All the Things That are Wrong with Elysium

Rating: 3/10 (15 May 2014)

There are quite a few things that take the joy away from Elysium. Let's start with earth. How is it that the only people on earth are Mexicans? They could have used people from many different nationalities. Given the fact that the U.S.A is a multinational nation, the depiction of Mexicans as the sole inhabitants is beyond stupid. Then we have the rich people. I'm surprised that the dominant rich people on Elysium are depicted as the French as if other nationalities didn't have rich people. Maybe that's why Elysium is an empty space paradise with no more than five residents? "2012" had done a much better job in this regard.
There is also a problem with the protagonist. He is not a hero in the true sense of the word, because the only reason he's trying to go up to Elysium is to save "his own life". This makes it really hard to sympathize with him and it means the movie is not engaging at all. Now if he were a revolutionary who had a clear goal from the beginning (that of helping the Earth people) we could have cared a bit more about what happens to him or about how he achieves his noble goal. Having his family members killed by Elysium's rich people to make him avenge their deaths would have also made the movie a lot more interesting. If you can't care about the main character, it is much harder to care about any other characters in a movie, which is exactly what is wrong with Elysium.
And what's up with the magical med beds? Such a thing can never exist. "Face/Off" had a much more plausible scenario than that! The ending of the movie is shallow, because it suggests that a tiny space station and a few "aid shuttles" dispatched can save the entire earth's population, or were the Mexicans in Los Angeles the only "earth population"? This is clearly not the case, as it says right in the beginning of the movie that in the late 21st century, the earth was overpopulated. This, in effect, means that there is nothing dramatic about Max's achievement, as it can only save a few Mexicans on the U.S soil and "not" the "earth's population" as the movie suggests. Other people in other parts of the world may not even have access to space vehicles fast enough to get them to Elysium. In other words, this is a movie which is trying to send the message that Mexicans are illegal people who are always trespassing. Isn't this what Hollywood constantly does to people from many other nationalities? It's so offensive and unacceptable.
The only thing going for Elysium is the special effects, but even that is ruined by the shaky camera. Watching a bunch of dirty, ugly people in ragged clothes and a bunch of snobs in the space is really not all that enjoyable, and with all those magic med beds, they'd better name the movie Harry Potter or Narnia. No wait, such things don't even happen in Harry Potter's magical world! Did I forget to mention the fact that the characters in the movie are not even pleasant to look at? Calling them "ugly" doesn't quite put it. This is a bad movie with a boring story. I'm giving it a 3 but only for the special effects.