Elysium (Movie Review)

In the year 2154, Earth becomes polluted and overpopulated, so the privileged, rich, and influential have moved to Elysium, a space colony that features luxurious living and state-of-the-art healthcare. Those living on Earth, on the other hand, suffer barely liveable conditions, with most of them working on industries that maintain Elysium. Among one of them is Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), a factory worker who suffers from radiation poisoning and is only given five days to live. His only hope is to get to Elysium, and his only chance of getting there will involve a deadly mission that will not only put his life at risk but also the balance of how things are on Earth and in Elysium.

Acting: Matt Damon was superb as a conformist 9-to-5 employee turned exosuit-donning rogue warrior. Jodie Foster was also commendable as a ruthless defense secretary hellbent on keeping people from Earth out of Elysium with whatever means necessary. But of course, Sharlto Copley was easily the best. From being District 9’s hero to Elysium’s crazy and violent henchman, this guy’s got real talent.

Pacing: The movie’s good build-up was able to make me care for Max and his outlaw cohorts who thrive in illegal activities. The introduction of the setting, from its tech to its social strata, was simplistic and comprehensible, not to mention the fact that what they symbolize is crystal clear. The action is always cool and exciting, which is kind of expected given the movie’s genre, and the more peaceful dialogue-laden plot-advancing parts in the middle were short yet were very much able to do their job right, although more work could’ve been done to make me care more about characters that isn’t Max or any of his friends.

Cinematography: Droids, exosuits, supersonic shuttles that make space travel seem like a short drive to work, a beautiful space colony that looks like one big five-star suburban village, a filthy dystopian Earth that doesn’t seem to have technologically advanced much after 141 years from now, artsy and emotional flashbacks from Max’s point of view – the movie is visually creative entertaining, and intelligent on artistic, socio-political, and emotional levels.

Overall – 8.5/10: Featuring cool futuristic tech that aren’t far too removed from today’s designs, badass fights scenes and people, heavy socio-political metaphors that are ever-relevant, and characters the audience can relate to, Elysium has something for everybody. And by everybody, I mean people who can already understand the truth about how literally worlds apart the lifestyles of the wealthy and affluent are from the poor and wants such truth to be presented as a dystopian space-age science-fiction and action hybrid.