Half-assed effort from a great director.

Rating: 5/10 (18 August 2013)

After District 9, I don't think my expectations were too high.The second film entry from South African director Neil Blomkap fell short in so many ways that it will be difficult to list them all here.
First of all, to give credit where credit is due, Matt Damon and Sharlto Copley really carry this movie. Their performance becomes even more admirable when you consider the lackluster script they had to work with. Damon's performance in and of itself may have been impressive, but his character was so poorly designed that it couldn't have been executed well by Daniel-Day Lewis. For instance, near the beginning of the film there's an exchange between Damon and a robotic police officer, during which Damon is sarcastic with the robot. It's within the first 30 minutes of the movie, so his behavior is supposed to give us exposition as to how his character acts. For the rest of the movie, we see NONE of that from him. Granted, he plays every angle of his character well, but from an outside standpoint it's just unbelievable and poorly designed.
Sharlto Copley's character was the strongest by far, and he was menacing and threatening at times, but there's not much you can do with "is that the best you've got?!", and "COME ON". Jodie Foster delivered some of the worst acting from an academy award winning person I've ever seen. Overdone and entirely unbelievable, saying things you'd expect from your 10 year old daughter playing princess and bossing her subjects around or having a tea party with her stuffed animals. Although this could be accredited to the over the top simplistic writing style, (take for example William Fichtner's "ew, don't touch me. Don't breathe on me" line), Jodie Foster could have put more heart into it, or at least acted like an adult. She was more annoying than dislike-able, and I found myself wishing she would just go away somehow. That goes for everyone in this movie. Blomkap tried so hard to strike a nerve with the audience, but to do that you have to have memorable characters who you can sympathize with and whose pain you can feel. When at the end of the movie Damon's character died, I just didn't care. The little girl could have died before she made it to the healing bed, I still wouldn't have cared. This movie is essential liberal propaganda, and it's not hard to see the message the director is trying to portray. Although I agree with the directors opinions, I feel he'd be better suited to be a politician after watching this half-assed attempt.This was a wasted opportunity and a disappointment, but at least I'll be ready for a letdown next time a Blomkap movie hits theaters.