Blomkamp does it again gritty dystopian future.

Rating: 8/10 (3 December 2013)

Elysium is director Neil Blomkamp's most recent foray into sci fi. The movie Mr. Blomkamp is really known for is District 9 another very gritty real feeling scifi movie. So Elysium is not too much off course for Blomkamp. But that is not a negative because if Blomkamp is good at one thing it is making gritty very real feeling sci fi stories that seem to almost have been ripped from an alternate dimension. Matt Damon is Blomkamps leading man in Elysium as Max, a likable orphan who has had a spotty past with crime but is now living the straight life. The movie picks up with Max being an adult working a factory job earth is a wasteland ruled by gangs and corporate robots. The corporate robots are controlled by the exceedingly rich who live in Elysium a space station utopia where everyone looks young and beautiful. The residents of Elysium never have any health problems because their superior technology. Which leads a lot of the poor people on earth with serious diseases to seek out the cartels that will try to smuggle them to Elysium so they can use the first aid machines to fix their problems. I do not want to give any spoilers so from here on out I will rate the action, story, visuals, and acting.
As far as action goes it doesn't get much better there is plenty max fights robots and mercenary's using a wide variety of guns as well as his Exosuit. So if action is your bag this movie has it in spades. The story is also a good it is simple but effective and can double as a commentary on our own growing chasm between classes. It is an exceedingly interesting idea that we would use up earth so the extremely wealthy would build a utopia in space so I very much enjoyed the story line. Visual wise Blomkamp always does a great job the visuals are incredible super realistic which just lends it self to the believability of the story and world. Finally the acting I found the acting incredibly enjoyable Matt Damon had a strong performance as max who starts out slightly selfish but comes around to be the poor man with the heart of gold. Then Jodie Foster did a great job as a political viper trying to maneuver and wriggle her way to the top of Elysium's social and political food chain. But my favorite was Sharlto Copley as Kruger an ex Special Forces man contracted to the higher ups in Elysium to take care of problems or issues on earth. He really pulls off the Special Forces type as well as this crazy creepiness underneath the whole performance overall he was incredible as the bad guy very menacing. Overall if you enjoy dystopian future movies this is for you. Action 4 out of 5 stars Story 3 out of 5 stars Visuals 5 out of 5 stars Acting 5 out of 5 stars