Maybe a little overrated...

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2014)

I watched the first half, if not the first two thirds of the movie with excitement. The rhythm and pace were near perfect, the story itself almost made sense and the internal logic, while shaky at times (why give him an exoskeleton and no one else?) was almost appropriate. Then it went downhill... It appears the filmmakers forgot to write an ending to the movie as the narrative suddenly and absolutely went all over the place, throwing logic and common sense out the window on their way to device a completely implausible happy ending (sans Damon) to suit an anti-conformist message for the movie. Don't get me wrong, I share the "message" but the ending unvalidated the meaning. The beginning of the end comes after the murder of John Carlyle (beautifully played by William Fitchner). Well the murder itself was the result of such a contrive course of events and complete coincidence that it was hard to digest, but let's say... Delacourt (Jodie Foster) wants anyone and everyone dead as the deadly secret lodged in Carlyle's brain is now within a computer hard drive somewhere (yeah...) In any events, let's say... it's OK. She reactivates her favorite killer, Kruger (an excellent Copley who shows an amazing range from one film to another) who finds Da Costa (Damon), loses him but figures out where he's been before (????), again contriving Da Costa's girlfriend kidnapping (along with her sick daughter)... Kruger reveals his sadistic side, brings the women to Elysium, has his face blown away, is restored but comes out more sadistic than ever, takes over the joint while Da Costa's friends fly to an undefended Elysium. The suspense is well done but so artificial you cannot possibly believe it. Now let's be clear: the last third of the film displays a rhythmic break, a complete divorce, from the rest of the narrative. His good for nothing "ally" (Spider) all of sudden risks his life for... I'm still not sure... I was a bit surprised that both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes' ratings were in the 60s (reflecting reviewers ratings, of course). If you rate this movie based on politics, so be it. If you review it on a technical and narrative level, unfortunately it is a failure.