★★
“Elysium” takes place in the year 2154. At this time, the
citizens of earth are split up into two different classes. The very wealthy
live on a pristine space station orbiting above the planet called Elysium.
Everyone else lives on the surface of earth which is a very poor place,
overpopulated and heavily diseased. On Elysium, there is no disease because
each house comes equipped with a med-bay that scans your body and fixes
anything wrong with you. Cancers are cured, paralyzed people can walk again and
broken bones are healed.
The story revolves around a citizen of earth named Max (Matt
Damon) who works for a top defense contractor called Armadyne, which provides
all the police robots on earth and the security systems on board Elysium. He’s
also a reformed felon trying to keep himself on the good side of the law. His
former partner in crime Julio (Diego Luna) even tries to get him to join in on
new jobs, but Max refuses to participate. He’s also reconnected with his
childhood friend Frey (Alice Braga) who he hasn’t seen in years, and he’s eager
to see if there might be a future between the two of them.
Things change for Max when he’s exposed to a high dose of
radiation and is given only five days left to live. He knows the med-bays on
Elysium will cure him, so he asks the local crime boss Spider (Wagner Moura)
for help getting up there. Spider wants Max’s help stealing something from a
rich guy first. They want to steal the thoughts from Armadyne CEO John Carlyle
(William Fichtner) in order to get bank numbers and other valuable information
about Elysium.
What they don’t know is that Carlyle is working with Elysium
Secretary of Defense Delacourt (Jodie Foster) on plans that would remove the
current President from power and install her as the new leader. When Max and
Spider steal the information from Carlyle, they get this information as well.
Delacourt sends out Kruger (Sharlto Copley), a ruthless agent, after Max to get
that damning information back.
Writer/director Neill Blomkamp, known for directing the 2009
Best Picture nominee “District 9”, is, in my opinion, too smart to be making
movies in the first place. Listening to him do interviews is like listening to
an astrophysicist talk about what they do for a living. “District 9” was a
smart film and a modern day sci-fi masterpiece. But all the things that made
“District 9” so great have been scrapped from “Elysium”. Instead, Blomkamp has
given us way too many dense subplots that distract from the main characters and
plotline of the film.
Its hard to care for your protagonist when there are so many
other people clogging up his screen time. Not once did I find myself caring
whether of not Max would get up to Elysium and be cured. I know that sounds
harsh, but that’s Screenwriting 101. How can you care about someone when setup
and development are sacrificed in order to give an equal amount setup and development to a supporting character? Supporting roles do not need the same type of attention that lead
roles require.
Blomkamp should know this. His screenplay for “District 9”
was so well done because it was so simple. There was one character and we were
shown what he was like before the traumatic events on the film began to unfold.
He was easily identifiable with the audience. In “Elysium”, Max doesn’t fit
this mold. He’s set up as an everyman working in a low paying yet physically
demanding job, he’s trying to better his life, he’s trying to reconnect with a
former love interest. It couldn’t be anymore forced or contrived if they tried.
None of the talent on screen is overly impressive either.
We’ve seen Damon and Foster in these roles before. The only actor who’s
actually doing something we’ve never seen before is Copley. His role as Kruger
is quite the polar opposite of what he was in “District 9” which is refreshing.
I did enjoy Kruger’s character in this film. He’s a ruthless man out for blood,
and Copley plays it very well.
Its also full of sharp action sequences, which isn’t a
surprise given that Blomkamp has already demonstrated himself as a proficient
action director. But polished action scenes and fancy special effects alone do
not make a good movie. I feel like Blomkamp rushed this one, which is weird
given that its been four years since we’ve seen anything from him. What looked
like a promising break from the typical summer films, “Elysium” falls into the
exact same traps that plague every other movie that comes out of Hollywood
during the hottest months of the year. From the man who gave us something as
brilliant as “District 9”, this is quite a disappointment.
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