Elysium [Movie Review]

Elysium, director Neill Blomkamp's second feature length film, is a engaging morality tale.  

Elysium rise.

First, before anything else, a brief synopsis of the film.

The Earth was ravaged by humanity and by the late 21st century the planet has become a wasteland. Massive deserts swath the planet. The Year is 2154 and life is harsh for those living on the surface...

A house costs about $250,000,000.00 also known as 'Wha?'

However the wealthy live in an artificial paradise called Elysium. Their world is perfect. No citizen gets sick. There is no crime, no suffering, no hunger. No real worries.  

The face of Homeland Security.

The citizens of Elysium live in a wonderfully perfect world. Homeland security keeps them safe and keeps the 'illegals' out. Their lives are idyllic, and they live in this paradise looking down upon the earth. Never do they see the suffering below, they instead live in their sheltered secluded world.

Down below a young orphan named Max dreams of one day living on Elysium. Life does not work out for him, he gets in trouble, turns to a life of crime and eventually becomes a convict. While on parole he works at a factory that builds the Homeland Security Droids. An accident at work shortens his life, and the only way to save himself is on Elysium. The medical beds they have can save his life... but to get to the station, he must return to a life of crime. 

L.A. 2154.

And with that Max begins the battle of his life, for his life.

That's only a portion of the plot that actually occurs in the beginning of the film. There are other important stories being woven at the same time. Stories of corruption, stories of desperation, stories of freedom.  

Earth and Elysium.

Now to the standard breakdown of the good and the bad parts of the movie.

The bad first, of course.

Shaky Cam!

Ah, a beefed up Kalashnikov.

Oh, how I hate shaky cam. It has its purposes and its uses. However it is overused in the modern film era. I do not need every combat scene to be shaky. Some, like the titanic battle between two power-suited individuals, should be less shaky and more dramatic. Please, for the love of cinema, tone it down! This is not just a message for Elysium, but a message to Hollywood.

Everyone Reads Code!
I'm actually surprised I couldn't find a Trope on this. I found Everyone Knows Morse which is more or less the same idea. Seriously. Any character with a mild bit of plot relevance who looks at computer code (which is amazingly not purely binary - just mostly), knows exactly what the code does. Yes, this is plot convenient... however could we not use realistic code and maybe just maybe include comments? 

Homeland Security Droids or Hahne-Kedar Lokis...?

Signs of Stupidity!
These are a frequent occurrence in films.They occur all the time. Things like: Trusting a psychopath to bring you the super valuable information. Yeah. That's going to go down swimmingly. It's not a major downside, but its so obvious and occurs so often that sometimes I do get tired of it. 

Social Commentary - there will be lots.

 Now on to the good aspects of the film.

I bet putting these up on the LA freeways was hilarious.

Gritty Science Fiction!
I have a weak spot for gritty science fiction. Maybe it is the vogue nowadays, but it is feeding the demand of the viewers. Perhaps there is something that everyone is realizing... and sometimes it might be because even in the most gritty, dirty, apocalyptic science fiction there is often some ray of hope. Even if that hope is only the survival of the species.

Mythology!
The film is rife with mythology references. I mean, the title alone is a reference to the afterlife reserved for those mortals who were related to the gods of Greek myths. It evokes the idea that those who live there consider themselves special and privileged even though they are only there due to an accident of birth. There are other mythological references. There is the fated hero, born for a reason... and there are more.

Sharlto Copley, he was in District 9 as well...

 Social Commentary!
This entire movie is a commentary on the modern world. This is a movie about wealth inequality, about social class, about immigration, about healthcare. This is a movie about justice and crime. This is a movie about an out of control military/security/industrial complex and the corruption of government. These issues are what the movie is about. These are the reasons to see this movie!

I really like the shuttles.

 So there we have it. Elysium.

It's a solid film, and there are some powerful elements to it. There are flaws, but they do not really detract all that much from the positive aspects. This is good science fiction, but this is not a movie about the future...

In an issue of Entertainment Weekly (2 August 2013, Future Shock see note), Blomkamp was asked if he thought this was an earth 140 years from now. He responded, "No, no, no. This isn't science fiction. This is today. This is now."

With all that said, this is worth seeing. Preferably as a matinee... since it is good, but not mind blowing good.

Elysium gets:

3.5 Stars