Beautiful, Stunning, Yet Missing Something

Rating: 7/10 (23 August 2015)

The cinematography of this movie was amazing, it is visually beautiful. The story within itself is very relevant to the socio-economic situations of society today. There are numerous elements of class warfare, the subjugation of the middle and lower class to substandard living reins strong throughout.
The message of the plight of the poor leaves a psychological mark on the viewer as the wealthy within the film never show any care for their lives nor their well being. Aside from one character that mostly stays in the background, which is a shame.
I felt the acting was quality aside from Sharlto Copley (Kruger), who left a lot to be desired whenever he was depicted. Instead of depicting the character with a more psychological interpretation he went with the stereotypical violence enthused henchman.
While that could also be a result of the writing as overall it did feel that something was missing from each character to make you care about their plight. The aforementioned character that could have shown a more human element of Elysium was an extremely minor character, a gross missed opportunity to improve the plot.
Nothing about Matt Damon's character truly captures the situation of Earth and why change is needed. He seems forced into his role out of his own selfish desires rather than out of the common good. Which in essence makes him no better than those on Elyisum.
While the over arching theme of the movie is outstanding, the cinematography eye catching, and the action seems well executed there were a number of missed opportunities that caused the movie to go from memorable to a movie that was simply enjoyable at the time.
True Score: 6.6