Not another District 9 BUT confirms Blomkamp as a young James Cameron

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2013)

If District 9 was a political parable about racism so Elysium is a social commentary on rich and poor, healthcare, pollution, overcrowding, immigration and class war: the big themes of today but set in a dystopian future - 2154.
Matt Damon plays Max Da Costa, an ex-car thief and parolee living in Los Angeles who is trying to earn an honest living in a robotics factory, despite attempts to prise him away back to a life of crime. A terrible industrial accident leaves him with only five days to live and desperate to survive, Max seeks an illegal flight to Elysium, a space station that is a luxurious haven for the wealthy from a ruined and wasted Earth, so that he can be cured by a miraculous medical device called a Med-Pod found in every home and which keeps the citizens of Elysium free from disease. To earn his transport Max is commissioned by Spider (Wagner Moura), a local smuggler and hacker, to kidnap an important citizen from Elysium and download information from his brain. To maintain his life in order to complete the mission, Max is fitted with a powered exoskeleton that gives him the strength of the androids that protect the titular space station and some cool weapons. The mission goes awry and Max receives far more than he bargained for. The Elysian Secretary of Defence, Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster), orders a vicious killer and sleeper agent on Earth, Kruger (Sharlto Copley), to hunt down Max and retrieve the information from his brain that he has downloaded. Cue action, high speed chases and all round mayhem.
Elysium is a good film but does not contain the visceral excitement of District 9. All the leads are good and Jodie Foster plays a deliciously conniving villain. Sharlto Copley is a revelation as the mercenary killer, basing his portrayal on the South African Defence Force (SADF) Special Forces Units that fought the border war with Angola between 1966 and 1989, and eats up the screen with his charismatic dementedness. Copley looks badass and test audiences in America were apparently rooting for him – you can see why. Damon is good as the everyman hero and the emotional heart of the film is his nuanced journey from selfish ex-con to self sacrificing hero. Wagner Moura provides good support as the criminal kingpin but it is a world away from his alpha male depiction of Captain Nascimento of Elite Squad fame. The music is good but sounds too much like Inception in parts.
The fact that the film does disappoint is high praise indeed after the high watermark of District 9. There are three main problems with the film. The first is Damon's character. You just don't care enough about him in the way that you did for Wikus van der Merwe, who was transformed into an alien in District 9. The second is the logic behind some of the effects, brilliant that they are. I am unable to fathom how a spaceship is able to land on Elysium when it is supposed to have a (presumably contained) artificial atmosphere. Wouldn't any artificial atmosphere just leak away if it wasn't wholly contained? Moreover, the Med-Pods are too good to be true. One scene involving Kruger will have you shaking your head in disbelief and disappointment. Yes, its science fiction but Blomkamp's films have a veracity that you can believe in 50, 100 or 150 years from now. Third but not least is Copley's character. Kruger is underwritten and does not have enough screen time because when he is on, he is very entertaining indeed.
Although he has only made two films, Neil Blomkamp has cornered the market in muscular, industrial science fiction such is the deftness of his vision. These are not the bright gleaming fantastical worlds of Star Wars, but a gritty, grimy and ravaged look at the near future. An adaption of Judge Dredd or Strontium Dog would be perfect vehicles for him. I suspect Elysium may please and disappoint film goers in equal measure after the ecstatic heights of District 9, but what it has confirmed is Peter Jackson's faith in him as a new filmmaker of extraordinary talent. He is not so much Jackson's protégé as he is the new James Cameron.
Blomkamp's next film, Chappie, about a robot with artificial intelligence who is kidnapped to commit various crimes, has been confirmed and I dearly hope after that, District 10 beckons with the much vaunted Halo trilogy following soon after. Alternatively, I would love to see him adapt Mass Effect to the big screen and even a Warhammer film cannot be too far away with their built in fan boy audiences and global multi-million dollar sales.