey - maybe this is where our great-grandchildren are headed. Like Blomkamp's 2009 sci-fi thriller DISTRICT 9, ELYSIUM is a movie with a heavy-handed mission statement: share your toys, boys and girls!