Elysium (2013) - Movie Review

The name Elysium evokes the idea of a Utopian place, which is the premise of this weakly scripted film from writer/director Neill Blomkamp, who also brought us another mediocre science fiction film, District 9. I enjoy good science fiction and was hoping that this film would redeem my incredible disappointment in 2013's other sci-fi bust, Oblivion. Both looked incredibly good to me judging by the trailers. Both let me down with disappointingly thin writing.

I have a tendency to reserve judgment when it comes to film. In fact, I go to great lengths to avoid reviews before seeing a film. I check the overall ratings, but try to avoid specifics in reviews before I have a chance to see a new film. Generally, I see new films early enough that this is not a problem. With Elysium, this was nearly impossible. The flap in conservative circles was that this film was a thinly veiled political examination of topics like socialism and immigration. While my worldview is conservative, I generally discount any political "perspective" as it pertains to film. I often find I can enjoy a film without agreeing with the underlying "thematic" aspects. Unless they get preachy, which (unfortunately) Elysium could not avoid.

The premise of this film is that the rich have abandoned Earth for a Utopian satellite where vast mansions sprawl with well-manicured gardens, personal swimming pools and "tanning beds" that diagnose and heal humans with precision that would make Obamacare jealous. Of course, the healing beds are plugged into a mainframe, determining citizenship before allowing medical treatment to proceed. Elysium is the allegorical United States in this film. The Earth, specifically Los Angeles, has become the "Mexico" of our 2150s future.

Well, it's really not fair. People on Elysium riding the gravy train while people on Earth struggle in a dystopian future. One where the best hope is for a shitty job "working the line" creating the robots that serve the rich. It is an imbalance that Max (Matt Damon) dreams he will one day remedy, promising in his childhood to reach Elysium with his friend, Frey (Alice Braga). Max is eventually thrust into a situation where he must join a resistance movement that constantly attempts to breach Elysian sovereignty with illegal immigration shuttles. Ultimately, the objective is to make all of Elysium's opulence available to everyone and the recognition of all people as "citizen."

The problem with this film is that it is simplistic, preachy, and lacking depth. In fact, it beats viewers over the head so boldly with it's anti-American (immigration policy) message that the Elysium security forces are actually called "Homeland Security." Really? You didn't think we could figure out the allegory on our own? Blomkamp, you must really think we are stupid. There were other plot issues that really nagged at me, as well. The underlying system of Elysium is never really explored, making for a very one-dimensional good vs. evil pairing. And, if John Carlyle (William Fichtner) is so brilliant that he can write code to "reboot" Elysium's server with Delacourt (Jodie Foster) as the new President, why wouldn't he make himself the new President? And with the servers interacting, why would the code have to be delivered personally, rather than uploaded directly? Oh yeah, that wouldn't further the weak plot. And the whole "sleeper cell" thing. That made very little sense as well. It also seemed an attack on our special forces operators, which I found patently offensive. Overall, the poorly developed characters, simplistic plot, preachy message and contrived plot devices were too much for me to overcome and simply enjoy this film.

The special effects were another major flaw. I was expecting some high speed special effects, but like Oblivion, I was sorely disappointed. I realized my expectations were too high at the outset of this film. Watching a shuttle depart from Elysium and head to Earth revealed the lack of attention paid to effects in this film. The flame trail from the shuttle was cartoonish and the movement of the shuttle was reminiscent of 1960s technology. Other special effects were better, or at least more modern, but I was disappointed at most of the effects. I admit that there were some decent fight scenes, but even those felt a bit staged even with decent effects.

The acting was one redeeming quality in this film. While I am starting to quesiton Damon as an actor for veering towards politically motivated films, he's got chops. I like Damon and thought his performance was solid. Foster was an excellent ice queen and delivered one of the better performances in a character that lacked dimension. The rest of the cast was tolerable. I wasn't overly impressed with the "bad guys" of either ilk. Whether it be the "sleeper cells" or Max's thug friends. The characters were weak to begin with and the performances didn't do much to elevate them for me. Overall, the acting had enough strength to illicit a positive reaction on my part. One of the few qualities of the film I actually enjoyed at times.

Elysium garnered an R Rating from the MPAA. If "R" stood for "rotten" I would agree whole-heartedly. Unfortunately, this is a rating based on blood, violence and strong language. You will get worse in your average RPG video game. The violence and blood are contextual and not necessarily overdone. The subject matter makes this an R-light in my book.

Elysium is a stinker. I am shocked that it has an overall positive rating on IMDB (which is part of the reason I decided it would be worth seeing). I don't know what kind of sci-fi fans would find this film rewarding. It was weak in almost every aspect, from writing to character development to plot structure. It lacks everything good science fiction prides itself on. And it is preachy to boot. This is one to avoid. My rating is generous at 4/10 on the backs of Damon and Foster alone.

Photos and video courtesy of Sony Entertainment.