We were entertained, but the movie overall was a bit disjointed.

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2014)

OK, here's a story set in the mid-22nd century, a recurring theme in many modern movies, humanity has not been good stewards of the Earth's natural resources, buildings are crumbling, and now only the less fortunate remain living and working there.
The really wealthy live in Elysium, a giant ring-like space colony that appears to be in a synchronous Earth orbit, which would make it roughly 22,000 miles away. Traveling to such a space colony would be a bit more difficult, and take a lot longer, than is depicted here.
The very wealthy who control Elysium have rules, and a defense system to back up the rules, so that undesirables are not allowed to travel there. But a man has traveled to Earth, he has some sort of computer code in his brain, and if they can steal it maybe the Earthlings can gain access to Elysium.
All this of course reminds me of real world situations today, examples are Mexicans or Cubans trying to get into the USA however they can. Swim the Rio Grande. Float by small boat. Face capture and deportation. Was this movie, "Elysium", just made as a social commentary? Or is it just using that theme because it has been so true for all of recorded history? The "haves" wanting to keep the "have-nots" suppressed? Like we see in the "Hunger Games."
Matt Damon is the main character, Max, a lowly ex-criminal and now production worker on Earth. Resulting from a job incident, where he is accidentally exposed to debilitating radiation, and only has a week to live, he has great incentive to get to Elysium where modern medicine can cure him. Plus a few others.
So, if you take away the futuristic premise, the story just becomes another "us against them" battle, and there are lots of battles in the movie. In fact a bit too much hand-to-hand fighting instead of more interesting story-telling.
Jodie Foster has an interesting role, as basically bad Delacourt who doesn't mind killing a few people if it will keep the Earthlings out of Elysium. Very cute Alice Braga, about 30 but aging very well, is Frey who has a daughter who needs care.
We enjoyed it as a diversion, entertainment by Blu-Ray on a Saturday night after dinner. But other than the novelty of a dying Earth and a fancy space colony, there isn't too much of an interesting story here.